Is Obesity Considered A Norm For African American Women?
Has obesity become the new norm for African Americans? This seems to be a growing trend in the black community seeing as to the fact that there is a staggering new statistic floating around: 4 out of 5 black women are considered obese. Now am I not the only one that sees the problem in this? This number is ridiculously high.
Obesity is a growing epidemic in this country. Everywhere you turn there are new reality shows popping up everywhere and obesity is an issue that is being increasingly discussed in the media. Take a look at new shows like Huge on ABC Family, which is a show about fat girls and how they spend their summers at fat camp. Biggest Loser is another popular show that basically puts overweight people in a weird reality TV show boot camp. There are several shows that are popularized by the same story line; I mean everyone loves a good weight loss story right? I can count numerous different episodes of Oprah that feature heart wrenching weight loss stories while Oprah nods along sympathetically.
However, Oprah herself is a victim of battling with weight issues. The media puts her weight under a lot of scrutiny. Oprah is not the only black female in the industry that struggles with weight issues. I can name a whole list of black female celebrities that have been scrutinized about their weight, Tyra Banks, Jennifer Hudson, Star Jones, Queen Latifah, Gabourey Sidibe (from Precious) to name a few.
When you think about it, it’s a lot easier to make a list of black actresses that have struggled with their weight than it is to make a list of white actresses that struggle with weight loss. Usually white actresses struggle with the opposite problem which is being accused of being too skinny or anorexic.
But the sole question is why are African American women the ones that have the harder time with this? Among African-Americans 20 years and older, more than two-thirds are overweight or obese defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 25 pounds or more.
It seems to be known that the African American standard for weight is a little skewed as opposed to other cultures. More curvaceous bodies are seen as attractive to African American men. It’s almost as if the body image is distorted the opposite way. African American women who are thicker seem to be fighting weight loss, while more slender black women are struggling to gain weight. What is alarming about the statistic that 4 out of 5 black women are obese is that some women are choosing to be at that weight. Obese women are at higher risk for developing high blood pressure or diabetes.
I can see how this is a cultural norm with the African American culture, that “thicker” girls are seen as sexier and more attractive than skinnier girls. Beauty standards across cultures can vary. What one culture may deem beautiful, another may think “hideous”. Back in the day before rail thin supermodels walked the earth, it was standard for people to view more voluptuous women as more attractive, with a biological reasoning behind it. Thicker women were seen as healthier and more fertile, making them more attractive to males wanting to start a family. And then Twiggy walked off of a plane from England and all hell broke loose.
In some African and Asian cultures elongated necks are considered to be beautiful, so women wear spiral metal coils to push down the collar bone and ribs to create the effect of an elongated neck. Dayaks in Borneo consider severely elongated earlobes to be beautiful so heavily adorned jewelry is worn to stretch out earlobes. We may find this odd, even disgusting at times but that is what is considered beautiful in those cultures, so who are we to judge?
The same goes for African American culture that thicker women are considered to be more attractive, but on the other hand there is a very fine line between being “thick” and obese. Obesity is a serious health issue, and with African Americans being the most obese group in the United States it is a growing problem that needs to be recognized. Every culture has their own standard of beauty but when it comes to threatening health, it should be altered slightly. I’m all for “big is beautiful” but the lines between big and obese are becoming blurred. There’s nothing wrong with having a little bit of ‘cushion for the pushin’ but remember to keep it healthy ladies because with these types of statistics, African American women can be headed down a dangerous road.
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I am so with you on this. I had a giveaway on my youtube channel where I was giving away t-shirts. I had small medium and large. I had to wind up spending $30 more to include X-Large, 2XL and 3XL. The largest group was XXL. I found that disturbing. I got a gym membership two years ago and I checked my BMI. It said that I was 30% fat which put me in the obese category. I thought I must have done it wrong so I asked a trainer to do it and it was correct. I am 5’2″ and my home scale says 120 (though the one at the doctor says between 124-129 on any given trip). We met each other at the Kim Coles Grow Out challenge. If you remember me you will see that I don’t appear to be obese but looks can be deceiving. My body has taken a turn for the worse over the past few years with ailments popping up and I acquired some hard core cellulite. I say this to say that if you can’t even really tell I’m obese then can you imagine the diagnosis for our sisters who are very obviously “thick” or obese? Maybe cushion for the pushing is not all its cracked up to be. Also in high school when I was considered thick everybody in my dance class considered me fat. I couldn’t get a guy that wanted to dance with me because of my 125 pound frame. These examples may be a bit more extreme but you get my meaning I’m sure.
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Thank you for reading the article. I must tell you that I did not write this article. So the information and research I didn’t do. However, I do understand your point of view. In either case, African American women need to be more conscience of their health and their food intake. I found the article interesting enough because of the provocative suggestion. African American tend to pride themselves on being “chunky but funky” or having a little meat on their bones. Is it suppose to be that way through evolution?