SHOULD BARBIE BE SUPER-SIZED?

I just became aware of one of the great issues of the day.  It seems that many of our fellow citizens are deeply concerned that certain toys are not reflective of the culture as a whole.  Previously, I suppose that my view of such controversies was that they  were so jejune as not to be items worthy of any sort of anxiety.  But, once again, when it comes to pop-culture I am an out-of-the loop guy.

Judging by the polls, Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of super-sizing Barbie dolls.  The thinking on this problem is that a slim Barbie may bring about feelings of inadequacy for little girls who might be somewhat overweight.   Looked at in retrospect, that those responding to the polls with such sentiment is not at all surprising, because, since the 1980's, Americans have been diligently super-sizing themselves.  This is reflected in the average sizes for Americans, numbers which have significantly shot up since the 1960's.

The average American woman now weighs around 165 lbs. and wears a size 14 dress.  That's about 24 lbs. more than the average-sized woman in 1965
.

THE AVERAGE AMERICAN (ON THE LEFT)
COMPARED TO AVERAGE JAPANESE, DUTCH
AND FRENCH MEN

As for American men, the average male is almost 5'9," weighs in at 195 lbs. and has a waist size of 40.  Wearing a size 40 regular off-the-rack suit, which has a waist size of 38", most American men would need to have the pants let out.  But, perhaps that's academic, as most American men no longer seem to wear suits.

On our first day in Paris, during what was my wife's first trip to Europe, she exclaimed, "Honey, where are all the fat people?"  I pointed out to her that it was much more common to see the French walking and bicycling than what one would see of Americans at home. And, besides, the French were noted for cutting all their fat and cholesterol with their daily consumption of red wine.

The Frito-Lay Corporation had at one time sought to gain a foothold in the European market.  In Holland, Frito- Lay undertook a gigantic marketing campaign, which failed abysmally.  When seeking to discover what went wrong, Frito-Lay's man on the spot undertook to survey the Dutch population.  The most common answer given by respondents was that they were averse to Frito- Lay products because they did not want "...to look like Americans."

Sadly, in the U.S., we have evolved into a culture in which it is expected that people should never give offense.  Consequently, we have brought up an entire generation which cannot stand the thought of ever having their feelings hurt.  But isn't that what life is about, learning to deal with disappointment,  hurt and sadness and then having the strength and resilience to pick up the pieces and move on?  And, then, what about the health consequences for a society which is so fearful of hurting feelings that the overweight and obese are not made aware of what they are doing to themselves?

No, dear readers, I, for one, do not think it is a great idea to super-size Barbie.  Let's face the hard truth:  fat is bad!   Fat may lead to diabetes.  Fat causes hyper-tension and high blood pressure.  Fat is a contributing factor to heart disease.  Fat limits one's longevity.  Fat opens one's system to all sorts of ailments which may cause absence from school and work.  Fat stymies intellectual ability.  To summarize, fat is just plain bad!  And to offer up a fat Barbie as a sop to dreary little people who might get their feelings hurt just makes no sense at all.  A fat Barbie would be a terrible example. And so, dear readers, what else needs to be said about Barbie and fat?

Deo Vindice!

May God bless Texas, and may the Lone Star State remain forever red!