I'm assuming that she's in her twenties. And I think someone posted that she is 5'7" and 157 pounds? OK, that's not so bad. But, as anyone over 40 knows, the average weight gain is about 2 pounds per year. What this is going to mean when we all reach our fifties, sixties and seventies is pretty predictable, I think. We all know of the thin person who is unhealthy and the fat person who is fit as the proverbial fiddle. But, statistics seem to contradict that anecdotal evidence. Just as there are smokers who will never get lung cancer, the evidence is pretty irrefutable that smoking increases one's risk for lung cancer.

Look, it's pretty easy to be healthy when you're young, no matter what your weight. But 30 or 50 extra pounds can become a real problem when your body starts to age. High blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, joint disintegration - it is a fact that these problems are exacerbated by extra weight. Is this fat hatred, or is it the truth?

And, one has to wonder if Buffie is maintaining her bodacious booty because she likes it, or is she doing it because it fulfills certain male fantasies and she can make a buck off of it? If it's the latter, is that really empowering?

I don't particularly care for Ms. Dickerson's views in this article. However, a previous letter writer made me think. I find it interesting that my letter attacking Ms. Dickerson's views lunged straight to the personal. I basically told the writer to see Dr. Phil.

Now I wonder, how can I be so angry at Ms. Dickerson for throwing stones at women (as I believe she does) and still be so willing to frame my argument as a personal attack on her? Would I have told Glen Greenwald to see Dr. Phil? Or is this 'personalization' something I reserve for women?

Having struggled with my weight all my life, I'm wondering why we celebrate women of color who are not skinny, and who their white sisters in the media might be. Oprah, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Jordin Sparks are all gorgeous the way they are. Let's give them credit for being curvy and "zaftig", not obese. Where are the role models for white women, and for teenage girls of all colors who struggle not just with extra pounds, but with builds that will never make them runway models? Where is the Shelley Winters of our generation? Why can't all women be considered beautiful whether they are voluptous or Twiggy?

I can't even believe the level of vitriol this article has inspired. Say what you will about Dickerson's writing style, but she is absolutely right--there is a huge problem with weight in this country, and black women are among the groups suffering the most. I don't see how it's racist (or sexist, for that matter) to want people to be healthy. Quite the opposite.

I'm astonished at the statement that diets don't work. If you're talking about cutting way back on your calories and starving yourself, or doing some fad Atkins-type thing, then yes, I'll agree with you. But making lifestyle changes and sticking to them absolutely DOES work.

I went from 184 to 150, and a size 14 to an 8 (I'm 5'7), and I've kept it off for four years now. How? Well, for one thing, I no longer eat a 1000-calorie, 50-grams-of-fat burrito for lunch. I cut it in half or I get something else. I also exercise every day, which seems to be a foreign concept to many Americans. Clearly, at 150, I'm no stick figure. I've still got curves, but I've also got muscle, and good blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar to boot.

And I don't think I'm the exception; plenty of people I know have lost weight and kept it off. To say diets don't work implies that there's no hope for anyone who's overweight. I'm not saying it's easy, but what could be more important than caring enough about yourself to get healthy?

We Americans are facing a public health crisis that is almost entirely avoidable, and if we don't do something soon then many generations are going to suffer.

1. um, am i missing something ? ? ? *didn't* she take extensive pains to NOT pass judgment on the aesthetics (eek!) of a big butt ? ? ? all the writers who bitched about that, please take two (fat) steps backward (if you can)...

2. isn't she concerned -almost exclusively- with the health/lifestyle/activity aspects of this phenomenon, and is genuinely concerned (to my reading) with their food/health choices and how that will effect their lives and their families ? ? ? but the big butt contingent said she was 'jealous'! ! !

3. i realize there are men (woman?) who fetishize just about anything, but -unless they are 'afraid' do admit it- all my horndog friends are more attuned to your 'girl next door', normal-sized wimmenz... i don't know anyone who admits to liking/wanting/desiring/fetishizing big butted or big everything wymenz... statistically, they have *got* to be almost insignificant numbers who 'adore' big butts/etc...

(really, bloated, flabby, jelly flopping around with stretch marks and discolored skin is 'attractive' ? ? ? really ? ? ? oooo-kay, if you say so... yuck )

4. i can't help but feel that 90% of the i-love-my-big-fat-body types are whistling past the graveyard... are you going to tell me that if they could wave a magic wand and be 'regular' without any effort or changing of foods that they wouldn't do so ? ? ? i don't believe you; and the one billion teevee ads an hour for jenny craig, weightwatchers, nutrisystem, not to mention the various diet nostrums, are telling me i'm more right than wrong...

art guerrilla

aka ann archy

eof

Oh, you just didn't tell fat black women they were fat. I hope you have a safehouse somewhere to hide out for a few months. I've seen courage before, but milady you are now Joan of Arc.

Fat ladies: you're fat. You're not normal, you're not exercising your option to eat well and not work out: you are fat, fat, fat. You're dying like mayflies, you contract diabetes far too often and you're in the grip of a cultural delusion. And it's obvious that there are far too many of you in the grip of the fantasy.