Nah, I’m not fatphobic, but it is close to impossible to say a word about a person’s body size without giving offense, without being guilty of body shaming or worse, without being labeled as bigoted, or worse. Fact, no matter what one may say or write about a person’s body shape or weight, someone will be affronted and will want an immediate apology, file a lawsuit, or propose a law. When discussing someone’s body, the only safe reaction is silence. However, I’ll risk disapproval from all those who choose to police correctness. I plead nolo contendere. Forgive me before the fact.
The other day while out shopping, it occurred to me that America is loaded with fat-assed people. They, we, are everywhere. Every aisle, every queue, especially in the section of the store featuring soda pop and beer. We are crowding in front of bakery cases, parking shopping carts the length of the chip and cookie aisle and opening doors in the frozen food lane while reaching with our chubby arms to score a family-size tub of ice cream.
Forgive me if you think I am fat-shaming. I’m not harassing or ridiculing overweight people. Heck, I’m overweight, as are about 74% of all Americans according to the CDC. A more troubling statistic is 40% of all folks in this country are obese. Statistics aside, I’m merely pointing to the size, collectively, of our rear ends here in calorie-devouring, fat-butt America. Some nations are known for having shapely, curvaceous cabooses (Brazil, Columbia, Egypt) as marks of beauty. Some places (Micronesia areas) have diets and cultural traditions which lead to high Body Mass Index (BMI) numbers. Other nations, Mexico, US, Saudi Arabia, and others, have a high percentage of obese people owing to sugary and fatty food consumption, too little exercise, and, of course, too much time lounging on the sofa while binging on fried or sweet yummies and marinating in television’s blue rays. Even so, Americans collectively, and rightly so, deride themselves for bad dietary habits and for planting their keisters in the La-Z-Boy recliner for an afternoon and evening of NFL football. If it weren’t for bathroom breaks and runs to the kitchen during commercials for a fistful of Oreos, we’d never have to stand up and move our legs. We should criticize ourselves. We could do better. The size of our beltlines is always a part of the American conversation. But too often we go beyond decency in our assessment of body types. Shame on us for bad habits and subsequently for pointing them out.
Not long ago, Donald Trump, in a classic schoolyard bully move, called Chris Christie a “big fat pig.” Trump said, “Christie, he’s eating right now, he can’t be bothered.” Now that is vicious and flat-out fat-shaming. And shame on the unashamed and shallow-minded Trump for unabashed name-calling. Okay, now I will do a little fat-shaming about Trump as a pointed example of what not to say. I’m sorry. Here goes. Donald, look in the mirror, fatso. Next time you finish riding your golf cart over those 18 holes at one of your golf courses, think about hitting the salad bar in the clubhouse rather than ordering your typical meal (according to a former aid): “a full McDonald’s dinner of two Big Macs, two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, and a small chocolate shake – a total of 2,430 calories.” [1] The pot calling the kettle black adage here applies, for certain. No, I don’t feel terrible for calling Trump a certified fatso. Because, let’s face it, he has a fat ass as well as a reputation as a metaphorical ass.
Certainly America has a new norm when considering attractiveness. Recently, perhaps because of Kim Kardashian’s tooshie, surgeons have performed thousands of Brazilian Butt lifts, an augmentation procedure that makes one’s fanny bigger and more well-rounded than its previous shape. Ah, vanity!
Body sculpting aside, among developed countries in the world, the US ranks either first or second (Kuwait may top us) in obesity, with Mexico coming up the rear. Roughly two of three Americans are overweight, and the obesity figures are rising each decade. Other countries could make a case for being more obese than America, but does it really matter? The point is we are fat and getting fatter. The result, in the end, may be measured by the girth of our ends.
Used to be people would work in the fields, ride bicycles or walk from home to school and back again, eat non-processed foods, and the workday did not include sitting at a computer. Obesity rates have tripled over the last 60 years in this country (USAFacts, 2023). We should worry about climate decline and nuclear war, sure, but another menace to the human family is found in the McDonald’s drive-through!
[1] NeswIdea, 24 Feb.2020