Fat as a Feminist Issue

Fat as a Feminist Issue
Susie Orbach

Why are women so obsessed with weight these days? A woman’s weight has become the center of her attention in her everyday life. Society has decided that an overweight or obese woman is basically diseased and has invalidated and isolated her because she does not fit the stereotype of the “normal” woman. The worst part is that women believe that being overweight is their own fault for not being able to control their appetites and impulses. Susie Orbach wants us to know that fat is a feminist issue, and we should not let this take our life over. We should embrace our fat and love the fact that we are not living as a stereotypical woman. We want to be fat in response to the inequality of the sexes. Yves Engler, author of “Obesity: Much of the Responsibility Lies with Corporations” says that advertising fatty foods and putting delicious looking pictures for all to see is the cause of our fat. Where Orbach may agree partially with this, because it takes the blame away from us, she would still argue that women don’t eat bad foods because of the lack of willpower, but more so just to rebel against the social norms of the way a woman is portrayed in media. Randy Balko, author of “What You Eat is Your Business,” would like you to believe that the main cause of obesity lies within a person’s own responsibility, so if you get fat, it’s own your fault. Susie Orbach on the other hand believes that obesity is a feminist issue and “that being fat isn’t because of a lack of control, it’s from the inequality of sexes.” Everyday women have to deal with the pressure of having the perfect body. Everywhere we go all we see is skinny models in revealing outfits and diet plans on every magazine and it’s no wonder some women just want to rebel from that everyday norm and be themselves and not what the magazines want. These women don’t care if being fat is being themselves, as long as if they are true to themselves that’s all that matters. That is Orbach’s reasoning behind everything, the pressure of being skinny, leads women to gain weight just to escape all the pressure the world puts on us.

WORKS CITED
Engler, Yves. "Obesity: Much of the Responsibility Lies with Corporations." They Say I Say. Comp. Gerald Greff, Cathy Berkenstein, Russel Durst. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2009. Print

Graff, Gerald. “What You Eat Is Your Business.” They Say I Say. Comp. Balko, Radley. Ed. Norton & Company Inc. New York, 2006. 157-161

Graff, Gerald. “Fat as a Feminist Issue.” They Say I Say. Comp. Greff, Berkenstein, Durst. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2009. Print.