Weight of the World, or, Is Fat Relative?

The New York Times has posted a survey about weight attitudes around the world, and found that 68% of Indians worry too much about being thin, which puts them below Brazil (83% of Brazilians think that they're too obsessed with weight) but above the United States, where only 62% of people feel that the culture is too obsessed with weight.

Also a fun fact: India topped the list of countries where men want their wives to be thinner (48%). Considering that roughly the same percentage of men and women are overweight, the only interesting thing about this finding is that Indian women didn't feel the same.

What is the Indian atittude towards weight? I remember a friend confiding to me, after he'd had a few drinks, that in India, at least, men prefer "plump brides." (This comment was not as weird in context as it seems now) At the same time, I've known young girls who went on catastrophic diets thanks to the prodding of jealous and not always well-intentioned relatives. (To be fair, there is a broader cultural attitude in India which holds that older relatives can comment on any aspect of a young girl's appearance, in front of her, and if she finds this offensive she's being "too sensitive")

When I first moved I found the Indian attitude towards weight to be a refreshing change of pace. Let's turn to that arbiter of general cultural opinion, the media, since that's where we encounter the images that we later assume to be the ideal. Indian models, even the most successful, are nowhere near as thin as those found in the West. (Look at print ad campaigns or even runway show snaps from this country and you'll see what I mean. I should emphasize that these models are still incredibly thin, but there's a gap. Part of this gap might be due to the unalterable genetics of the Indian body, which doctors have shown tends to be more round, but still.)

Bollywood is currently ruled by a quadrifecta (?) of top babes, all under age 25 and all spectacularly skinny. The lone standout here is Katrina Kaif, who of all these women seems to have the most physical appeal for the common man. (Judging by how often her picture appears on the inside of auto rickshaws, anyway). Aishwarya Rai, whose day has come and gone, didn't have a wire-hanger physique, either. But there are few women like this in Hollywood. Where they exist, they're presented as "concession-beautiful." Look at America Ferrera, who is by all definitions a normal size. She's probably no fatter than Katrina, but in the American media, ruled by women who are uniformly skinny, she's a notable abnormality (and Ferrera is never presented as an object of desire)

In India, the cutural attitude towards weight is decidedly in flux, or at the least it's unpredictable. My parents' generation never had to worry about staying thin. Thanks to the limitations of being raised in a developing country, they often were (and when they weren't, it was considered a sign of "health" - among my more conservative family, the euphemism for fat is "healthy") The burden of skinniness did fall unfairly on women, but so did all beauty standards.

Now, however, that's no longer the case. Young urban Indians don't seem to safeguard their health (even the most educated kids can be clueless when it comes to nutrition and exercise). One of my uncles, who recently moved from Malaysia, told me that he was shocked at how "out of shape" all the young, city-dwelling guys are. He's not wrong. When I first moved, I was shocked by it too. But these guys seem relatively unconcerned about it, or at least, they're not hieing off to the gym every second moment, or cutting back on the beer. (The same can be said of women, too.)

I love this attitude - which holds that people should eat, drink, love and enjoy life, not necessarily in that order. It would be sad if Indians began to hold their food - and all their passions - at an embarrassed arm's length, the way Americans too often do. (Although it might happen) There is a way to promote healthier living, I like to hope, that doesn't necessarily involve kow-towing to the gods of vanity and thinness.