[jgreene]

I just read an article about how girls in Mauritania have traditionally been force-fed until they are obese, because being fat in this African country has been a sign of beauty and wealth. In America, we are taught the opposite: That being thin is beautiful. We are surrounded by images of impossibly, unhealthily thin (often airbrushed) women, and women's magazines address weight issues ad nauseum. My question is why are external, superficial forces deciding what weight women should be? Who gets to decide what is attractive? Why can't a woman be the weight she naturally is, as long as she is healthy and her weight is not extreme either way (medically speaking)? Why can't we accept a variety of weights as attractive?