Hot New Skool Babes

[nomadthethird]

OK, but aren't the majority of anorexics young women who do have an active interest in fashion and celebrity culture? Or is this just a stereotype?

I think there's a social taboo aganst telling people that they're too fat, because it's considered cruel, whereas pointing out someone's thinness is "concern".

Isn't there actually a fat people's rights group in the states? That's like something out of a Judge Dredd comic.

Anorexia nervosa was primarily diagnosed in affluent white women, until more recently. This could be partially due to the social biases of clinicians--it's usually believed that thin men are just naturally thin, because men aren't naturally concerned with body image. (Not true, it turns out.) If anorexia were a disease caused entirely by the media or psychosocial factors, however, you'd expect a lot more people to have it. Here's a brief article about the genetic factors involved and what it all means.

I'm all for extending rights to the obese--there are plenty of people who are obese for medical reasons entirely beyond behavioral concerns--but I just don't understand the idea that it's unhealthy for people to be attracted to healthier, lower BMI folks. I don't get it. Evolutionarily, it makes all kinds of sense that people are attracted to good cardiac health.

 

[nomadthethird]

Another reason why anorexia was only diagnosed in affluent white women: they were the only ones who could afford the diagnosis.

 

[nomadthethird]

The social studies mafia sees a phenomenon, and because they have decided that everything is caused by these nebulous entities that they call "social" or "cultural" forces, they believe that they can simply explain anything and everything away using these vague, elliptical terms without further qualification or explication. Usually, if further qualification comes, it's a bunch of footnotes or references to books on metaphysics written by some dead white guy 400-4000 years ago.

If anyone questions this, or perhaps sees value in the more rigorous standards of the hard scientific approach, they are a neo-liberal or a kkkapitalist.

 

[poetix]

MES has some taste in women. As witness: current keyboard player.

Special talent: glacial sexiness while playing keyboards. Which is what you want from a keyboard player, really. It's not an easy instrument to look sexy playing.

Come to think of it, I like women who play bass. Big, fuck-off Fender P-basses for preference. Form your own conclusions - you know you have already...

 

[nomadthethird]

That Blonde Redhead girl plays bass, or she did once when I saw them... can't find any pictures.

There's one:

 

[scottdisco]

wonderful shout from Poetix

 

[scottdisco]

more musicians

Susie Ibarra, long had a jones for her

 

[poetix]

wonderful shout from Poetix

Yeah, that's the stuff.

I don't want it up me, as such. I just think it looks awesome.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

fully agree w/where you're going here. couple points, as I think about this topic all the time.

80% of the U.S. population is overweight or obese

it's actually more like 2/3 - which is obv still terrible - of adult Americans are overweight & of those half, so 1/3, obese. an even more disturbing stat is that 19% of American children ages 6-11 are overweight. see here

I can't really speak to the complaining about celebrities' thinness angle cos I don't watch a lot of TV &, not to sound righteous or anything, I find celebrity culture & the worship therein to be loathsome, as well as sad. one interesting thing tho - the recent & massive popularity of reality shows where fat people, celebrity & otherwise, compete to lose the most weight.

not to state the obvious, but a huge point to remember is that the gross unhealthiness, both quality & quantity-wise, of the American diet cannot be separated from the economic side, the endless drive to get people to buy more cheap, unhealthy crap. there's a kind of cognitive dissonance between the media images of buff, toned, people & the incredible saturation of advertising - often of course the two even go hand in hand. going into large American supermarkets makes me feel nauseous. just how much of everything there is, the insane amount of brands & utterly worthless or even harmful crap, the unhealthy people shoveling unhealthy crap into their carts, etc.

There are mountains of evidence that a calorie restricted diet actually prolongs life, diets lower in saturated and trans fat are heart healthier, people with lower BMIs are less likely to die of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, or other illnesses...From where I sit it looks like people don't care enough about their weight.

all true of course. what really kills me is that it's not difficult or expensive - in fact, it's often cheaper - to eat healthy, nourishing food. so much of it is just ignorance, which of course hits the poor/uneducated/etc. the hardest. I fucking hate the term & concept of "health food" b/c it's made it seem like healthy food is only accessible to wealthy, privileged people. which is simply not true (tbc here I'm talking only about the global north or other places where there is an abundance of food).

I've found that, like anything, just telling people to eat better or berating them never never works b/c it then becomes a moral issue, or like you're scolding them, & they stop listening. far better to convince them why eating healthier is to their benefit. same w/re: to exercise - the way I got my stepdad, the most sensible man in the world, to start going to the gym 3x a week was by pointing out how much $ he'd be saving himself in future medical costs.

 

[poetix]

I'm also going to gesticulate predictably in the direction of Meg White. I don't know if I fancy her when she's not playing the drums, but I do know that I fancy her something rotten when she is.

 

[swears]

She had that weird zero degree ultra-cynic thing going on on Popworld, didn't she? A soul made of charcoal. But yes, she does look good, I concede.

Burgeoning militant dysphoria, if you ask me. An Ulrike Meinhof for the Urban Outfitters generation.

 

[nomadthethird]

fully agree w/where you're going here. couple points, as I think about this topic all the time.



it's actually more like 2/3 - which is obv still terrible - of adult Americans are overweight & of those half, so 1/3, obese. an even more disturbing stat is that 19% of American children ages 6-11 are overweight. see here

I can't really speak to the complaining about celebrities' thinness angle cos I don't watch a lot of TV &, not to sound righteous or anything, I find celebrity culture & the worship therein to be loathsome, as well as sad. one interesting thing tho - the recent & massive popularity of reality shows where fat people, celebrity & otherwise, compete to lose the most weight.

not to state the obvious, but a huge point to remember is that the gross unhealthiness, both quality & quantity-wise, of the American diet cannot be separated from the economic side, the endless drive to get people to buy more cheap, unhealthy crap. there's a kind of cognitive dissonance between the media images of buff, toned, people & the incredible saturation of advertising - often of course the two even go hand in hand. going into large American supermarkets makes me feel nauseous. just how much of everything there is, the insane amount of brands & utterly worthless or even harmful crap, the unhealthy people shoveling unhealthy crap into their carts, etc.



all true of course. what really kills me is that it's not difficult or expensive - in fact, it's often cheaper - to eat healthy, nourishing food. so much of it is just ignorance, which of course hits the poor/uneducated/etc. the hardest. I fucking hate the term & concept of "health food" b/c it's made it seem like healthy food is only accessible to wealthy, privileged people. which is simply not true (tbc here I'm talking only about the global north or other places where there is an abundance of food).

I've found that, like anything, just telling people to eat better or berating them never never works b/c it then becomes a moral issue, or like you're scolding them, & they stop listening. far better to convince them why eating healthier is to their benefit. same w/re: to exercise - the way I got my stepdad, the most sensible man in the world, to start going to the gym 3x a week was by pointing out how much $ he'd be saving himself in future medical costs.

good points

I eat terribly I have to admit. I've had McDonald's three times in three days.

 

[nomadthethird]

oh and let's not forget Dairy Queen

also I'm prehypertensive and three out of four of my grandparents have heart disease

 

[swears]

Sugary foods are the worst, they fuck with your insulin so you're hungry and depressed again 15 mins after that Snickers Duo you scoffed in the office out of boredom.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

couple more things

another big problem is that, like everything else, Americans (& perhaps Europeans, to a lesser extent), want to do health on the cheap. so - insanity like the Atkins craze (yes, the answer is fucking low-carb bread - shakes head), liposuction (which is cheap in time & commitment if not in $) & so on. but health, like everything worth doing, requires time & effort & discipline to do well.

I reckon the thing that puts a check on this madness - if anything can - will be, ironically or perhaps not, fatness itself. that is, the skyrocketing rates of diabetes, heart disease, etc. esp. w/the aforementioned mind-boggling levels of obesity among children. the current quandary about health care reform, for Americans - I can't even imagine how much health care costs would be reduced if a majority of Americans could be bothered to goddamn take care of themselves a little bit. of course a big problem here is that Western medicine is much better at crisis intervention than it is at promoting preventive measures like a healthy lifestyle. it just kills me that people can be so focused on their careers, possessions, etc. & not give any thought to their own health. another big problem is that people are so much less active than they were even 30 or 40 years ago.

personally I'm a fitness nut & I have been for a long time but again, as w/diet, I've come to the realization that positivity is the best way to lure people in. my attitude - it doesn't matter how much you're doing, how hard you're pushing yourself, just that you're doing it. worry about the rest later but the hardest step is always the first. also, I know, I cringe at how corny that sounds but it's true.

alright, I'm done. sorry, this is a massive part of my life (& will continue to be so, going into medicine).

 

[nomadthethird]

Sugary foods are the worst, they fuck with your insulin so you're hungry and depressed again 15 mins after that Snickers Duo you scoffed in the office out of boredom.

Yup. I feel the same way about anything that is made of wheat.

 

[nomadthethird]

couple more things

another big problem is that, like everything else, Americans (& perhaps Europeans, to a lesser extent), want to do health on the cheap. so - insanity like the Atkins craze (yes, the answer is fucking low-carb bread - shakes head), liposuction (which is cheap in time & commitment if not in $) & so on. but health, like everything worth doing, requires time & effort & discipline to do well.

I reckon the thing that puts a check on this madness - if anything can - will be, ironically or perhaps not, fatness itself. that is, the skyrocketing rates of diabetes, heart disease, etc. esp. w/the aforementioned mind-boggling levels of obesity among children. the current quandary about health care reform, for Americans - I can't even imagine how much health care costs would be reduced if a majority of Americans could be bothered to goddamn take care of themselves a little bit. of course a big problem here is that Western medicine is much better at crisis intervention than it is at promoting preventive measures like a healthy lifestyle. it just kills me that people can be so focused on their careers, possessions, etc. & not give any thought to their own health. another big problem is that people are so much less active than they were even 30 or 40 years ago.

personally I'm a fitness nut & I have been for a long time but again, as w/diet, I've come to the realization that positivity is the best way to lure people in. my attitude - it doesn't matter how much you're doing, how hard you're pushing yourself, just that you're doing it. worry about the rest later but the hardest step is always the first. also, I know, I cringe at how corny that sounds but it's true.

alright, I'm done. sorry, this is a massive part of my life (& will continue to be so, going into medicine).

It's hard isn't to constantly be thinking of things this way? I want to specialize in psychiatry and I still obsess about this shit.

But if you think your crusade will be over once you're around doctors, you can think again. I used to work across the street from Sloan Kettering, the world's most advanced cancer treatment facility and there were always at least a couple dozen ONCOLOGISTS outside smoking and yes eating at McDonalds.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

I eat terribly I have to admit. I've had McDonald's three times in three days.

You may already know all this but there's a few pretty simple things you can do to eat better. Cooking a bunch of stuff in advance & then refrigerating/freezing it so you have healthy food prepared for several days in case you're too busy to cook every day. Always having healthy snacks - fruits, veggies, nuts, etc. - around, especially when you're out & about, so you can eat them in place of giving in to junk food urges. Another one that's huge - & a massive culprit in the shiteness of the American diet - is staying on top of hidden calories. like, the mayonnaise in a sandwich, or snacking on stuff out of the box, or - the worst of them all - soft drinks.

not to get all crazy advice-dispensing on ya - it's just, again, that I'm way way into people eating better, feeling better, etc. it makes me feel good to see people have better health, esp. cos it's my own little piece of fighting back against the unhealthiness of the lifestyle here.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Going way, way off topic here, but I think it's worth mentioning that it's a scandal that grossly overfeeding your kids isn't more widely recognised as a form of neglect. I think there may have been a couple of watershed cases where parents have either had their kids taken off them or been made to sign an agreement to regulate their kids' weight or face having them taken into care. I think this was in Britain though - I imagine it'd be that much harder in the US what with the stronger historical tradition of personal freedom (or at least the perception thereof). Anyone here know anything more about this?

Anyway, to get back on track: I can't decide if India de Beaufort is actually hot, or just a bimbo with big norks and a good hair stylist...

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

But if you think your crusade will be over once you're around doctors, you can think again.

no I meant cos I'll eventually be treating many people who suffer from obesity & the related effects. I doubt doctors are much healthier than anyone else. the opposite I expect; long hours, not enough sleep, under tons of stress, very little free time to put into cooking/exercise/etc. (it obv depends on what kinda doctor you are too - I want to do trauma medicine in an ER)