Letters from a Young Radical

I apologize that this isn't a well thought-out or well researched post, it's more a reactionary post about someone who obviously has issues and isn't therefore really worth my analysis. All the same, the personal is the political, so I'm on this.

For the first time ever, a "plus sized" (size 16 which is fairly average) model has made it into the
final round of the Miss England beauty pageant. Chloe Marshall! I think beauty contests are despicable in the first, but I figure if we're going to have them, it would be better if they included a wider interpretation of "beauty" (particularly after the revealing fame of Miss South Carolina last year). Generally people seem to be open to Chloe as a new and welcome interpretation (following Dove's recent campaign more people have been widening the definition), however I read one editorial (from the same source, although there are many articles about Chloe on the net), and I just wanted to punch this lady.

Yes, I know, it's a gossipy "news" source and this lady is just some random person but STILL! She tries to make the case that Chloe is a bad role model for girls because she "promotes obesity" and claims that the other stick-thin contestants are not overweight but even healthy. While it's true that obesity is a big problem in Western societies right now, it's also true that models have died from trying to attain this perceived perfection.

This woman, Monica Grenfell, is obviously a fat-hater. She's the type of person that looks at all overweight people as lazy, non-motivated and all around useless. I know people like this. She chalks Chloe's body size up to "eating too much", completely ignoring that some people are just larger and some people are just smaller, because of their GENES or other characteristics about their system. I find it odd that she could be a dietician while lacking basic biological knowledge like that.

My favorite part:

"As a judge on last year's Miss England contest, I was hugely impressed, not just by the beauty but by the skills dedication and determination of the contestants.

For example, most had raised huge sums of money for their favourite charities. They shone out as young women to be admired.

But can the same really be said of Chloe?

At 5ft 10in, Chloe should have a body mass index, or BMI, (indicating her levels of fat) of 20. Hers is 26.03."

To translate, she's saying that the contestants from last year had skills, dedication, determination, and social consciousness. Meanwhile, Chloe is just fat. She says nothing about any of her other qualities, ANYWHERE in her editorial, and uses the term "fat" 10 times while using the far less insulting term "overweight" only 4 times. Attacking the model with vicious terms like that really outs Grenfell as having not just a concern but a disgust for people who are overweight.

So apparently there's an "obesity epidemic". While I will absolutely not argue with the fact that Western nations, likely America in particular, have a BIG problem stemming from the marketing success of fast food, junk food and drinks, and chain restaurants, I also wonder if our definition of a healthy weight isn't based off of cultural ideals promoted by advertising rather than actual medical facts. According to the BMI (which was apparently recently proved as being no proof at all), I'm OBESE. Seriously! For those of you that know me, do you think of me as OBESE? I mean when I think obese I think 400lbs with serious health issues. I'm as healthy as can be according to the doc. Sure I think I'm over the natural weight for my body, and I know how I got there, but seriously, obese?!

In my opinion, this dietician is just a minion of the status quo and has completely internalized the backwards notions of health present in our society. Course, that's just me. I could be wrong. I am obese, after all.