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Read other letters about this article
... but only for white women. For men, it's a sign of seniority or joviality; for black women, a sign of tough-broad femininity. But for white women, it's aesthetically contemptible and therefore morally contemptible.
Because the divinely ordained role of white women is to be fragile and ornamental. Tough to do that when you're fat.
Betcha the effect plays out worst of all for blondes, too. Too bad the research didn't track that.
Obesity IS a danger signal for a person's health. But if that were all it was, the signal would play out equally across the demographic spectrum. And the whole point of this article is that that's exactly what it doesn't do.
