new Things I Ate in Cambodia: food is not morality?!!?

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

food is not morality?!!?



I have a message for all you self loathing American women:

FOOD IS NOT MORALITY.

I am done with hearing my fellow women compare eating to being "bad", as if sucking down a bag of Zapp's potato chips is somehow equivalent to slapping Mother Teresa on the ass. It is not. It is food, and you are perfectly free to eat and enjoy it as you see fit. The devil will not appear magically in a poof of black smoke from behind a Nutella jar and set your thighs a jigglin'. It does not work like that.

Unfortunately, for a huge majority of women, it does. I read a disturbing article lately, that compared girls' diaries from the turn of the century and girl's diaries today. When girls from back in the day wrote about self-improvement, they discussed improving their minds or personalities or skills. Nowadays? Girls focus almost exclusively on their bodies, striving forever more to resist that Snickers bar or french fry because if they are skinny and beautiful they will be good. I can only imagine what Thomas Aquinas would make of this contemporary madness, as if the angels and demons of the ancient church have been reincarnated in the form of an emaciated, leering Nicole Richie. It is a distressing image.

And let me repeat myself: The skinniest woman in the room or the one who eats the least food is not the best person in the room. She is a person just like yourself who was born a certain way or made certain (possibly unhealthy) choices. She is not morally superior because she better fulfills some creepy media anorexia-loving ideal and you are an idiot if you give her that power. She could very well be a total douchemuffin - do you really think Paris Hilton or Mary Kate Olsen are a barrel o' laffs to be around?

I am by no means immune to this. When I buy a pair of size zero jeans, you bet your ass I get a sense of achievement, as if I've won some sort of giant, shadowy game played out by the females of this country. This is incredibly, incredibly messed up and I can only hope I will catch myself doing such a thing in the future. I have achieved nothing by buying a small pair of jeans other then 1. fulfilling my genetic prerogative and 2. not eating a lot of carbs and 3. exercising. It is still entirely possible that I am an asshole, arrogant, weird, or socially malformed and it has no relation whatsoever to the size of my thighs.

Morality and food have nothing whatsoever to do with each other, and we as enlightened people (and dedicated eaters) should do our best to separate the two forever. Everyone will be much happier (and more full) as a result.


Kelly Mills at Fitness Fixation defined this very sentiment wonderfully at her blog. Check it out.

1 comment:

Sarah said...

I like your post more.

That poor cat is probably dead already. :(