Size Matters

I am not afraid to be fat. I DO NOT FEAR MY BUTT!! Okay, fine, maybe I do, a little. I mean, I have this lovely stack of "look-at-us-we're-skinnier-than-you'll-ever-be, and-have-more-expensive-clothes-than-you'll-ever own" magazines that I've been pawing through, and I do feel very reminded that my middle is more middle america than Vogue. But I can't say that I mind, and I'm certainly not alone. We've all seen the pictures of Pam Anderson (shown here) or Tyra Banks or even Oprah without their make-up on, and everyone knows that the glossy pages of a magazine are an airbrushed fantasy. And so I wonder, since most of us are aware that the images that we confront are an impossible standard, why do we beat ourselves up so much in the pusuit of these "ideals"?
Not that I'm advocating a cheeseburger in every hand and a complete lack of attention to appearance, but I wonder where moderation went when it left? Is it hiding out with those weapons of mass destruction somewhere? On the aforementioned "Top Model", there was a plus size model represented. They showed the height and weight of the girls at the beginning of the show, and guess what? This "plus size" model was within a very healthy range on the BMI- I looked it up! Is that what we've come to? Would Marilyn Monroe have been encouraged to have gastric bypass if she were around today? What kind of crazy world is this?
As women in this country, are we ever going to be satified with who we actually are, and not who we can starve and botox ourselves into becoming? And, this blog, does it make me look fat?