I remember in the late 1980s when Black men first started using the word “thick” to define a woman with ample bottom and/or breasts. We knew what we were describing and it was more about T & A than the result of too many Twinkies, Ho-Hos, Moo-Moos and Cow-Cows.

We also knew that “healthy” was a term reserved for women with a little meat on their bones. They really were considered healthy because they ate regular meals (that they often cooked at home) and had beautiful bountiful bodies to show for it. They were proportionate and anything but obese.

But I remember that the term “thick” was co-opted in the 1990s by overweight women who wanted to redefine America’s view of women (particularly the ones on the heavy side), and change the way overweight women viewed themselves.

Now, I’m all for people looking for ways to feel good about themselves, but if it is not based on reality and is actually inadvertently promoting and celebrating an unhealthy lifestyle, then it’s not a good thing.

Since the big girls dig brothers like me, some have been aggressive and when rebuffed (even though done politely), they often claim that I’m not a “real” Black man. After all, “real” Black men like big girls.

Right?

Not really.

“Real” Black men like a variety of women, because “real” Black men come in a variety themselves. Some of us do like the big girls, but some of us like the ladies who have little body fat, except where it counts.

Most of us probably know at least one or two Black men who like the big girls.

And, all across the nation, clubs specifically for big girls and the men who love them are popping up on the landscape.

So that means that being a big girl is a good thing.

Right?

Wrong.

Now, here’s where I get to use the phrase “never trust a big butt and a smile.”

While some big girls have co-opted the word “healthy” to denote a woman with largess, the redefinition of fat has gone too far.

It’s going too far to co-opt terms such as “healthy” to describe people who are, in reality, far from healthy.

Let us remember that the “thick” and “healthy” women of yesteryear were not obese and more often had body fat in their thighs and buttocks, as opposed to the so-called “thick” and/or “healthy” women of today who likely are carrying most of their body fat in the belly area.

And, that is far, far from healthy.

According to a study conducted at Harvard University and Brigham and Women’s

Hospital in Boston, women with waists thirty-five inches or larger have a 79 percent increased risk of premature death from heart disease and/or cancer, when compared to women with twenty-eight inch waists or smaller.

The increased risk is broken down to twice the risk of death from heart disease and a 63 percent increased risk of cancer-related death. These risks are carried by women with larger waists even if their weight is otherwise within normal ranges.

So what does this ultimately mean?

It means that women who carry an abundance of belly fat are also carrying an abundance of health risks.

Published in : Op-Ed, The Bridge