God Hates Us All

6. Weight Watching

          Their meal was quite delicious, almost enjoyable as the company Devon thought as the waiter came to their table to take away their empty dishes. Helen had again recommended another winner for lunch. The only way Devon could have cleaned his plate further would have been to lick it, which meant he made note to remember this establishment for future reference if he ever came back to this part of town.

          Before the waiter left their table, he remained there long enough to make one more plug for whatever was left in their wallets, "Would you like to look at the dessert menu."

          Devon could tell by the look on Helen's face that she didn't seem too eager about the idea, but he took the menu anyway. "We'll have a look, thanks."

          Helen gave him a hard stare. "I don't think we should have dessert."

          "Why not?" Devon asked, "Dinner wasn't that filling, and I happen think today is special enough to order something sweet to finish lunch."

          "I'm just trying to watch my weight." Devon could tell that Helen was a little nervous about talking about this subject.

          Devon seemed to be taken back by this statement and showed a look of genuine shock on his face. "Are you kidding me?"

          "No."

          "You can't be serious!"

          "I am. I need to lose a few pounds."

          "I can't believe I'm really hearing this!"

          "Why not?"

          Devon threw up his hands in clear frustration, "There is no way you are any bigger than size eight, ten tops. How is this messed up world is that considered too much?"

          "I'm a size 8." Helen confirmed, "but I could be smaller."

          "Why?" Devon desperately asked, "So you can look like a starving skeleton like the rest of the models? Do you think they look pretty? They're disgusting! I'm afraid to shake their bridle hand because their arms are so thin that they might break."

          "What are you trying to say?"

          "I'm trying to say judge your size based on your own standards, not someone else's and especially society's because they're watching the world through rose colored glasses and that taints everything. Things are messed up to the point where people are not analyzing things properly, especially in terms of weight. They need to realize there is such a thing as too small. It's just as gross as too big, if not more."

          "You really think so?" Helen asked, he could tell she was amazed someone would think like this concerning the subject.

          "I know so." Devon said as he sipped his Iced Tea, "Have you ever seen a model up close? I've had the dishonor to do so, and it left an impression. I bumped into one at the mall when I was shopping with my mother and two of my sisters and she looked like she was a size one. She looked atrocious. Her arms were barely bigger than the bone that kept it together, and her rib cage looked like it was about to bust out of her skin. If you didn't know better, you could have sworn she was recently rescued from a nation that was stricken with poverty and starvation or something. She looked that horrible. She was in the kind of state where you wanted to take her away and mend her to good health. Feed her on a regular basis and try to make her look normal again."

          "That sounds horrible."

          "It was, but that's the look everyone wants to be! Little girls see her on television and don't realize that behind to designer dresses is nothing but skin and bones, and a woman that has likely been starving herself and barfing her food into the toilet to the point where she might die. It's not right, and society is to blame for pressuring people to want to look like that. Fifty years ago, Marilyn Monroe was the hottest woman alive and by today's standards she would be considered fat. That's how obsessed with weight we have become and it upsets me to no end."

          "I can see that." Helen said as she seemed to regret bringing up the subject but the genie was out of the bottle.

          Devon didn't want to make her feel bad about it so he decided to aim for those who are really responsible, "It's not your fault. You're responding to a great deal of pressure, from your home, school, work, television and friends on how one is supposed to act, live and even look. It's a lot of pressure. I just don't know how you guys take it without going completely mental." 

          "Well the pressure is on everyone isn't it?" Helen quickly retorted.

          "It's different for me because I'm a guy." Devon quickly answered.

          "How so?"

          "Well, if I refuse to five into peer pressure Gap shareholders don't lose money. Guys are not targeted for fashion, accessories or other stuff as much as women are because we're not where the money is. I think the only real companies that pitch to us at all aggressively are Nike and the motor industry. Women on the other hand are bombarded on a daily basis as airwaves are carpet bombed with everything from clothing, jewelry, phone your friend plans and all other kinds of other wacky stuff. It literally disgusts me that little girls are being shelled with videos of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and all those hussy little tramps and assume that's how they are supposed to act when in fact they're the butt of society's joke. We don't admire women like that, we feel sorry for them. Real men don't want to bang these women... we want to hold interventions for them! We also hold a lot of contempt for their parents for not letting these kids live a normal childhood. Many of these child actors and singers grow up to be really dysfunctional people because they never had a real childhood, and that's the fault of their parents for being greedy, superficial, materialistic bastards."

          "Wow, you do take this personally." Helen said as she realized it was a very touchy subject, "Why all the passion concerning this subject?"

          "Well, I truly believe forcing a child to pursue any kind of entertainment career is abuse. You're stripping a child of their chance for a normal life and forcing them to do what is basically labor at a very early age to line your pocket. The last time I checked that would classify under child exploitation."

          "That understandable, but does that mean we can't have babies and kids in movies or television shows? Would like tad unrealistic if all shows only had kids above a certain age, wouldn't it?"

          "It would, but we've got to draw a line somewhere for the sake of the kids. I doubt it will ever happen anytime soon, but it's something to think about."

          "Just like the unfair pressures on women from society?"

          "Yes, exactly. Can we discuss it further over dessert?"

          "Only if you share one with me, I'm not hungry enough to want a full one myself. Okay?"

          Devon thought that was the best reason to give and cracked a smile, "Sounds great to me. Is there anything here that catches your eye?" He passed the menu to her and they talked about it for few minutes before the waiter returned to take their order for dessert.