Mandatory Fat Talk Among Women?

So, I'm up late and I bump into Saturday Night Live on the TV. Yes, that show is still on. I just watched their "Weekend Update" clip tonight (3/17) reviewing a recent actual study about "fat talk among women". Recent research suggests that when women congregate, they typically engage in an obligatory ritual: they share mutual negative put downs of their weight (and other looks topics). Apparently, this "fat talk" serves the multiple functions of mutual female bonding, as well as reciprocal validation, empathy, and support.

Yes, I understand that women in 2007 are still judged primarily by how they look. However, self put downs about weight? Can't there be a better way to promote female bonding? How about giving each other compliments about each others' looks, with the woman receiving the compliment simply saying "thank you"? Or, even better, how about just focusing on non-looks topics altogether?

How can a woman lose weight when she keeps telling others (and hence, herself), how "fat" she is and/or how ugly her ___ looks? To once again quote an Old Testament verse in the King James Version of the Bible, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7). I think that that applies to "shes" as well.

Don't set yourself up for a negative self-fulfilling prophesy. It's like playing with fire. For more info on this topic, see my last blog entry, "The Secret: Thinking Thin".

Goodnight all,

Dr. Randy