one more thing for today: interested in seeing just how alarmingly body size can color one's perceptions? check out this picture, and take some time to read the comments. it's astoundingly unguarded [and often depressing] conversation. you may want to read big fat blog (scroll down) for more details.

the idea that there are, or should be, fixed standards of beauty regarding body size (or, frankly, anything else) has been turning over in my head quite a lot lately. does the push for more expansive (!) beauty standards empty "beauty" of its content? i keep getting into these useless conversations with one of my officemates, wherein he accuses me of wishing on him a society in which everything, and therefore nothing, is beautiful.

there is also the thorny issue of thinness and health (another favorite topic of contention in the office). very fat people who are also very healthy are outliers, sure -- but there seems to be a substantial population in the good old USA that believes that thinner is always better when it comes to one's health. as much as i question the slightly head-in-sand (i.e., "there's no real correlation between obesity and ill health") attitude of many BFB commenters, i am disgusted by folks who assume that the sort of compulsive exertion and self-denial required to make a naturally heavy body into a thin one is some how "worth it" health wise.

anyway, rar.