We were talking about women flutist that are fat. The world seems a lot more excepting me men that are over weight that women.

Piko:"When I think obese I don`t think chubby... not even pear shaped... but more of a blueberry. A large circle. Where it pains you to see the person."

It doesn`t matter. Big, round, "blueberry" guys are still accepted. Not females, in fact, not even "chubby" or "pear-shaped" females receive much acceptance.

Think about the pressure on females to be thin. Check out the ratio (female vs male) for eating disorders. Pretty significant.

It`s looked at as a character flaw, a weakness, making her a "lesser" being than others.

It needs to be recognized for what it is. Two children, same family, same lifestyle (eating patterns and activity level), yet one is heavy, one is thin. There MUST be a genetic component (one heavy parent, one thin). How is that a character flaw anymore than what color eyes you inherit.

Sure there is a behavior componenet - there always is to some degree. But, the behavior is the RESULT of the weight, NOT the cause. More weight=less activity=even more weight=even more activity etc.

If one is of average height and restricts themselves to a 1500 calorie/day diet they will not be fat.

There is no fat family lineage. Look to modern day Europe and Latin America or the US in the in the early 20th century.

People are fat because they love to eat and cannot stop themselves from eating too much. They supersize their meals... with a diet coke.

In old American culture weight used to be a sign of wealth, now it is a sign of over indulgence. Men used to stuff their cheeks to counter any signs of gauntness, George Washington himself did this with odd ball shaped inserts.

"If one is of average height and restricts themselves to a 1500 calorie/day diet they will not be fat."

Sorry, but I have to strongly disagree!
I recommend that you go take to a nutritionist or a doctore before making that speculation.

My sisters best friend was obese because of a thyroid problem. Doctors caught is and now she is a LOT thinner.

There is more behind it then just eating too much.

PS, I was on a medication that made me gain 30 pounds in two months.

As soon as I got off of it, I lost the weight.

If one is of average height and restricts themselves to a 1500 calorie/day diet they will not be fat.

Only in normal circumstances. My best friend was forced to take steroids for a long time to avert liver failure due to an auto-immune disease. She gained a huge amount of weight while she was too ill to eat more than a couple of kiwis and slices of bread a day. And she was of very slim build prior to her illness.

The fact is that, in general, obesity is much, much more unacceptable in women than in men. We make judgements about people who are fat, whether consciously or unconsciously, and it`s not acceptable.

If you do not consume, you cannot gain under most realistic circustances.

Unlike, of course the UNrealistic one I`ve just described to you?

Whatever the facts, I find your judgemental attitude ("it pains one to see an obese person) to be quite insulting.

Hmm. If only this had an edit function. Having re-read this thread- you do state, Piko, that you have nothing against fat people, so perhaps my being insulted is a bit of an over-reaction, I can see that you were being fairly objective- unlike, of course, me!

You noticed my weight? lol

It can only take a person who isn`t truly obese themselves to be able to make a judgement like that.

While I am not obese myself, I still do find it offensive. People are judged way too quickly by others if they have the slightest thing wrong with them.

I aggree with Piko that if a person doesn`t over eat, that person won`t be over weight. Unless there`re some disease affecting them, but I doubt this is the case most of the time when I see over-weight people.

As for different standards, well men are expect to have money and power while women should have looks :p

I hope you`re joking about the men/women thing, otherwise I shall be forced to reach into the computer screen and strangle you!!

OK, I take it back :p I wasn`t very serious ... and I will listen to any flutists play if they`re good.

I think one of the problem with the difference in men and women might just be that there`re more men soloists in instruments (at least it seems that way to me), so a few ugly ones slip through even though society tries to keep them down

Meenie, I hope you bloat up into the size of a car so that you can feel what it is like. Not everyone can throw up there food after they eat.