Fat Rant

[Joe Goodwin]

No: HPFGUIDX 150590

  
> kchuplis:
> Well, to be honest, I think we are talking about "gluttony" as 
> in "greedy" when it comes to the characters you refer too, which 
> is different than this constant pressure to be Kate Moss that 
> girls undergo and yes, being called FAT at 130 lbs.
   
  Joe: 
Depending on height and physical conditioning a good many people 
could be fat at 130lbs. If a person is five feet or less and without 
significant muscle mass they are probably fat.
    
Kchuplis: 
> I believe that her point was what is actually "normal" weight for 
> girls is now often looked upon as being "fat" and that yes, it is 
> something people seem to abhor. Perhaps it is dawning on her now 
> (after all, she is quite the attractive lady, but has now had to 
> fight the battle of age and getting back in shape).
   
  Joe: 
There is no normal weight. We talk about teen girls being too thin 
in response to societal pressures but the truth is far more young 
girls (and boys) have overweight issues than they do with other 
eating disorders.
      
Kchuplis:
> Oddly enough, my supervisor related seeing a relative she had not 
> seen in a long time yesterday and the opening comment her relative 
> had was "you look great for your size". Now, my super is maybe 30 
> lbs overweight. <snip>
   
  Joe: 
For most heights for women thirty pounds would be medically obese. 
Now it was a rude thing to say no doubt.

Magpie: 
>> <snip> But to me it just encourages this swing from one extreme to 
the other: someone that thin "must" be anorexic, imo, suggests this 
idea that you're either "normal" (even if normal means unhealthily 
overweight) or "anorexic."  Just as at the other end of the spectrum 
having breasts is considered fat. <snip> << 
   
  Joe: 
I have to agree but I think it goes even further. Most people are 
totally focused on their weight as expressed in pounds. The truth is 
that body fat percentage is far more important than just the pounds 
you weigh. A person who has 14% bodyfat at 250lbs is going to look 
and feel better that the person who has 22% bodyfat at 180 lbs.

Magpie:
>> Within canon, for me I don't think there's some line drawn between 
thin/good people and bad/fat people.  But there are scenes where I'm 
uncomfortably aware of the way fat seems to be portrayed. <snip> But 
the pudgier characters do seem often trapped by their gluttony and 
their size often seems far more surreal than the thinness of the thin
people.  Dudley's a killer whale who takes up the whole side of the 
table, Slughorn takes up half a store iirc.  Both of them seem like 
walking garbage disposals who steal and eat anything.  (Even Crabbe 
and Goyle are pranked with laced cakes and pudgy Neville eats the 
canary cream). <snip> <<
   
  Joe: 
The reason it doesn't bother me is because people like that exist. In 
fact it would be the mark of a less aware writer if they didn't 
include people like that. I have to disagee with the thin characters 
issue though. I think the skinny characters are shown quite 
accurately as well.

Magpie:
>>  So I don't know...I've got no problem with the idea that women 
should be judged on things other than their weight.  I quite agree 
with it.  But it still seems about as daring a thing to say as doing 
a rant about how racism is bad. <snip> <<
   
  Joe: 
I think it is far more complex though than any racial issue. There is 
no doubt that people should not be judged on their weight. It can be 
said however that on average overweight people are less productive 
and require greater utilization of healthcare resources. Also fueling 
the public debate is the perception, in most cases rightly so, that 
obesity is controllable.
   
In Harry Potter terms an obese wizard is likely to be a far poorer 
dueler than a non-obese wizard. I think that might be why we see so 
few portly wirards and witches.
   
  Joe