Let me start by putting what I am about to say in context. This isn't a "white people have it bad, too" or "not all white people" sort of comment. Rather, it's recognition of the shared pain indvolved in not fitting into the "proper body type"--an intersection of black/nonwhite and white experiences where we can begin to recognize certain common grounds of oppression. (I am, btw, a "weighty white woman" myself.) No oppression olympics involved here.
I gotta tell ya my first thought upon beginning this piece was of the "Venus figurine" I know from Art History, It is rather anachronistic to call these "Venus" statues, as the Roman goddess called Venus has no connection to them. These are fertility statues celebrating female fecundity without which no human community could survive. The age of these statues correlate with the era in which men's role in women's ability to birth new humans was not known and the "era of the goddess" prevailed in primitive cultures.
And of course, so much of WASP culture (which arrives much. MUCH later) is horrified /embarassed by visible fecundity. Let's face it, WASPS have a real problem with obvious sexuality, preferring to hide it in porn stores.
Just offering a bit of historical/ anthropological perspective on the matter. Not arguing. ;-)
