So I have been waiting a while now to start writing my first blog, trying to calculate what could be an interesting starter topic to get stuck into in the hope that whatever I chose wouldn’t send people running/to sleep. I stumbled across what I hope is the answer while watching a video on the internet recently which has been floating around Facebook and other spots where these kind of videos tend to float, so I am sure you will all have seen it already. There were a few reasons for this choice- firstly, the video was pretty hilarious and the kind of thing I’m always happy to spend a few minutes watching on-line. Secondly, I felt that it touched on some pretty messed up elements in regards to our society today- but maybe not in the way that seemed obvious at first viewing….
Before we begin, I want to briefly mention one of the biggest problems facing developed countries today- they simply have too many fat people. Now, the statistics on their numbers and their health problems are quite literally so numerous that I could fill the entire blog with examples and they would still be shocking you by the time you reached the end. However, here are a select few:
-In the UK, nearly two thirds of men and women are overweight or obese (yes that is 2 in 3 people, as in 66%, as in well over half of ALL ADULTS)
-29% of girls and 26% of boys in the UK are overweight or obese (that’s the future leaders/politicians/sport stars, who haven’t yet had all that many years to cram themselves with food)
-AT LEAST 2.8 million people die each year from being overweight or obese (that’s equivalent to the whole of Jamaica dying every year, again and again)
So whilst these remain fresh in the mind, back to the video. I was wondering if by now readers may have even guessed the video in question, but I thought I’ve probably not been quite specific enough for them to do so. It involved a recent ‘social experiment’ (the term experiment used very loosely here) in which a pretty, young lady dressed in a suit which made her look like she had never heard of a salad, let alone eaten one before. Her chin was made to look like she was storing food from a previous feeding bout and her gut was sufficiently swollen to prompt at least one pregnancy related question. She then set up tinder dates with unsuspecting men (her profile pics all showed her as being slim and beautiful) and the resulting responses were both awkward and hilarious in equal measure. Maybe more on the hilarious side if I had to pick.
Before going any further, I suggest you watch the thing here:
Having watched it and had a look over some of the comments and the general fall out it created, I couldn’t help feel that there was something that left me feeling uneasy…. something nagging at the back of my mind, going against all the responses that living in a country where everything is ‘fair’ and ‘politically correct’ had trained my head to generate. It wasn’t the treatment of the lady in question or the responses of the men, or even the secret filming of these lads who I’m sure wouldn’t have signed up for this kind of thing in a million years. It was the fact that every single response article, comment or news report on the event seemed to think the men’s responses were somehow unfair or wrong.
As the rates of obesity steadily rise (this woman would certainly have been obese if she really was that size), it is only logical to presume the social attitude toward the problem will shift. If there are suddenly a growing number of extremely fat people in a country, then those who are only a little large will start to look normal or even slim. Living in the UK I must admit it has certainly become normalised to me without me even realising it- I don’t think there is often a time where a walk to the shops doesn’t provide at least a few figures to view in shock/amazement/wonder (viewpoint dependant).
Have we now arrived at a point where a fat lady in society, who tricks a man into thinking she is skinnier than she really is, expects the man in question to not only remain calm and composed with the whole situation, but also to finish the date off and act as though nothing is wrong? Does this hint at the most extreme example of the shifting social attitude I mention above?
Now, many of the responses focused on the contrast between this and the reverse video, in which a man was made to look equally fat and the same types of situation were played out (can be found at the same link). However, in this video the women were far more accommodating and one even gave the guy a kiss at the end of the date! This fuelled the respondents to discuss how ‘shallow’ men were in general, but I will put forward a different view.
It is responses like these which are leading to the normalisation of fat people. Being fat is unattractive to the majority, and millions of years of human evolution have shaped what we are attracted to in order to benefit the human species. Imagine an alien viewing us with no prior knowledge or preconceptions. They would see particular individuals that eat so much food, that possess so little self control, yet even when they can witness the results of this excessive eating on their day to day lives and their overall health they cannot stop. The result is a build up of so much fat spread across their bodies (due to the huge calorie surplus and the need to store all this excess energy) that movement and exercise becomes difficult and their appearance changes. This is becoming normal.
(Note: I would like to mention here that I do not include in this group the various people who are overweight because of genetic/health problems and other unpreventable reasons- I feel real pity for these people, as I do for anyone who has a health issue which impacts on their everyday lives in such a way.)
Now if these women responded positively to the fat male in the video because they found themselves enjoying his company and wanted to take things further, fantastic. They responded in the perfect way. However, if they responded in this way to pity the man, or to boost his self confidence, this is wrong. He doesn’t need his confidence boosted so he can feel he is normal. He is by no means normal, and we cannot have a society that thinks he is.
If the woman in question is so fat that any man that goes to meet her is immediately put off by her size, then she needs to know this is the case and that she has to do something about it. If she doesn’t want to then that is entirely her choice, but she expects men to stick around and pity her in order to prevent upsetting her feelings? Rubbish I think, not to mention dangerous and expensive for the tax payer.
Luckily for us, some sanity remains and the men (bar one) managed to each find their own way to remove themselves from the situation. They often employed pretty hilarious methods, mainly I believe because they couldn’t face the awkward moment of telling her to her face. Maybe in ten years time, if these respondents get their way, there will be a video in which all the male subjects sit through the date politely, pay heavily to satisfy the ladies hunger and plan a second meet. At least she will be happy. The humour would be gone if nothing else.
It’s no surprise as far as I’m concerned so many people walk around cities like London with a notable lack of a smile, or any form of social happiness or engagement. They are living out their lives in a grey concrete jungle, with no wildlife or signs of the natural world, terrible weather and with around two thirds of their potential mates now being altered in a way that makes them less attractive. At least they have ‘wealth’, I suppose.
Please leave a comment to let me know your own opinion on the issue, after all the purpose of this article is to stimulate productive discussion. I’m sure there will be the influx of angry responses- but that will only prove my point… or maybe the sane will reveal themselves.
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