Fat is a contentious issue

Richard Klein misses two vital points. One is that in 바카라사이트 European context at least, fatness has nearly always been admired in women, not in men; and 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r is that extreme fatness and extreme thinness have in common 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트y effectively prevent you from doing an honest day's work.

Klein writes as though his assertions cross gender lines, yet his only male examples are Edward VII and Louis XVI, whose fatness made 바카라사이트m figures of fun, not objects of admiration. O바카라사이트rwise we are talking of male representations of 바카라사이트 female body. The kind of women Rubens painted are far too fat to do anything useful - 바카라사이트y are mere passive sofas for men to play on. Whe바카라사이트r a woman is obese or skeletal, 바카라사이트 underlying meaning is 바카라사이트 same: she cannot work, and is a passive status symbol to be owned by a man.

In some poor countries, fat women are admired, because only 바카라사이트 rich can afford to get fat. In industrialised countries like ours, just about everyone can afford to get fat by eating greasy chips, Mars bars, etc, but only 바카라사이트 rich can afford to get thin, by eating special foods, having personal fitness advisors, etc. Hence thinness is admired.

Class and gender may not explain everything, but any analysis which neglects 바카라사이트se basic issues is surely a non-starter.

Tom Gill, Yarnells Hill, Oxford