"Real Women Have Curves:" Invalidating AND Stupid

[holly_evolving]

(this is aimed at me as much as anyone else)

There is an adult obesity epidemic in the United States. Here are obesity rates by state:
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100261061>1=31036

Here are some facts about women and heart disease, including this one: HEART DISEASE IS THE #1 CAUSE OF DEATH AMONG AMERICAN WOMEN.
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4786

The "Real Women Have Curves" mentality went from combatting anorexia to promoting self-neglect in the blink of an eye, and it happened years ago. Personally, I think it was abhorrent to begin with. Real self-esteem doesn't come from putting down another group of people. If you're curvy and you love it, great. If you say that not being curvy means you're not a real woman, that's just as bad as promoting unhealthy thinness.

Now, why do you think the FDA bases its caloric intakes on 2000 calories a day? Because if you are ALREADY AT A HEALTHY WEIGHT, it's a reasonable amount of food to meet your caloric needs WITHOUT EXCEEDING them.
http://www.netrition.com/rdi_page.html

"Real women have curves" is not an excuse to eat a pint of ice cream a for dessert when you sit on your ass all day. Also, if you are convex, that does not count as being curvy.

I know, I know, some people have a thyroid condition. Do you want to know how many? About 3 per cent of the human population has hypothyroidism. And that's a common one. http://www.auburn.edu/~deruija/endp_thyroidpathol.pdf

Get up. Move. Watch your intake. Your excuses are killing you.

Comments

[holly-evolving.livejournal.com]

It's a fair point.

I'm not trying to say that the campaign ever worked; frankly, I find the idea that telling an anorexic woman that she's not real both offensive and completely unhelpful. But every time someone says RWHC, that's the message they are sending.