What is fat? Who is fat? Is the woman who eats 3 Big Macs to console her depressed, unsatisfied existence on her way home from her telemarketing job fat because she weighs 250 pounds?
Or is the woman fat who maybe wears a wears a size 6 pair of jeans when really she should be wearing a size 8, and thus the jeans hug her hips so tight that it pushes all her extra "skin" over the top of her pants making her belly appear perhaps larger and more jiggly than it normally is fat just because she is not rail thin?
Americans are crazy about fat and thin. Everywhere you look, people are sadly and unhealthily at both ends of the body fat spectrum. It seems extreme cases of obsese and skinny are all around us. Take a trip to any amusement park on a weekend and you'll see gobs of overweight adults and children, indulging in too large of portions and sugary sodas and fruit juices. But open any magazine and the images on the pages are so different from the real world that these women barely look like people. Stick thin models who on a bad day wear a size 0, most of whom aren't older than 21, also have been airbrushed so that even the tiniest dimple or flaw vanishes with the click of a mouse.
Focus for a second on Las Vegas - the land of healthy living - and the MTV VMAs where one controversial pop star's attempt to make a come back had a very bad choice of an outfit. Or, was it an inspired choice?
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, let the record reflect that Britney Spears IS NOT FAT. She may not boast the wash board abs and toned - from -dancing -all day bod she once sported during brighter days in her career, but she is not by any means, fat.
It is appalling for me as a woman to read and hear all the attacks accusing her of being fat. Click here to find just a sampling of these attacks: Britney Backlash. I'd like to see the majority of the people making those comments put on a black sequined bikini and strut around on stage in front of millions of people and then we'll talk about who's fat and who's not.
Now I am not saying I like Britney, or even support her lazy attempt to make a big come back, but what I do support is people promoting healthy body images.
What people should be talking about is her substance abuse problems, her neglect of her children, and the fact that she is so freaking lucky to be in a position where the world is watching her and she has the ability to touch people's lives and influence them, and she is too damn sick or blinded or whatever the excuse to realize the impact she could have on the world. Most people would die to be in her position - to make money singing and dancing and wearing sexy clothes. You've got a position of power - or at least a position in the spot light - use it to do something other than just hook up with college boys in the Downtown Standard pool, topless...
What Britney needs to do rather than spend time doing 1000 crunches a day like she used to, is do some serious soul searching and spend some time being a Mom to her children. Think about them first for a change instead of partying every night. And hey, maybe if she lays off the booze some of that extra belly flab will melt away and she'll look more like the toned sexpot that everyone praised her for before.
But even if she doesn't do this, let's lay off the fat jokes. If for no other reason then there are far better and more important things to criticize her for than her non-stick thin body and her poor outfit choices.
