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Poll
What is the acceptable weight for a woman?
80-95 pounds 17%
95-100 pounds 5%
100-103 pounds 5%
103-104 pounds 0%
105-106 pounds 14%
107 pounds 0%
108.1 pounds 17%
108.2 pounds 38%

Votes: 34

 Obesity and the Jennifer Lopez Message

 Author:  Topic:  Posted:
Jul 11, 2001
 Comments:
These days, it seems you can't watch any entertainment program on television or read through any Hollywood magazine without being exposed to Jennifer Lopez, or "J. Lo", as she has dubbed herself. Lopez is a gifted singer, songwriter, and actress. Her work has garnered her well-deserved acclaim from industry pundits everywhere. She has legions of adoring fans, many of whom are impressionable teenage girls.

There's just one problem.

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Her butt is so huge that you could damn near land a helicopter on it.

Let me be the first to agree with the vast majority of Hollywood critics: Lopez is talented. Of this there can be no doubt. However, according to Hollywood Insider magazine, "J. Lo" spends the majority of her non-working hours at home, gobbling fudge by the handful. This is a poor and unfortunate lifestyle. Equally unfortunate are the hordes of women who are calling Lopez a "role model" for young women. How can we possibly, in good conscience, take a woman who has let herself go like this and call her a role model?

Now, I know what many of you must be thinking; namely, that we are sending the "wrong message" to girls when we tell them that they must be thin and fit. They'll say that this type of thinking will cause psychological damage to young women, and that many will fall victim to eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. I agree completely that we do not need hordes of teenaged girls clogging up restrooms, kneeling over the toilets, forearm lodged in their esophagus, yacking up plateloads of chili cheese fries. But this is not what I am advocating, and to suggest otherwise is to erect a strawman of nearly unimaginable proportions.

However, I will draw the line at telling young girls that it's "okay" to be fat. Only the most beslubbering of dodder-brained morons is unable to make the connection between obesity and an endless array of health problems, such as diabetes and heart disease. The lifespan of the average chronically fat person is decades less than that of a normal person, and telling girls that this bodily state is acceptable is like encouraging them to play Russian roulette or guzzle diesel fuel.

But obesity is much more than just a public health problem -- it's also a public wealth problem. My health insurance premiums (and yours) are much higher than they would be if fatness was not such a widespread problem. To be fair, my employer does cover most of the costs, but I am left holding the bag for the rest, and it does not please me to be subsidizing the milkshake and deep-fried cheese log habits of a large group of large American women. Furthermore, the considerable weight of many of these women takes an incalculable toll on our society's infrastructure. Many of these pieces of infrastructure (such as sidewalks, public transportation, etc.) are taxpayer-funded, and upkeep fees come directly out of my paycheck. Others, such as elevators, escalators, furniture, etc. are maintained by private business owners who pass obesity-related maintenance costs onto us in the form of higher prices for goods and services.

So where do we go from here? I have no problem with Lopez being a role model, so long as she is able to tear herself away from Chuck E. Cheese and get into a gym a few days a week. Perhaps we can get the U.S. Congress to pass a resolution urging Lopez to lay off of the pizza, glazed pastry, and candy bars. If she is unwilling to do so, then perhaps the Congress can enact some restrictions on how the media is allowed to portray Ms. Lopez. (If you think Congressional action is ludicrous, consider this: How important is the long-term health of American's current generation of teenage women?)

Our schools should be centers of learning, and they should instill in our young women a sense of self-image and and a set of good personal health habits. They should not be whale factories. They should not teach girls that it's okay to have an ass the size of Rhode Island. And they should not give these girls the idea that Jennifer Lopez is some kind of goddess that can do no wrong.

       
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Fool (2.66 / 3) (#7)
by Anonymous Reader on Wed Jul 11th, 2001 at 07:43:29 PM PST
I can't belive this story, she is hardly an obesse woman.

Either you are a complete idiot ot I just fed a troll.


Welcome to Adequacy (2.50 / 2) (#12)
by codemonkey uk on Thu Jul 12th, 2001 at 03:27:06 AM PST
All trolling, all the time.

Mu-ha-ha-ha-ha!


No Trolling at all. (3.00 / 2) (#13)
by Anonymous Reader on Thu Jul 12th, 2001 at 03:35:03 AM PST
Adequacy has a strict 'no trolling' policy. If you see something that looks like a troll, and it hasn't been deleted by the adequacy editors, then it is safe to assume that it is NOT a troll.

Secondly, I have to agree about 'J-Lo'. But she is not alone. I have seen some of the fattest people imaginable on my trips to the USA. Especially in the greater Chicago area. I think fatness is seen as a status symbol in the USA, much along the same lines as owning a pointless gas-guzzling SUV. They do it, not because they should, but because they CAN.


 
Small bit of advice (4.00 / 2) (#8)
by Anonymous Reader on Wed Jul 11th, 2001 at 08:07:04 PM PST
Go to an optometrist.


 
Large bottoms aren't a problem (5.00 / 2) (#9)
by Peter Johnson on Wed Jul 11th, 2001 at 08:30:07 PM PST
The important thing about a woman's body is her shoe size. You may disagree with you on this point, but I think I speak for most of the world's men when I say that once you start looking above the ankle, the ratio of bust to waists to hips is what really matters. As long as the waist is trim, the tits and ass should rounded and prominent. The goal here is 3-2-3 as exemplified by the ideal measurements of 36-24-36.

Of course bust measurements don't take into account cup size and this is important too. I like a 'C' on women shorter than 5'8". D cups on a petite woman look out of place.

I will agree that there are too many fat chicks here in the US, but while Ms. Lopez's ass is a bit large for my tastes, it's far from repulsive. I'd go so far as to call it "Adequate."

--Peter
Are you adequate?
--Peter
Are you adequate?

 
Obligations (5.00 / 1) (#10)
by theR on Wed Jul 11th, 2001 at 08:33:09 PM PST
You are obligated to give your own height, weight, and percentage of body fat at the beginning of a story like this. A truthful estimate for body fat would be acceptable if it is unknown.


It's all right to cry,
Crying takes the sad out of you.

-- Rosey Grier

All right (3.00 / 2) (#11)
by seventypercent on Wed Jul 11th, 2001 at 08:53:03 PM PST
I'm 6'0" tall and weigh 168 pounds.

I don't claim to be an Adonis by any means, but I at least watch what I eat and get some regular exercise .. concepts that are apparently lost on Ms. Lopez.

--
Red-blooded patriots do not use Linux.

 
comment deleted by jsm (3.00 / 2) (#14)
by jsm on Thu Jul 12th, 2001 at 03:39:53 AM PST
Please be warned that trolls are *not* tolerated on this site. Anonymous Reader, if you're looking for your comment, it isn't here any more.

... the worst tempered and least consistent of the adequacy.org editors
... now also Legal department and general counsel, adequacy.org

 
I like large butts and hips (5.00 / 2) (#19)
by typical geek on Thu Jul 12th, 2001 at 06:14:53 AM PST
but then, I'm very smart (genius level, even) and any of my children will have larger than normal heads (to accomadate their larger than normal brains), so a large hipped and butted woman would be better able to pass my spawn without having to rely on a C-section.

Maybe the preference for large butted women is related to an instinctual feel for how large one's babies will be.

Or maybe seventypercent is wishing for slim, boyish figures on women for other, unmentioned, slim boyish fantasies.


gcc is to software freedom as guns are to personal freedom.

Well (3.00 / 2) (#20)
by seventypercent on Thu Jul 12th, 2001 at 06:36:11 AM PST
Call me crazy, but in my opinion, when an ass is playfully slapped, it should not still be jiggling three hours later.

Ms. Lopez may find this acceptable; I, on the other hand, do not.

--
Red-blooded patriots do not use Linux.

 
don't be stupid (3.66 / 3) (#21)
by jsm on Thu Jul 12th, 2001 at 06:37:28 AM PST
how the fuck is a huge saddlebag full of lard going to make the birth canal any bigger? seventypercent is clearly talking about women who have grown dangerously obese through gorging on choclate fudge, not those who happen to have been born with wide hips. It is perfectly possible for a woman to have wide hips and still not be fat -- look at Kate Moss.

... the worst tempered and least consistent of the adequacy.org editors
... now also Legal department and general counsel, adequacy.org

Are you some lame ass lynx user? (4.00 / 2) (#22)
by typical geek on Thu Jul 12th, 2001 at 06:51:45 AM PST
trying to surf with the big boys on a 486 running Whinux? Becuase you obviouls haven't looked at the picture of J.Lo's ass. It's not fat, it's wide because of her wide pelvic area. A nice, strudy, breeder's ass who can pump out my puppies year after year.


gcc is to software freedom as guns are to personal freedom.

 
*second* comment deleted by jsm (3.00 / 2) (#23)
by jsm on Thu Jul 12th, 2001 at 06:55:20 AM PST
Can I remind *once more* that trolls are not tolerated on this site? Codemonkey_uk, your comment has been hidden.

... the worst tempered and least consistent of the adequacy.org editors
... now also Legal department and general counsel, adequacy.org

Really? (2.50 / 2) (#29)
by codemonkey uk on Fri Jul 13th, 2001 at 04:36:49 AM PST
Could you explain how postulating that a story is a troll is trolling? I even went so far as to say that it, of course, depends on your definition of "troll".

But, you know, whatever. It's not like it matters.


 
The real issue is childhood sexual abuse (2.66 / 3) (#24)
by Adam Rightmann on Thu Jul 12th, 2001 at 07:40:05 AM PST
Statistics have shown that most overweight women were sexually abused as children, and gained weight in an attempt to become sexually unattractive to their abusers. I see a couple of ways to address this.

  • A greater increase in faith based morality training to teach people that sexual abuse is bad.
  • Women must be taught to be more sexually available to their husbands, so that they don't seek sexual satisfaction outside of their marriage (including adultery and child abuse). While English Style Love is primarily used by deviants and homosexuals, some red blooded hetorosexual men occasionally want to try it, their wives should be willing.



A. Rightmann

 
J. Lo has no health problem (5.00 / 1) (#25)
by Anonymous Reader on Thu Jul 12th, 2001 at 08:17:16 AM PST
Interesting that you would choose Lopez as an example of someone who is overweight. Obesity is certainly a big problem in the US, but I don't think she's the fat poster child you're trying to make her -- I just looked over some of her online pics and she looks pretty healthy to me. Maybe Rosie O'Donnell is the one you should have chosen? I'd say you're trying to rationalize your own aesthetic preferences by making Lopez a stand-in for the millions of people who really have a weight problem. As regards the public health angle, there are any number of choices people make that increase their chance of being a burden on the health system (and by extension our wallets). Eating too much is just one of the ones that hasn't gotten as much attention as it merits. Allowing insurance companies to use more information (weight, age, even genetics) to set individual rates seems like a reasonable solution to me, and would encourage healthy behavior (including weight)...


 
I congratulate you on your courage (3.00 / 2) (#27)
by Anonymous Reader on Thu Jul 12th, 2001 at 03:57:37 PM PST
Both you, seventypercent, and the editors of this site who let the truth be posted. Hard as it may seem to believe, the media as a whole has not only been promoting this woman as a role model but also claiming that the image is one of leanness and health - despite the obvious evidence to the contrary. I see that even some of the readers here have fallen into their trap.

The last time I recall this being brought to the publics attention was by that icon of moderation, Zoe Ball on the UK's 'Radio 1' station. As I recall even such a well respected personality as herself was forced to later retract all comments, live on air by claiming that they were a 'joke'. How unlikely! Have you ever heard Mrs Ball deliver even a humorous line?

I hope that the editors at this site resist the public pressure which is doubtless already growing, and maintain this article as an important sign-post for those of us who are losing our way. Thank you.


 
She's a woman. (3.00 / 2) (#31)
by Anonymous Reader on Tue Jul 17th, 2001 at 08:21:00 AM PST
What's wrong with having a feminine body (which is what she has)? If you don't like it, I suggest you consider which way your sexuality is really orientated.


 
not fat! (none / 0) (#32)
by Nobody on Tue Aug 28th, 2001 at 07:39:34 AM PST
I detest the woman becaue (a) she's egotistical enough to call dub herself J-Lo ... ugh! ... and (b) her record releases cry out "cash-in", with her darting from pop genre to pop genre, making mediocre, formulaic contributions to each one. I'd add that I don't find her face overly attractive (skin too dark for my personal tastes).

Anyway ... she isn't fat! Her bum isn't unattractive! And she definitely isn't unhealthily obese.

Fatness isn't just judged by the size of your posterior - fat people also have flabby thighs, chubbier faces, bigger bellies, etc. I personally prefer a rounded, feminine bottom, rather than the tiny boyish supermodel bum that seventypercent evidently favours. I'd describe her figure as very feminine. It's just a shame about her music...


 

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