L'obesitie
My first reaction to the New York Times article about the French fight against obesity is that I feel really sorry for the model in that poster. I can't imagine being the spokesbody for Fat! Shame! nor can I imagine what the photo shoot must have been like. I guess it's kind of beside the point, yet that's what I keep thinking about.
posted by mo pie at 6:26 AM
8 Comments:
So what you're telling me is French women *do* get fat? ;)
That photo shoot had to be horrifying for her. Ten million dollars wouldn't have convinced me to do that. She is braver than I am, that's for sure.
Kristin
I agree, but one thing I found interesting is the text in the middle of the poster: "Ce n'est ni une faute, ni une fatalite, encore moins une plaisanterie," which approximately translates, "It is neither a failing, nor a destiny, even less a joke." (Or maybe more idiomatically, "It's not your fault. It's not your fate. But it's not a joke.") Which actually strikes me as a marked contrast to so many of the messages we get about obesity that tell us that it is a failing (how many times have we been told to 'just put down the donut'?) or that it is our fate.
I'm not sure that I think the image matches the message, or that the poster as a whole is effective, but it sure is interesting.
I would totally let my rolls hang out for a ton of money if they'd hide my face. They could even shine a kleig light on my back fat.
Interesting article.
I know that when I was a kid, fast food was a TREAT, not a regular thing. I am fat because up until recently I chose to eat fast food at least three times a week for lunch.
I wasn't eating TONS of food. I was eating bad quality high fat food.
Actually, it's a gorgeous photo. Leave it to the French to make even something they are trying to discourage look arty and beautiful. I wonder where it came from, and if it was actually taken expressly for this ad campaign? It kind of reminds me of some of the art shots I've seen fat-positive photographers take.
If the girl who won the singing contest is right, I love the thought of French people unclenching a little over the idea of fat women. When I was there in 1993 (and weighed about 240 or so), people would come up to me on the street - complete strangers - and tell me that I needed to eat less so I would lose weight. It was weird...not like the American "f*** you, fatty!" treatment - just these earnest strangers, usually women over 50, some of them on the chubby side, sidling up to me in the supermarket and gently advising me to put that chocolate bar down.
Wow, spaceling, very cool. Thanks for translating that.
I can't see this article, and I really wish I could. I lived in France for nine months a few years ago, and yes, there are larger Frenchwomen. (And scruffy ones, also, but usually not at the same time.)
While I was living there, I walked everywhere, and might even have lost some weight were there not a bakery on every street (slight exaggeration, OK).
There was a lot of discussion in the press at the time over how eating habits were changing - previously the norm was to eat well at meals, but not between, and "le snacking" was beginning to spread as a habit.
There was also a more open attitude to wanting to lose weight - cutesily advertised "produits minceur" in the window of the local pharmacy, which you wouldn't find in Britain.
K - If you ever need to get into a site with registration go to http://bugmenot.com to get a login. That site is almost as handy as google.
Heh, I find it funny that the doctor in this article is getting worried about a 23.6 BMI because when I reach my goal weight that is exactly what my BMI will be, to the decimal point.
Just to add to what Jen said, the CDC has a helpful page about interpreting BMI-for-age... just in case your interested in understanding the details of how it works for kids.
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