Real Talk with Black Women

This is a repost since I’ve been on the run lately. The other day I was in the gym and overheard a conversation. One girl said “I look fine I just want to get rid of my flabby arms”. I looked at her and thought “hmm…you need to lose more than arms” First you can not spot reduce fat and second of all, why are all these girls infatuated with having a big butt like Buffie the body? Now I can not lie…I look but let us not confuse thick with healthy and let us begin to define black fitness!

This article has been floating around the web. I won’t take any credit for it, but I thought it was interesting.

According to a Village Voice article by Ben Westhoff, there are a slew of “urban” magazines finding success with men of color by replacing the traditional photo spreads of well-known bony models and actresses with unknown, “round the way sisters.” Looks and fitness — not required. Gi-normous butts (and weaves) — must have. Buffie, with a 45-inch ass, is the reigning queen of this scene and her popularity speaks to blacks’ normalization of a very un-p.c. fatness. Besides being a cover girl, Buffie appeared in the movie “ATL” as Big Booty Judy and is “as recognizable in the black community as some supermodels.”

I don’t see how Buffie’s the body is promoting obesity in our community. I see her body as unattainable and it certainly would not influence me to drink a ton of supplement shakes to fatten up my ass. I think her body shows the variety in WOC (women of colors) bodies. I think companies like McDonald’s, our causing our communities much more damage then Buffie the body. McDonald’s is trying to promote themselves as if they have healthy food. I have seen advertisements in Essence and during “Black in America” where McDonald’s was really trying to promote their “healthy items”….I’ll save that for another post. Back to Ms. Dickerson

According to the Voice, Buffie “eats nothing but junk food and sugary drinks, and she doesn’t work out.” Starting out at only 120 pounds 10 years ago, she developed her “attributes” by chugging supplement shakes in order to gain weight. “Black women don’t want to be skinny,” she said.

To my knowledge supplement shakes are healthy, so I don’t see the problem. It’s not like she had extra fat implanted in her butt. Buffie eats junk food and sugary drinks like a lot of WOC. She is no different than many women that I know.

It’s fairly common knowledge that many black (and Hispanic) men prefer their women larger than do other groups, a reality that launched Buffie on her path to glory. It is perhaps less well known that that preference has contributed to extremely high levels of obesity among black women.

It does appear that Black men like women who are more than just skin and bones, I don’t see the problem with that. Has this preference really contributed to extremely high levels of obesity among black women? She doesn’t site any research so we can’t be sure. We can be sure that are there a ton of other factors that contribute to obesity rates like; lack of access to safe areas, lack of education, lack resources (how to care for your hair, eat right), time, money for fresh foods, etc. I wish she spent some time focusing on some of this issues and offering some suggestions, that would have been more worth her time.

I don’t think that Debra Dickerson brought anything new to the table. We already know that we are in danger with our alarming obesity rates. Blaming Buffie the Body or Black Men for our problem will do nothing for us. We have to help each other. I mentioned in a previous post that some of us are privileged. We have access to a gym, money to buy fresh fruits and veggies, and time to take care of ourselves. Those of us that are privileged have to help other women. Encourage your sister, cousins, friends to make arrangements to exercise. Help them find and use the resources that are available to them.

Check out thefitnessgoddess.blogspot.com and abagond.com for the realness.