Would people still think badly of overweight people IF it didn't come with health (and skin problems) and it was just purely a visual thing?

[Anonymous]

[Effably]

That's such a widely different world we can only theorize. Because reality is that a lot of the things we like are linked to health. Shiny hair, skin, so on? Health. Fit bodies, health. Height? Health. So on.

So we would first have to realize that our basic instincts would be completely shifted.
If an overweight person was 100% as healthy, including but not limited to physical ability, I believe people would view it as attracive since it would have been a benefit for survival historically. Don't confuse that with the claims that obesity was once a beauty-ideal as that just doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

I do believe if there were no setbacks we might like it. But we also would be fundamentally different biologically in that world. We would not be humans, or at least not our present type of human.

[MementoMori777]

Yes and that's because the problem is the media, the media is spreading and influencing people to believe being overweight is ugly and that's by only promoting the most beautiful people or spreading information by compressing beauty and making it into one or only a few standards, then whoever doesn't match these falsely and inaccurate standard of beauty is considered ugly, excluding a huge population because the idea of beauty has been spread wrong, that's also the lead to many insecurity in our world and what leads people to modifying their bodies in several unhealthy ways, not to mention the world can't be fixed anymore, it's broken.

[Anonymous]

Yea most of the prejudice is because its considered ugly. Scientifically speaking the health problems do it make it worse but its more that and the worst thing is that beyond a certain level or being overweight there's a natural disgust (our mind read them as being diseased. anything abnormal physically in humans is read as diseased. which creates a biological prejudice). I dont look down on overweight people but for ex that girl in the pics her fatter pic does make me feel grossed out when i look at her body. not because i'm thinking of health problems or because i'm judgmental, its just like that automatically

[Asker]

While I don't support being overweight (even if I am overweight) since it comes with health problems (luckily I don't have any) but your "natural disgust (our mind read them as being diseased. anything abnormal physically in humans is read as diseased" comment seems pretty off to me. For the longest time body shapes like the right side picture were considered the standard of beauty (look at old paintings and statuses, women are most of the time depicted with extra weight when they are meant to be view as attractive) and the preference for very slim women haven't even been widespread for a hundred years yet. So it doesn't seem like the human mind has a natural disgust for it. (maybe for the 400+ pounds extremely obese people, but even that is arguable if you look back far enough trough history.)

[Opinion Owner]

the disease thing isn't my opinion, i read scientific articles about that stuff before. the thing is that biologically (this was debated until more recently because some scientists thought that maybe thicker women could be the pinnacle of beauty from a bio perspective cos fat reserves and overweight prehistoric statues) slim women, but not anorexic or modelesque unlike what society seems to think, are the most attractive because of the hip to waist ratio, signs of fertility being more apparent at lower body fat and that we were more used to that weight for tens of thousands of years which has created a preference. the thing is though unlike what society thinks overweight girls up to a bmi of 27 (this is what scientists have found) can be just as attractive as skinnier girls if they have still at that weight (which is uncommon) the ideal hip to waist ration and the fertility marker still being apparent. since most women can't have that, skinny is better generally. anyways once you hit a bmi of 28 its a very very sharp downhill slope in attractiveness if you have that ideal whr and stuff. the thing for the bigger bodies being considered prettier before, except for a couple parts of history its never been that way. that's false. thicker slim women were what was considered prettier, like someone who has some fat on them you know but isn't fat. in places were genuinly being overweight was considered attractive it wasn't generally super overweight ones more like chubby (like if were talking about the renaissance the painter who is known for painting the three graces and stuff was know to have a fat fetish so to speak and people called him weird back then. its also a false wide spread idea that back then being fat was a good thing for women, it was just ti be a little plump but not that plump like thing bmi 24-25 which was big for the time. the representation of bigger women appart from that painter where to convey abundance symbolically)

[Opinion Owner]

the thing is though is that culture can overide biology to a certain extent. if you're in a culture that says oh being fat is beautiful, it can overide biology if you're exposed enough to that messaging, up to a certain extent though. culture can make a 200lbs woman beautiful but not a 300lbs one. aside from that you can develop fetishes and stuff like that (most guys who are into bigger women in cultures that put thinness as the beauty standard have fetishes scientifically)

[Asker]

What you said don't seem to differ all that much from what I wrote. I agree on the whole "after a point extra weight is recognized as negative health traits", hence why I made that comment about obesity at the end of the message. But women like the fatter version of these 2 images are not at the point where the human mind would deem it as "health issues, this is a lesser mate".

[kylee2437]

The girl in the pic is a bad example because she appears better looking in the second pic. I think there’s honestly no way you can’t associate size with health. Someone that is obviously obese is not only going to have bad health issues but have more difficulty with mobility and be able to live less of a quality life which in my opinion is extremely unattractive in itself. Someone that is obese commonly doesn’t take care of themselves which is another unattractive aspect

[desidoll]

Yes, it is mostly the aesthetic reason, though some people are truly concerned with the health part.

[Apple1996]

Yes cuz of beauty standards men would still desire skinny women over fat women

[WalnutButter]

Yes they would.

[Aiko_E_Lara]

Maybe if that had been going on in the past before civilization started, our societal standards would've change and consider fat people rich and healthy making us instinctively think they're attractive. But that would be quite a dream for you.

[Aiko_E_Lara]

Unfortunately for fat people, fat is just in fact linked to health issues and they represent poverty in the west who only has access to cheap frozen foods making them obese.

[Asker]

"But that would be quite a dream for you." You know it was just a "hey, here's a fun/silly question" post, rather than a "the world should work like this" post... (by the way. while I'm overweight, I eat healthy food, just in larger amounts, rather than just "cheap frozen foods", I don't think being fat is a representation of poverty but then again, it depends on your definition of "the west" whenever or not middle Europe is even part of it...)

[Aiko_E_Lara]

You're not the majority of overweight people tho. And eating healthy food isn't even enough. Fat is also an indicator if someone who lacks exercise. Would people still think badly of overweight people IF it didn't come with health (and skin problems) and it was just purely a visual thing? ↗

[Aiko_E_Lara]

www.youtube.com/watch Wrong link

[Asker]

There's a pretty big difference between accepting overweight people (like the right image, or think or renaissance paintings) and accepting morbidly obese people. I'm 5'1" and about 182lbs with no health issues. Yeah I eat a lot but also exercise alongside it and managed to maintain my weight for the past 6 or so years. So it's pretty important to make a distinction between morbidly obese people who are getting their lifespan cut short and people who are overweight but aren't to a point where it's more detrimental then for someone to casually/occasionally drink for example. But anyways you are really derailing this post's topic from what it was meant to be, there's a reason why I didn't put a morbidly obese person on the right side (+ why I didn't mention the modern day fat acceptance movement, it's just a silly hypothetical scenario).

[Aiko_E_Lara]

That still doesn't change anyone's preference and standards actually. And if you wanna blame media, you can't blame inanimate objects. It's real people behind those media who share the same standards as i've already given you a reason why it's seen as a bad thing. It's evolutionary. It's not something we see a often in the past.

[Asker]

"And if you wanna blame media, you can't blame inanimate objects." What? Are you reading my responses or are you just writing fanfictions at this point?

[Aiko_E_Lara]

Ok sorry i mistaken you for someone I saw in the comment section here but the rest of what I said still stands

[EaterPeter]

Probably not and it depends on how much overweight. The woman on right looks nice.

[EaterPeter]

And so the woman on the left.

[Anonymous]

Some of the most beautiful women in the world are technically overweight.