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The Battalion
Monday
january 22, 1996
Opinion
Page 9
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FALIGN
America's Obsession with Weight
Fake fat has appeal but leads to real dangers
Thin people also face
weight discrimination
Aja
Henderson
Columnist
I t happened
just a few
days ago in
Blocker. There I
was, gazing at
the slowly mov
ing numbers
above the eleva
tor door when
She tapped me
on the shoulder. “Why, you are
so thin, dear! You are going to
have to wear lots of layers in
this weather to keep that tiny
body warm.” I gave the old bag
a half-smile as 1 steered my
sturdy 5’6", 105-pound body
out the door.
Is it just me, or could she
have kept that little comment
to herself?
That woman is more com
mon than you think. She is a
personification of an often
overlooked and hardly ever
discussed dilemma — thin dis
crimination. I define thin dis
crimination as the harass
ment, jesting, pestering and
abuse of naturally slender folk.
Thin discrimination runs
rampant and it must be halt
ed immediately. To be
stopped, it must first be rec
ognized. The discrimination
usually occurs on two fronts
— verbal and physical.
Verbal thin discrimination
involves niceties. A nicety is a
comment that is meant to be
“nice,” but is mainly nasty.
That comment in the elevator
was an example of a nicety.
Other niceties often involve
the word “bones.” The worst
nicety I’ve heard yet was when
a guy told me I would be PER
FECT—just as soon as I
“plopped out a few young uns.”
Needless to say, I was not too
flattered by that. Another ex
ample of verbal discrimination
is incorrectly labeling a person
as anorexic or a bulimic. Are
thin people not supposed to
work out to stay toned and in
shape? Are thin people not al
lowed a foot-long at Subway
without someone visualizing
them with their fingers in
their throats?
We get hungry too, you know.
Physical discrimination is
just as bad, if not worse. This
involves using
another’s slen
derness for the
exclusive pur
pose of making
that person per
form unpleas
ant tasks. I
cannot count
the number of
times I have been asked to
put one of my limbs behind
something for the purpose of
retrieving a trapped object.
And we are always the first
ones asked to contort or sit in
laps in a crowded car. I am
flexible, but I can only be
stretched so far. Ouch!
Another form of physical
abuse is the Finger Test. What
makes people think that slen
der people want«their wrists
and/or ankles squeezed
painfully as someone tries to
close his or her fingers around
that body part? Would they do
the same thing to an over
weight person? I don’t think so.
According to Cynthia Lont,
associate professor of commu
nication at Georgetown Uni
versity and a leading women’s
studies expert, the average
woman stands 5’4” and weighs
144 pounds. Unfortunately,
many women seem to be dis
content with this number,
probably because the media
continually perpetuate an ide
al thin and waif-like figure.
Not only does this fuel jealous
ly and hostility toward thin
people, but it causes self-ha
tred in women. This is really
sad, because women — any
body, really — should be ap
preciated for their hearts,
minds and souls rather than
for the shapes of their bodies.
OK, so I might not get quite
the same effect when I do
booty dances as those shapely
women with their rotund but
tocks do on the music videos.
Still, I proudly shake what my
momma gave me.
And whether you are tall or
big, short or little, you should
lift your head up high and do
the same.
Aja Henderson is a junior
political science major
Erin
Fitzgerald
Columnist
I t would be nice to be one of
those models who eats what
ever he or she wants and
never worries about gaining
weight.
Not everyone will be able to
look like Cindy Crawford, hilt
care-free overindulgence may be
possible in the near future. All
we have to sacrifice is our health.
After 25 years, the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration is ex
pected to approve Proctor &
Gamble’s fat substitute,
olestra. This would reduce food
calories and fat grams without
reducing taste.
Olestra is actually fat, only
indigestible.
A Jan. 8 Time magazine arti
cle explained that olestra mole
cules “are much bigger than
[naturally occurring fat mole
cules] and packed so tightly that
the enzymes can’t cut them
apart. They pass through the in
testines without being ab
sorbed.” In short, it goes in one
end and out the other.
This seems like great news
for our overly weight-conscious
society. So why are so many con
sumer and health groups
against olestra?
Perhaps because olestra re
duces the body’s absorption of
cartenoids and vitamins A, D, E and K. Per
haps because olestra can cause cramps, bloat
ing, gas, diarrhea, fecal urgency (or, the need
to “go right now”) and what has been politely
termed as “anal leakage.”
But somehow Proctor & Gamble has man
aged to get the FDA to overlook these nutri
tional problems because they have not been
proven harmful. There are only speculations
on the consequences of eating too much
olestra. Effects are not known because, in or
der to test it, rats would have to eat only
olestra and they would die from malnutrition.
Therefore, human beings will be the
guinea pigs.
Sacrificing a healthy immune system and
increasing the chances of getting prostate can
cer, lung cancer, heart disease and vision im
pairment are only possibilities. And not every
one would suffer from the disgusting gastroin
testinal effects.
Oh, don’t worry — olestra products will
have a warning label.
Imagine the promotions for this new substi
tute. The fat-free and toilet paper industries
could team up for specials: “Buy two bags of
potato chips and get a roll of Charmin free!”
What is the FDA thinking? This govern
ment agency was created for national health
concerns, and society’s health problems will
only increase with the approval of olestra.
Studies show that the fat-free market is not
decreasing calorie intake. In fact, the Centers
for Disease Control have reported that more
people are getting fat.
This makes sense. The weight-worried col
lege student eats less so that he or she can
drink more — or buys fat-free cookies and
then eats the whole box.
People obviously can neither control their
craving for fatty foods nor their obsession for
looking skinny.
But if the FDA were doing its job, it would
refuse to approve olestra. The body needs nat
ural fat. By substituting these with chemically
treated or laboratory-created fats, people risk
unknown damage. Although olestra has not
been proven harmful, it definitely has not
been proven safe.
Approval of a fat-free fat will cause physi
cal and mental damage. It indirectly promotes
the idea of not living a healthy lifestyle. Obesi
ty is a warning sign sent by the body. Depriv
ing the body of natural fats fools people into
thinking that, because they are not dimpled
with cellulite, they are healthy.
The FDA does not consider these harms
when evaluating foods,
So, since it looks like olestra will soon bd
available, let’s assume the best — everyone's
eating habits will remain the same and fat
and calorie intake will be reduced. If that hap
pens, there will be a bunch of stinky, blind
people running around eating fried food. No
one will look skinnier because they will be
bloated. Then they’ll die from heart disease.
Erin Fitzgerald is a senior
political science and English major
Get your lies, deceit and
harassment right here
Michael
Landauer
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Concealed guns
can prevent crime
Elaine Mejia said in her Jan. 19
column that if people are suddenly
allowed to legally carry guns, they
will suddenly start killing innocent
Mail
(^AI I
people. She ends her article by
saying that good sense should
keep anyone from carrying a con
cealed gun.
Tell that to the young lady who
helplessly watched as her parents
were shot in a Luby’s Cafeteria
because her gun was in the glove
box of her car instead of in her
purse (because that would have
been illegal).
Gun regulation does not curb
crime. In Washington, D.C. guns
are heavily regulated but the num
ber of handgun deaths is through
the roof. Virginia has the only con
stitutional gun law. There it is ille
gal to carry a gun for the purpose
of committing a crime. The violent
crime rate in Virginia is one-tenth
that of Washington, D.C.
Texas’ concealed weapons bill
will require permit applicants to
attend a training program. There
they will learn when they may
legally use their weapon and how
to do so. We are under a moral im
perative to protect our families
and neighbors, and stopping law-
abiding citizens from carrying
guns will not make us any safer.
Dave Johnston
Class of‘97
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E-mail: Batt@tamvm1 .tamu.edu
I t’s the second
week of the se
mester, which
means the evil
army of sales peo
ple is retreating.
The battle is over,
but not the war.
Vendors of all
kinds swarm
around college campuses during
the first week of school to sell, but
also to harass, lie and deceive.
They will visit throughout the se
mester, but we’ve survived their
greatest onslaught.
In one battlefield encounter,
my friend’s doorbell rang (a sur
prise attack).
“Here’s your prepaid phone
card. What’s your name?” Not
even a “Can I speak to the man
or woman of the house?” Not
even a “Howdy.”
My friend politely answered,
“Who the hell are you?”
“Oh, this comes with your sub
scription to the Heame Tribune.”
(I would use the real paper’s name
here, but it isn’t its fault — it’s the
vendor’s. I’ll give a hint, though.
It’s one of the Houston papers, and
it rhymes with “monacle.”)
“I don’t want one.”
“OK. What’s your name?”
After explaining to this pest
that he didn’t need her name if he
wasn’t going to be delivering pa
pers to her door, my friend shut
that door pretty close to his face
to emphasize the point.
Commission makes people
jerks. Other vendors for the same
newspaper are constantly getting
in my face trying to lure me with
a free copy of the paper.
“No thanks,” I tell them. “Much
like football, the only major league
newspaper in the state is from the
metroplex to the north.”
But this rudeness is my re
sponse to many years of decep
tive sales tactics. I’ve been told
by competing
salespeople that
The Dallas Morn
ing News doesn’t
deliver on cam
pus. I’ve been
told that the ven
dor from the
Morning News
had gone home
for the day. One guy actually
tried to tell me that the Houston
Post went out of business. Of
course, none of these is true, and
I hear the paper thump against
my door every morning.
But newspaper vendors are
not the only guilty ones. Phone
companies do their share of
truth-stretching.
When they say, “Our rates are
lower,” they probably mean, “Our
rate from Dime Box to Heame is
lower than two of our competitors’
between the times of 12:30 and
12:36 p.m.”
And of course there are the
credit card companies. All you
have to do is sign up, and
they’ll give you your choice of a
t-shirt, expandable thermos or
a key chain.
Free stuff rocks, but credit
catches up. Credit card companies
are the drug dealers of the vending
industry. They give you free stuff,
but then they’ve got you hooked.
Friends don’t let friends
overuse credit cards.
They don’t outnumber us,
but they’re crafty. They divide
and conquer. They build on our
own weaknesses. And they
must be stopped.
The vendors are gone, but
they’ll be back, and we have to be
ready to stand strong.
But it will be hard because they
know that in the face of a free
koozie, even the strong will fall.
Michael Landauer is a junior
journalism major from Houston