Love/Hate...

Photo: © Stan Banos

Wish I could be so unabashedly, unashamedly proud of my body as the person pictured above. You know, comfortable in your own skin so to speak; just able to let it all hang out and let everyone else deal with any consequent visual dilemma, as perhaps it should be. I dunno. Fine for some, and I really kinda admire them, even though it sorta grosses me out at the same time- and it's just as much my own reflection of self, as of anyone else. But then, isn't life just chockful of these walking/waking contradictions...

Ya see, back in the day, growing up, everyone knew where they ranked on the physical attractiveness/social standing scale- fat people, skinny people, hot, smart, athletic, etc. Sure beauty was still in the eye of the beholder, but ya couldn't talk, fool, bargain your way out of your generally agreed upon classification. I mean, if you were borderline, you could gain a few points and raise your social strata if you were somehow stylishly cool and wore it well. But even most of those attempts were doomed to hideously crash and burn. Nature's just so damn hard to upend, most people just grew into their physical destiny, and learned to deal with what society and their bodies dealt them. 

Shit's different nowadays, it started towards the very end of the 20th century. I remember watching Oprah one afternoon; a doctor was describing the dangers of obesity: high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, shortened life span and a myriad of other symptoms and diseases. And then what seemed like the very next day (could have been a week, month or year- I wasn't a regular viewer) there were all these people celebrating how big they were, how large they were, how it was AOK to love, love, love yourself no matter what size you were- it was all good! Five-two and 325? You're good girl- and fine too! Talk about mixed messages...

Then there were the new class of young-uns, overweight or not, who were now presenting themselves as absolute physical paradigms, as being all that, when they very much weren't, not even close! Their origin story didn't matter: blue bloods, inner city, suburbs, trailer parks, black or white, fat or thin, male, female, or... Thing was, they weren't trying to fool themselves, or anyone else- they actually believed it! Delusion's a whole lot easier than a well grounded acceptance of self or anything resembling a more rational societal reset. Everyone a Supasta!

Ironically, to this day, parents still complain that their overweight child is teased and bullied at school. Really? Today, when obesity is practically the norm across this country and rapidly spreading throughout the 'developed' world except in the absolute poorest of countries? I hate bullies, and no one should be body shamed! But if your kid is being bullied today- dollars to doughnuts, it's something more than just the extra pounds. And it's always good to find out why, before they indulge in the other prevalent obsession of our day- procuring assault weapons.