My Talk on Fat Talk

So yesterday on the Cori Baker Facebook Page I promised to do a commentary on this article: How Fat Talk Became A Social Epidemic. (Speaking of the Facebook Page, you can click the link if you want to check it out or like it, there's also more information in the sidebar on the left. It's brand spankin new, so we only have 9 likes so far, but I guess volume of likes isn't as important as "quality" of likes. With those 9 likes I've already reached 2 NEW PEOPLE and brought them to our positive recovery community! Making a difference one person at a time!)

Ok, so back to the article. Fat talk. We all do it. We all know we do it. And as far as I see it, it's going to take A LOT of changing in our society to change that. We all know this, not new information.

What I wanted to talk about today is sort of the opposite: the view that "we're all beautiful inside and out." I can just hear the conversation in my head right now.

FRIEND 1: Omygod, my ass looks soooo fat in that picture! I look like a whale!
FRIEND 2: YOU look like a whale? Please. You're like a bean pole! And I wish I had your ass! You're absolutely gorgeous! I have such a flat ass.
FRIEND 1: Really? Your butt is so nice! It looks good in any pair of jeans.
FRIEND 2: Thats because my thighs come up and eat it for breakfast! I have huge thighs. Seriously, you're the pretty one.
FRIEND 1: No, you're beautiful and you always will be!
FRIEND 2: You know, you're right. Right now we're engaging in fat talk. We are both beautiful inside and out!

And then the two friends began holding hands and singing Kumbaya and skipped off into the sunset and everyone lived happily ever after.

Ok, well, thats all well and good and everything, but its still not really accurate, and is kinda a pet peeve of mine. You know what, here's the truth:

Some people are fat. No really! People are fat. You want to know something else. Some people are ugly. Downright aesthetically unpleasant. Not everyone is beautiful inside and out. Especially inside! There are A LOT of super ugly people on the inside.

I think by saying that we're all beautiful inside and out, we are simply perpetuating this idea that beauty is the only thing worth having. "Everyone is beautiful in their own way." Well, for some people that may be true. They may have a unique type of beauty. But some people just aren't! And that's how the cookie crumbles.

But you know what, newsflash guys: THATS OK! That ugly person over there may have some awesomely intelligent and creative ideas that beat your physical beauty to a pulp. Maybe they can make sculpture, or write, or do insano math in their head, or run really fast, or be able to reach children with developmental disabilities in a way most people cant, or have the patience and love to work as a hospice nurse, or be a wonderful photographer.

Maybe she does have huge thighs, but you know what, she's a heavy weight lifter and that's her passion and that's what she loves. Maybe she is super thin to a point where it's aesthetically unpleasing, but maybe her being thin lets her get on her hands and knees and play in the tunnels with the kids at the daycare where she works!

Maybe they can do something that makes a difference on a level beauty can never hope to reach.

Beauty isn't everything guys, and if we're trying to use FAT TALK to put ourselves all on the same social level as a society and stabilize the self image of the whole female race, we have bigger problems to worry about.

That's just how I see it.