A lady bellydances beautifully on youtube. She has a beautiful, swingable belly. She shows it off to advantage when she dances. Most people are thrilled to see it and praise her dancing highly. But a surprising number say that she cannot dance correctly or well unless she loses weight.
Enter AnnaMargolin (my youtube id).
Um, it is called
"belly dance." She dances amazingly and has what is required - a
belly. Some slimmer dancers may dance well, but they won't have bellies to
swing and swivel and sway. And hint, hint - a lot of people from the area in
which belly dancing originated like..bellies.
This comment is just as body-shaming. Shame on you. Some people
are slender, some are big. Get over it.
Reply
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+Merry Calliope Merry,
some sports and dancing styles are simply more adapted and adaptable to heavier
bodies. Sumo is certainly one. Belly dancing is in many ways another. Get over
it.
Now, to my knowledge, there are a few sports at which heavier people have an advantage. I mentioned sumo. I also mentioned bellydancing, but mostly because heavier women will probably -not always- have larger bellies to sway and swing. Shotput would probably be another. There may be a few more. And this is out of thousands of sports.
It is also the case, of course, that many fat people have been discouraged from competing or even participating in most sports. Ragen Chastain, one of the best known fat activists, had to endure all sorts of nastiness -eggs thrown at her, namecalling, derogatory remarks on sites and more- as she trained to walk a marathon. That she did so and completed it is a testament to her almost unbelievable strength of body and mind.
But when someone -some hater?- tries to take away from us the idea that there are sports and activities in which fat people have an advantage by saying that some people are slender and some people are "big" and that we should get over it, we have to wonder what deep hatred they must bear fat people. Good lord, when most fat people try to compete in all but a very few sports, they are laughed at and called every fat shaming name in the book. And now, at the suggestion that someone fatter might, just might, have an advantage in a dance named for the part she is displaying beautifully, someone tells us that we should not be just a little proud that fat people can do something a bit better than most slimmer people at times?
Don't like the shoe being on the other foot, perhaps, for a change?
It's kind of like someone saying when she hears about two rabbis arguing a Talmudic question, "Some people are Jewish and some people are Christian. Get over it."
That was not the question. It is to be assumed that Christian people who are interested certainly may argue Talmudic questions at times, and some of them may be quite good at it., However, since the rabbis who argue Talmudic questions have not only been trained in this kind of argument, but have probably come from a long, long, long tradition of arguing such questions, they might, just might have an advantage in Talmudic argument.
A fat, skilled, beautiful bellydancer is a key character in FatLand 1. Maybe FatLand 3 needs a rabbi.
I'll drink to both!
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