It also means that while women cheer for Monique’s efforts to give fat women a public relations makeover, the potential is for more women to die from fat-related diseases, while feeling better about their body image.
As a Black man who writes and speaks on relationship issues, I frequently hear the propaganda about how many Black men are “oppressing” Black women into following some White American concept of beauty.

Not only is such propaganda false because Black women who follow such concepts do so without much prompting, but, really, not many Black men are enamored with the super skinny body images of say, Ally McBeal or even the extreme thinness of the anorexic looking runway models.

Black women can continue to tell Black men what we like, but even White women who want us know that we still typically prefer the Black woman’s traditional body type, which is why they are getting butt implants at record numbers in efforts to embrace the real universally accepted “best” body type.

Black women are not the only ones who have difficulty with their body image.

Go to the gym on any given day and you will find women of all races on machines with names like “Butt Blaster,” trying to plump up the desired nether region, inadvertently imitating and tacitly praising the Black woman’s traditional physique.

Even celebrating obesity as a part of our natural history is false, because women of African descent only found rampant obesity when they began to adopt European food preferences all over the world, and began adapting to hostile environments by making full use of food byproducts tossed out by slavemasters.

And, contrary to popular opinion, women are giving those twisted body images to each other more than men who watch the twisted body concepts emerge with confusion.

If men accept the blame for women’s obsessions with body image, then women would have to accept the blame for the same when found amongst men.

For example, how many young men turn to steroids in order to artificially build a physique that women are “oppressing” them into pursuing? They scarf down steroids and some men even undergo surgery to implant artificial pectoral muscles and calf muscles and to permanently carve abdominal muscles to give the desired popular appearance.

And, we can look into America’s own history to find that men with heft were once viewed as wealthy, because the additional girth of big men symbolized an ability to eat well.

Yet, the focus is always on what women do to themselves to attract men and how oppressive men are to make them do those things.

Really, the bottom line should be that women (and men) pursue what is in their best interest for health above all else, blaming no one if they decide to alter their bodies for social reasons.

Frankly, the risks of other behaviors are far too great.

As for the big girls who want to employ euphemisms to describe their obesity, the fact is that nearly half of all adults in America are carrying an unhealthy amount of belly fat, which is leading to serious diseases and decreasing life spans.

One theory offered up to explain belly fat’s increased health risks is it’s proximity to vital internal organs, including the heart and liver, as opposed to fat on the buttocks or thighs.

And, since we know that belly fat is increasing amongst adolescents, we would do well to avoid discussions of fault as well as propaganda designed to improve fat people’s self-esteem, and focus on discussions designed to steer more people to weight loss, proper diet and healthy lifestyles.

Otherwise, more “healthy” women and children will be heading to early graves, even though they may have better feelings about their body image.

They’ll feel good about being fat just before they die.

Darryl James n is an award-winning author who is now a filmmaker. He released his first mini-movie, “Crack,” and this year, will release his first full-length documentary. James appears in the film “What Black Men Think,” an in-depth view of misrepresentations, myths and stereotypes about Black men. View previous installments of this column at www.bridgecolumn.proboards36.com. Reach James at

Published in : Op-Ed, The Bridge