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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
It would be interesting to know her real weight and condition.
"It is a different standard of beauty than the Hollywood one of being skinny and white, but it's still a "standard." In other words, women are still being told to be a certain way in order to gain acceptance. I thought it was sad when Buffie said she had to start drinking GNC protein shakes to gain weight and that now her only way of supporting her family is her ass."
So what about guys who have to support their family's by doing hard manual work? Or perhaps an athlete drinking protein powder shakes to bulk up? Get a grip! She's doing honest work. If she had any other talents that could earn the same kind of money she would have used them. Ce La Vie! Welcome to the world of a bread winner.
"Wouldn't it be nice if dudes of all races could just back off and stop telling women of all races whether to eat too much or too little depending on what got them off that week? Yeah, that would be great."
Men naturally express a preferences much as women are actively encouraged to do. That's a normal part of our mating ritual as a species. That preference doesn't have to suit or match your idea of what men ought to like.
The real problem here is your fragile ego. Do what you have/want to do and stop complaining.
I have always avoided getting a season pass to the amusement park where every ride rolls over Debra Dickerson’s computer keyboard...again and again. I even felt a little sorry for her when one reader responded to one of her columns by simply stating: “Please stop writing.”.
I don’t wish that Ms. Dickerson stop writing, I just would like her (and her editors) to consider that she not write for anything that ‘people’ read.
Maybe those 99 cent down market greeting cards or the back of small bags of flavored corn-chips where you are lectured on how “extreme” the taste you’re about to experience will be. Yes, she can write all she wants there.
So as others have made clear, a big butt does not equal ‘fat’. Any mook can see ‘Ms. The Body’ is not fat. Spread what she has out all over her body and you’d think she was average or even slim. But her...”butt” seems to attract most of her weight gain. This physiological dynamic may...shift over time as she ages and of course, a bad diet is a bad diet no matter what your age or body type.
But to state that “lad-mag” models or in this case, ‘homie-mag’ models, predominately black and hispanic are bloated cows and heart attacks waiting to happen is just silly, ignorant, or just provocative to be provocative as the author may have little of actual substance to write about.
One presumptuous possibility?
That Ms. Dickerson is actually blind and thanks to technology can ‘read’ and write. But when it comes to ‘clokin’ tha’ sistas’ in “King” or “Smooth” or my favorite “Show” magazine, she asked her husband what they look like. He said, “yucky...too fat” (Why? Different cultural standards of beauty perhaps?). And that was all she (did) write.
Me? I’m off to day of loitering in front of Lane Bryant with a ‘Case of White Castles’ in hand.
I don't understand the outcry "We're killing ourselves with eating!" So what? It sounds like an individual problem to me; if you're fat and you want to change it go ahead and do so. But who cares if other people are? They'll just die soon enough and the eyesore will be removed.
Not helping either side of the argument: Ms. Body is a size 13-15. And that means what? Clothing sized for the "classic soda bottle" 34-26-36(ish) female model is today numbered as size 4 or size 6. Back when I was in high school in the '70's that was the standard Misses size 12. And size 12 was "too fat."
We need to get a lot healthier about a lot of everything, but this culture never had an obesity problem until big business figured out how to make big billions out of the terror of being "too fat." They essentially doubled the "eating" market: the ones of us binging until the fear caught up with us and turned us into the ones of us purging. The cycle gets more vicious and desperate with each pass. Liposuction? Jesus.
I was in the grocery store on the day obesity was declared an epidemic. The clerk was handing out free samples of a new Macadamia nut and white chocolate chip cookie. Because we need more cookies. As long as the stock holders are making money and the members of the boards of directors are being paid in stock options? Debra Dickerson may rant all she wishes (and although I don't always agree with her views, the woman can throw down a rant).
It's up to the individual whether or not to take the tube and be the veal calf. However, the culture is what it is, and at the moment, I see no way out of this crate. Take care of yourselves.
Dear Salon,
Why in the world do you (or anyone) need Debra Dickerson to break the news that many black women are obese and thereby endangering their health?
Huh?
I did grimly enjoy reading that Dickerson (who congratulates herself over her own "buff" body) used to self-righteously harangue her non-buff co-workers (some of whom would presumably have been women) over their lunch-choices. I read the article aloud last night while a friend was visiting; he immediately looked up and said "Why doesn't that surprise me?..."
Nor is it surprising that Dickerson immediately abolves her own,currently non-buff self by mentioning her "kids". why does she award herself a free-pass now that she's had children? I would guess that a large number of her harangued coworkers had children (and maybe even, unlike Dickerson, spouses; keeping a marriage on an even keel does tend to eat into one's gym-time).
Well (and all other objections aside, such as her chronically shoddy reasoning, when she bothers to attempt sounding reasonable), Dickerson remains one of the most deeply unpleasant voices out there.
It continues to really bother me that you promote her as a voice for black women.
Ugh,
David Terry
www.davidterryart.com
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