Letters to the Editor
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obesity in the Black community is a problem...
... but this Buffie person isn't the one Dickerson should hold up as an example. She has an unusually large ass but her waist looks to probably be in the normal range. A better celebrity example would be the comedienne Mo'Nique.
There are several reasons that the Black community has an obesity crisis, and Ms. Dickerson doesn't discuss them in her story. It isn't just an aversion to sweat and messing up our hair. She forgot to mention the lack of grocery stores or farmers markets in minority neighborhoods. And the lack of safe places to exercise (indoor and outdoor). And of course, lack of access to health care - especially preventative care. Any honest criticism of Black health needs to include these factors, in my opinion.
p.s. Buffie is 5'7" and 150 lbs? I'm calling BS on that - I'm a Black woman of the same height, 165 lbs and my legs and butt are nowhere near that big. 175-180 lbs at least...
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Good God....
You are the most hateful creature!
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can anyone doubt why she was hired?
(and good for her, she's supporting a family). no, i didn't read the article and no, i didn't read the letters. did i ever have to? good for you debra, you discovered the leprechaun's gold.
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Maybe someone already said this
but I just can't go through 22 pages of letters, and I think it bears repeating in any case: there are plenty of *good* reasons to dislike the bubble butt fashion. To start with, those proportions are *just* as unrealistic and unattainable by most women (by healthy means) as are the fasions of tiny stick-like build, or really big boobs. In my (completely untested) observation, sex symbols are sex symbols *because* they are out of the ordinary. It's our responsibility not to judge the rest of humanity by their standard.
Secondly, BMI was not initially intended to be such a simplistic "measure" of health or overweight/obesity. All it is is height to weight ratio, without any consideration of what that tissue is composed of. It was intended to statistically classify the average, sedentary population. SO many more factors contribute to health or the lack thereof that I'd find statements like "a BMI over 30 is simply not ok" hilarious in their ignorance if they weren't so authoritarian, potentially harmful to people with non-average bodies, and widely accepted.
(See wikipedia's entry on the subject: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index)
To the writer who just doesn't believe Buffie weighs 157 because you "weigh people daily," well, you're not the one weighing HER, so how would you know? You of all people should know that people frequently don't weigh what others think they look like they do.
As a naturally skinny person myself, I'm fed up with skinny women being blamed for all of womanhood's health and emotional woes, and it's absolutely as unjust to hold up a single specimen of any other exceptional body type and blame her for the "example" she sets.
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The Ying Yang Twins' take...
I need a dime that's top of the line,
Cute face, lil' waist, and a big behind.
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I Am Torn
because I am inherently attracted to rubenesque, voluptuous, ah hell lets get real, FAT WOMEN but I strive to eat healthy, exercise daily and even sleep well in order to lose weight and maintain a high degree of physical and mental health. As I sit here after finishing my three ounces of raw carrots, four ounces of broccoli, tomatoe and brown rice, I note that I am extremely attracted to women who look like Buffie the Body but I am disgusted with how they got that way. The hypocrisy is so damning to me because I love being healthy, feeling great and looking like a million bucks thanks to eating healthy and exercising but my attraction to and therefore implicit encouragement of unhealthy fat women flies in the face of reason itself. It makes me part of the obesity problem although I desperately wanted to believe I was part of the solution. Is this a bizarre case of deadly opposite attraction or what?
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encognito, no it just makes you
a fetishist since most men are not attracted to fat women. Nothing wrong with being a fetishist, but that is what it is.
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"Fat-bottomed girls, you make the rockin' world go 'round"
See, even dead gay British guys get it!
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firefly82
You make an excellent point.
The fact is that most women, no matter what they do, aren't going to end up with a butt like Buffie. In addition to big butts, we'll get big guts, big thighs, big arms, and big faces. Then we'll be consigned to the legions of "fatties". (Think Venus of Willendorf.)
Sorry guys, when you fetishize big butts, you're not doing women any favors. You're just telling those of us who can't attain those proportions that we're not hot enough for you.
Most of these things are fads anyway, and there will always be only a very small percentage of women who can measure up at any given time.
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It's Gotta be a Surgically Enhanced Rump
Okay, there's no way on earth that that ass was naturally formed. If a woman gains weight, it's going to go to her abdomen, thighs, face, arms, everywhere. The distribution of fat on her body is completely unnatural. You can't eat an unhealthy diet and will your body to gain weight in one localized area while the rest of you remains thin. That's simply a myth.
There has to be some kind of surgical enhancement either with silicon implants or a Brazilian butt lift. The procedure involves liposuction of fat from one area of the body and injection into the rear end. She could even have a combination of both.
If you look at the flash animation intro on Buffie the Body's website, she even alludes to the surgical ass-makeover. There's a silhouette of her body on a gurney as robotic arms circle her rear. Titles flash across the screen and make lame allusions to the Six Million Dollar Man. I think we can read between the lines.
Anyway, the fact remains that African Americans are at greater risk for stroke, diabetes, heart disease. It's all related to diet and weight. Maybe the author makes her point in an insensitive way but the crisis is real. I think what's she's saying is that people need to be aware, get out of denial, take some responsibility for themselves, and stop glorifying disgusting fat asses. Don't shoot the messenger!