Pages 202-206: "Like it or not, we live in a thin-obsessed world where guys have their pick of girls, so most prefer a thin girlfriend, not an overweight one. …
"We are not trying to make you feel bad — and please don’t get upset as you are reading this — we just want to be honest about how your appearance can affect you socially. …
"…[H]alf the battle is changing the way you eat. The other half is changing the way you think. … Instead of thinking that nothing beats doughnuts dipped in butter cream, think nothing beats being in a bikini on the beach. Think long term. Being disciplined with food will help you be disciplined with … everything else."
"We live in a thin-obsessed world," but let’s not bother to examine critically the problems with this obsession, nor even the possibility of alternatives. Let’s just parrot its scripts unthinkingly.
I like how they pretend to be so compassionate and realistic about their fat readers’ dating prospects. They’re just concerned for those poor tubs o’ lard.
Note that Fein and Schneider’s view of fatness is that it is an entirely voluntary state achieved by wretched slobs with no willpower. The idea that involuntary factors affect one’s fatness never occurs to them. We don’t give a shit if you’re a woman with PCOS, a slow-burning metabolism, generations of fat ancestors and a regimen of antidepressants with a side effect of weight gain!! None of these attributes have anything to do with your fatness! You’re fat because you’re lazy and disgusting, no exceptions.
Page: "You can make simple but effective decisions, like choosing the stairs over the elevator or walking to campus instead of taking the shuttle bus."
People with mobility impairments need not apply.
Page 247: "With all the attention paid to gay marriages today, you may forget how to behave in a same-sex relationship. There are still Rules; they just promote a little more camaraderie and mutuality; there’s some more balance. The spirit of the Rules still applies: you should never show all your cards, pursue anyone relentlessly, or erase all boundaries."
What the hell is up with that first sentence? Some of us might be really excited about marriage equality, but that doesn’t mean that our personal interest in the subject wipes our minds clean of how to do whatever type of relationship we feel like doing. Contrary to popular belief, it is possible for queer people to think about two things [or even more!!!!] at once.
As for the rest of the paragraph, it doesn’t actually say anything, except, "If you’re queer, what we just said doesn’t apply to you, except when it does, but we’re not going to tell you when it does because we have no flipping clue." Here’s a thought, Fein and Schneider: Leave us out of your heteronormative manipulative dating bullshit. Your token attempt at inclusion proves its irrelevance to us, and we’re not impressed.
The End.
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