Check out this opinion piece by Nia Vardalos, the writer and star of one of my fave chick flicks, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I love that she not only makes some really great points, but she also proves her mettle as a writer, beyond movie dialogue (which is tough enough!).
I've always said that being fat is harder on women than it is on men. Not only is there a lot more societal pressure to be stick thin rather than just healthy, which men don't seem to get, but it's a lot harder to be seen as physically attractive if you're even ten or fifteen pounds overweight. Anyway, it seems I'm not the only one thinking these things. There's an article in the NYTimes today about overweight and obese women doing worse than men financially, an interesting angle on the effects of obesity, and in it they say: Why doesn’t body size affect men’s attainment as much as women’s? One explanation is that overweight girls are more stigmatized and isolated in high school compared with overweight boys. Other studies have shown that body size is one of the primary ways Americans judge female — but not male — attractiveness. We also know that the social stigma associated with obesity is strongest during adolescence. So perhaps teachers and pee...
Comments