Quote:
Originally posted by anti fishstick
the "beauty" of being thin is universal. even people in the philippines worry about their figure or gaining weight and being "fat". my 26 year old cousin was as big as me, maybe a bit chubbier. and she worried about it a lot more than i did. so don't think it escapes third world countries! worrying about such things isn't a luxury, it's just a big part of society.
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interesting thread indeed,...
i've been thinking about this for a while now and don't really come to a satisfying conclusion...
I've been to LatinAmerica myself, in a so-called poorer region, and like Supple Cow said, being "fat" is often seen there as a symbol or at least as a sign of money, and class... So we can't really say that being thin is a universal beauty-standard... These beauty-standards are very relative to geographical, economical, sociological and historical factors.
For example, until the beginning of the 20th century, being pale (not tanned) was the thing to be, when you weren't pale, that meant you had to work a lot outside (probably as a farm) and that meant you were poor... Things changed a lot, as now, every summer, we all get into our sunbanks getting that nice tanned look...
The question I've been asking myself in the last couple of days was about the following stated:
Quote:
Originally posted by anti fishstick
so don't think it escapes third world countries! worrying about such things isn't a luxury, it's just a big part of society.
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I think it IS a luxury,
I don't believe poor people -and I mean really poor people, those people who wake up everyday, not knowing wether they'll have something to eat on that day, or wether they will find a place to sleep at night etcetera,
I don't think that they actually worry about the way they look... do you? I think they are worried more about how to survive, and how to make it to the next day...