New York Times Opinion Piece - Why Black Women are Fat

[bluemax]

Link.

How many white girls in the ’60s grew up praying for fat thighs? I know I did. I asked God to give me big thighs like my dancing teacher, Diane. There was no way I wanted to look like Twiggy, the white model whose boy-like build was the dream of white girls. Not with Joe Tex ringing in my ears.

How many middle-aged white women fear their husbands will find them less attractive if their weight drops to less than 200 pounds? I have yet to meet one.

But I know many black women whose sane, handsome, successful husbands worry when their women start losing weight. My lawyer husband is one.

Another friend, a woman of color who is a tenured professor, told me that her husband, also a tenured professor and of color, begged her not to lose “the sugar down below” when she embarked on a weight-loss program.

Discuss.

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

Well this thread should be interesting. Very interesting indeed. Also, I ain't hatin =P

 

[cuevas. PhD.]

Same thing for fat white women who's husbands like em like that.

 

[polyh3dron]

the sugar down below.

yeah.

and like cuevas said, how is this phenomenon that is described exclusive to black women?

 

[nel e nel]

Discuss.

How does this overlap with the '42% of Americans will be obese by 2030' article?

 

[ChiTownBuffalo]

I dunno if I completely buy into black men and standards for African-American beauty as a form af resistance, causing obesity amongst black women.

 

[Davidion]

Oh dear. Ohhhhhh dear.

 

[EviLore]

Solution: stop listening to your husbands? Stop marrying black dudes, if necessary? Being fat isn't the recipe for health or success or anything good in life.

 

[Guevara]

This seems like the more important (and less anecdotal) pull-quote to me:

FOUR out of five black women are seriously overweight. One out of four middle-aged black women has diabetes. With $174 billion a year spent on diabetes-related illness in America and obesity quickly overtaking smoking as a cause of cancer deaths, it is past time to try something new.

80% of black women are seriously overweight! It's a tragedy of reduced lifespans, decreased quality of life and inflated healthcare costs.

 

[The Lamonster]

^ Fucked up, if true!


And it is possible to lose fat and build muscle in the butt/thighs area to retain that curvy shape.

 

[FunkyPajamas]

"the sugar down below" is going to give me nightmares.

 

[shuri]

Why does she needs to point out the jobs of each person in her story? haha

 

[ssolitare]

This sounds so stupid to me.

 

[Baconsammy]

If your man encourages you to be a diabetes risk, you might need a new man.

 

[Petrie]

^ Fucked up, if true!


And it is possible to lose fat and build muscle in the butt/thighs area to retain that curvy shape.

Possible, and much more attractive.

 

[Yoritomo]

I will gladly cede the squat rack to any woman who wants to use it.

 

[Vilix]

Also, stop with all the goddamn tattoos. Yeah, it's harder to see on black skin. It's still discusting when you're covered in them.

 

[Spawnling]

Just read the article, still just.... wow.

 

[Agent Ironside]

Same thing for fat white women who's husbands like em like that.

Yeah, but its pretty much known that people of certain races have certain preferences. At least for the majority of that certain race anyway.

 

[Buddha Beam]

begged her not to lose “the sugar down below” when she embarked on a weight-loss program.

Women lose their clitoruses when the lose weight? You learn something new every day...

 

[entremet]

This thread isn't gonna as fun without Londa.

Regarding the OP; Obesity is a serious problem here, regardless of race. We really need more proactive education on healthy lifestyles. Our frontier, don't tell us what to do or eat spirit is killing us here.

 

[Count Dookkake]

SUGAR DOWN BELOW sounds like a Steven Seagal flick.

 

[marrec]

SUGAR DOWN BELOW sounds like a Steven Seagal flick.

He's tasked with protecting a small sugar cane farm from being bought out by a larger suger super-corp and when he resists things get ugly?

 

[Shadow of the BEAST]

Im pretty sure there is a biological reason for this.

 

[way more]

So, it's because black men like big butts?

And they will not compromise on their feelings?

Whereas you and have caved to the pressures of society?

Sprung?

 

[blame space]

listen Evilore I'm not gonna stop marrying black dudes you're not the boss of me

 

[Opiate]

Solution: stop listening to your husbands? Stop marrying black dudes, if necessary? Being fat isn't the recipe for health or success or anything good in life.

It's interesting that black women are actually the most reticent, statistically, to marry outside their race.

Why does she needs to point out the jobs of each person in her story? haha

To make it clear that this isn't just a "poor people" problem.

 

[Fantastical]

Why does she needs to point out the jobs of each person in her story? haha

I guess people associate fat people or people that are attracted to fat people as lower class? I'm not really sure. It's clearly supposed to contrast with what you think their jobs would be.

 

[Baconsammy]

It's interesting that black women are actually the most reticent, statistically, to marry outside their race.

Is that stat based on interviews with black women or just the fact that there's fewer instances of marriages involving a black woman and a non-black male? In other words, is it that black women are reticent to marry a non-black male or non-black males are reticent to marry black women?

 

[truly101]

SUGAR DOWN BELOW sounds like a Steven Seagal flick.

It fits the 3 word Steven Segal rule. Marked for Death, Above The Law, The Glimmer Man. My firends often joked that Under Siege was decent because it was only two words.

 

[Opiate]

Is that stat based on interviews with black women or just the fact that there's fewer instances of marriages involving a black woman and a non-black male?

The latter. Despite the fact that there are proportionally more unmarried black women than there are any other race/gender combination, black women remain the least likely (Again, proportionately) to marry outside their race.

 

[SnakeswithLasers]

Solution: stop listening to your husbands? Stop marrying black dudes, if necessary? Being fat isn't the recipe for health or success or anything good in life.

I know that obesity is correlated to health problems, but is it necessarily a health problem in and of itself?

I mean, let's say you're overweight because you eat too much. But you exercise and the food you eat isn't loaded with bad shit.

Maybe she just didn't get missed by red beans and rice, and now she shakes that healthy butt.

Are the pounds a problem, or are the problems just correlated with the usual foods that make people obese?

 

[Baconsammy]

The latter. Despite the fact that there are proportionally more unmarried black women than there are any other race/gender combination, black women remain the least likely (Again, proportionately) to marry outside their race.

Did you catch my stealth edit/addition? Regardless, that's an interesting stat.

 

[Schlep]

It's interesting that black women are actually the most reticent, statistically, to marry outside their race.

I think that's a bit of an oversimplification. Being with a black woman is seen as a downgrade for anyone who isn't black by a large percentage of people in the US. So not only do they need to be open to dating outside their race, they need guys who are also willing to date outside their race and do not see being with them as a last resort.

 

[Opiate]

Did you catch my stealth edit/addition? Regardless, that's an interesting stat.

It's very difficult to control for those sorts of questions in studies, but it is fair to say that black women are significantly more financially successful than are black males, which generally correlates strongly with one's ability to find a mate.

I think that's a bit of an oversimplification. Being with a black woman is seen as a downgrade for anyone who isn't black by a large percentage of people in the US. So not only do they need to be open to dating outside their race, they need guys who are also willing to date outside their race and do not see being with them as a last resort.

Can you explain why Black men do not face similar problems? Because they do not, despite being significantly less educated and less professionally successful than are black women, in aggregate. Black men are one of the most likely gender/race combinations to marry outside their race, proportionately.

 

[Ghost_Protocol]

Jesus Christ....... Why? Why? Why? "Black Women are unattractive" "Black women are fat" "Black women won't marry outside race"

Does having a fucking black first lady in the white house give ANYONE pause before writing these kids of things? They serve no one.

 

[EviLore]

Jesus Christ....... Why? Why? Why? "Black Women are unattractive" "Black women are fat" "Black women won't marry outside race"

Does having a fucking black first lady in the white house give ANYONE pause before writing these kids of things? They serve no one.

You don't address problems by ignoring them.

 

[Stet]

Obviously there's something wrong with lawyers and tenured professors.

 

[Futureman]

That 4 out of 5 stat is crazy. This country needs serious food reform.

 

[Opiate]

Jesus Christ....... Why? Why? Why? "Black Women are unattractive" "Black women are fat" "Black women won't marry outside race"

Does having a fucking black first lady in the white house give ANYONE pause before writing these kids of things? They serve no one.

I'm not sure what you're looking for: many of these are things which we can actually study and find empirical evidence for. Black women are significantly more likely to be overweight. Black women are less likely to marry outside their race.

Do we deny these realities because they are uncomfortable? Or because some bigots may exaggerate or distort these facts to claim that all black women are fat, or that they are all fat because there is something inherently wrong with them? I agree, those are concerns. Racism is a real problem -- I'm just not sure that ignoring reality is the right response to that problem.

 

[Admiral Bone to Pick]

Black people are more likely to be overweight/obese. Women, on average, have higher BMIs than men. So it would make sense that black women, on average, would be exceptionally fat. Theres's also the fact that obesity is often linked with poverty and many black women live as single mothers and/or on minimum wage.

But hey, it's easier to blame black men I guess.

 

[Winnie the Pimp]

He's tasked with protecting a small sugar cane farm from being bought out by a larger suger super-corp and when he resists things get ugly?

if that shit ever saw the light of day in a cinema... DAY FUCKING ONE!!!!

 

[Spiffy_1st]

Ms. Shaw argues that the fat black woman’s body “functions as a site of resistance to both gendered and racialized oppression.” By contextualizing fatness within the African diaspora, she invites us to notice that the fat black woman can be a rounded opposite of the fit black slave, that the fatness of black women has often functioned as both explicit political statement and active political resistance.

Fatness is a statement to slavery? Yeah, sure.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

I don't know anyone (scratch that, I know one guy) who wants to date women over 200 lbs.

You can be fit and curvy, the two are not mutually exclusive like Sir Mix-a-Lot would lead you to believe.

When the biologist Daniel Lieberman suggested in a public lecture at Harvard this past February that exercise for everyone should be mandated by law, the audience applauded, the Harvard Gazette reported. A room full of thin affluent people applauding the idea of forcing fatties, many of whom are dark, poor and exhausted, to exercise appalls me. Government mandated exercise is a vicious concept.

This is some straight bullshit right here.

 

[Baconsammy]

Jesus Christ....... Why? Why? Why? "Black Women are unattractive" "Black women are fat" "Black women won't marry outside race"

Does having a fucking black first lady in the white house give ANYONE pause before writing these kids of things? They serve no one.

Is your message a warning that the "black first lady in the white house" is going to come get us? Or are you saying we're not allowed to discuss topics based in actual statistical fact? It's not racist to do so. And honestly, I find the marriage statistic really interesting.

 

[Opiate]

Just so it's clear I'm not making stuff up (and because people find these issues contentious), here is one of many articles on the interracial marriage issue.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Media/black-women-marry-interracial-marriage-common/story?id=10830719

22 Percent of black men marry outside their race, while only 9 percent of black women do, despite the fact that black women are, again, significantly more educated, and more professionally successful. The net result is that there are proportionately more unmarried black women in America than there are any other gender/race combination.

When ABC News spoke with one group of black women the consensus was that they want to get married, and their preference was to marry a black man.

 

[samus i am]

I think the problem is that there are no negative connotations with being overweight in the black community. You point out the negative health factors and people just flat out don't care.

 

[captmcblack]

I think black women are obese for exactly the same reason American people are obese - because of convenience food culture, because of food marketing culture, because of the cost in money/time/effort to eat healthy, because of quick-fix culture (why exercise when you can binge on Stacker 5 and Shake Weights!), and so on.

But the image of the sassy black overweight "mammy" is so ingrained in American imagery since back in the day that it's easier to see it as some black woman-specific issue...right? I mean, there are just as many negative connotations with being overweight/obese in the black community as there is in any other community (ironically, no one else seems to be grouped monolithically like this, but whatever), but if you aren't black in America, all you see and think you know is what you see in media - and in media, black women are either neck-snapping, eye-rolling ohnoyoudidn't hood chicks, rap video chicks, or Mo'Nique/Precious. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground for black women anymore.

 

[LQX]

Kind of of put your on twist on the article title no? Makes it more controversial. The original is "Black Women and Fat".

 

[Slayven]

I think black women are obese for exactly the same reason American people are obese - because of convenience food culture, because of food marketing culture, because of the cost in money/time/effort to eat healthy, because of quick-fix culture (why exercise when you can binge on Stacker 5 and Shake Weights!), and so on.

But the image of the sassy black overweight "mammy" is so ingrained in American imagery since back in the day that it's easier to see it as some black woman-specific issue...right?

That is what I wanted to say but couldn't find the words.