Ayo Fat Girl, C'mere Are You Ticklish?!!

Could you imagine a guy stepping to you and trynna run game to you like that ladies? Ok yeah, I'm sure that approach isn't as bad as some of the stuff you put up with daily. As you get older I'm sure you've just about heard it all to where something like this might not be a bother. But what if you were like, 11yrs old, or maybe even 14yrs old? At that age, it just might bother you right? At that age, girls are conscious of their bodies, and image, right?

So much so that they just might consider picking up on what all those little White girls do, right? You know, that whole making yourself puke after you eat thing? Damn, I can't remember what they call it, but I know that White girl on Diff'rent Strokes used to do it, and they had an episode about it. Oh yeah, bulimia. Yup, that's that stuff those White girls do, right? Uh huh, sisters don't get into that sorta thing. Well, up until I read this article, that's what I used to think.

According to a recent study, Black girls are 50% more likely to be bulimic than White girls. Sounds crazy right? I know, I know, bulimia always sound like one of those White people problems, unlike “that sugar”, and high blood pressure that us Black people have to contend with. Just goes to show how even when it comes to medical problems, racial stereotyping is not a good practice. Sure I know that nowadays we have a problem with child obesity. However, with girls in particular being image conscious (like my 16 & 15yr daughters), I think this is something we should be aware of as parents; or in particular Black parents. No longer should we pass bulimia off as exclusively a problem for White girls, because it can happen to one of ours at least 50% more likely than expected.

According to the study:

1. Black girls were 50 percent more likely than white girls to exhibit bulimic behavior, including both binging and purging. About 2.6 percent of black girls were clinically bulimic, compared to 1.7 percent of white girls. Overall, approximately 2.2 percent of the girls surveyed were clinically bulimic, close to the national average.
2. Black girls scored an average of 17 percentage points higher than their white counterparts on the widely used medical index gauging of the severity of the bulimia, the researchers found.
3. Girls from families in the lowest income bracket were significantly more likely to experience bulimia than their wealthier peers.
4. Bulimia affected 1.5 percent of girls in households where at least one parent had a college degree.
5. For girls whose parents had a high school education or less, the rate of bulimia was more than double — 3.3 percent were bulimic.

Some years ago the comedienne/actress Monique ran with the line, “skinny women are evil.” Well, it's one thing to use such a catchphrase as one of empowerment for women on the plus size. But, it's another to overlook some of our sisters who just may very well be battling this disorder for all we know. Lord knows how long some of them may be suffering with this.

Maybe they're not only evil but suffering a form of psychological disorder because of all the pressures in our society to look a certain way. I'm only passing this on because as they say, knowledge is power, as well as being half the battle. Besides, I think we should pay more attention to our girls other than worrying about them becoming pregnant. We should take an interest in their mind state first and foremost before anything else.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE