Sunday, October 7, 2012

Obesity- Opposing Views

Here are differing viewpoints on obesity and beauty from China, Africa, and Japan

CHINESE FAT CAMPS

Uploaded by journeymanpictures on Oct 25, 2007

1 March 1999
Every year, China's big darlings come to fat camp to battle with their bulges and pass China's school fitness tests.
Produced by ABC Australia Distributed by Journeyman Pictures

License: Standard YouTube license

Fat Houses - Nigeria

Uploaded by journeymanpictures on Oct 8, 2007

July 2002
We investigate a very different perception of beauty in Nigeria, host to the Miss World pageant in November 2002. Girls in the region of Calabar have to be fattened up, so as to find good husbands. Although the practice is both frowned on and illegal, there is no shortage of takers.

License: Standard YouTube license

Mauritania: Fat or Fiction - 11 Aug 08 -

Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Aug 12, 2008

Big is often regarded as beautiful in Mauritania, but the controversial act of force-feeding is still practiced in some parts of the country.

License: Standard YouTube license

Force feeding in Mauritania - CBC TV

Uploaded by jfbelanger01 on Sep 26, 2011

Young girls being fed large quantities of camel milk against their will in Mauritania so that they can get fat faster. Fat girls were (and to a large extend still are) very popular with Mauritanian men. Force feeding is a tradition that used to be common among nomadic tribes of Mauritania. It is decreasing nowadays thanks to education and awareness programs.

License: Standard YouTube license

Being FAT is now illegal in Japan

Uploaded by randomusername999 on Jun 24, 2008

33" waist is the max now.

License: Standard YouTube License

Positive Psychology given credence by Academia:

Positive psychology is the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive.

Commentators on the subject Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, note that:

"The field of positive psychology at the subjective level is about valued subjective experiences: well-being, contentment, and satisfaction (in the past); hope and optimism (for the future); and flow and happiness (in the present).

At the individual level, it is about positive individual traits: the capacity for love and vocation, courage, interpersonal skill, aesthetic sensibility, perseverance, forgiveness, originality, future mindedness, spirituality, high talent, and wisdom.

At the group level, it is about the civic virtues and the institutions that move individuals toward better citizenship: responsibility, nurturance, altruism, civility, moderation,tolerance, and work ethic."