For the last couple of years, there has been much talk about obesity and its manifold dangers. Statistics have regularly appeared, especially in the United States, showing a steady increase in obesity, and alarm bells have rung so loudly that McDonald’s reportedly has even been driven to reduce the size of its hamburgers! Gyms and jogging paths have sprouted everywhere, making it possible for those so inclined to keep fit and slim.
But who would have thought that the opposite would happen? Yet, for the last three months, ever since the Madrid Fashion Week showed the door to five models for being extra-thin, the spotlight has been on the ultra skinny, to the extent that there has been much talk about banning anorexic models. Now we hear that the US fashion industry has decided to issue guidelines to designers, “aimed at promoting healthier behaviour among its highly paid clothes hangers”.
However, if Twiggy-like figures and size zero models are likely to be on their way out, it does not mean that fat girls do not continue to get the thin end of the stick. But what of fat men? How come we hear little or nothing about them? Why is it that overweight women are judged in a much harsher manner than overweight men? While we condemn women for being fat, the obese man is termed ‘healthy’, a euphemism that has become the accepted description.
Take the matter of clothes. Overweight women — and alas, that includes me — are only too grateful that clothing stores have finally begun to cater to the likes of them. Stores such as Westside and Pantaloons have special lines for larger women, and other shops like Fab India offer XL garments. But do men’s brands have special lines for their larger customers? Not at all. It is taken for granted that larger sizing is just a normal part of the available range!
Be that as it may, I am not holding a brief for the overweight. We all know that to be slim is equal to being fit but to achieve a streamlined figure is not always possible. There are many overweight people who pile on kilos despite small appetites and active, disciplined lives. They could be victims of hormonal imbalances or other medical problems. Or their weight could be blamed on inherited genes.
My grouse is with the current obsession with obesity, especially where women are concerned. Suddenly, under the pretext of keeping fit, women all over are striving to achieve a Baywatch type of figure, by starving and over exercising. To be slim is wonderful, to be slim and fit even better. But if you can’t achieve this, it’s worth remembering that it’s not what you look like that matters but who you are.
