I agree with you too, Becki, and I am sorry if I hurt or offended you, but the truth is our society is very judgemental about body size, etc. In fact, I am convinced it's one of the last acceptable prejudices - that and prejudices against gays.
In our society, we have always valued thin people over the heavier people. I suspect we always will. Thin people, like beautiful people, are ascribed positive attributes that are not afforded heavier people, who are perceived as somehow being less than everyone else. Somehow, we are perceived as being lazy, sloppy, stupid, undesirable, not deserving of (insert your pleasure here - love, kind treatment), etc.
In a perfect world, being strong and healthy would be enough, no matter what your size. Unfortunately, I live in this world, which is far from perfect. It is hard to ignore the pressure women feel every day to conform to a certain "look". Intellectually, of course, I don't care, but in my heart of hearts, it's is tremendously difficult to ignore the years and years of "cultural programming" we girls are subjected to our whole lives, from the media, the arts, and even each other.
Women's bodies have never been just theirs. What is personal to us is somehow political to everyone else. Societies (mostly patriarchal) have always felt some right to say how female bodies should loook and how we women should feel about ourselves, whether we measure up or not. Look at the fetish of the breast in this culture, of which I've become hyper-aware since my illness. Or even the past and present nonsense of fashion - corsets, hairstyles and headcoverings, impossibly small shoes with painfully pointed toes, footbinding, head-to-toe covering of the body, and even the "resizing" of clothes!
Of course some women are "just skinny". Just like some women are "just beautiful and gorgeous". Something that is just a matter of fact, becomes something else - a value judgement, like the fact that beauty and thin are valued more by our culture. Being breastless or heavy or ugly is not.
In safe places, like here on this forum, where we are all trying to achieve our personal fitness goals, we know size doesn't matter, and we celebrate our successes and support each other through our frustrations. As individuals, yes we love the people in our lives no matter how they look, but "out there", in society, it matters. Even if we don't admit to it, we judge each other by how we look. I'm certainly guilty of it, and when I catch myself being harsh, I correct myself and try to do better next time.
I am certainly no academic expert on culture and the female form. Many other people have written more intelligently and eloquently on this very subject, but there they are - just my humble opinions.
