Science
Are You Fat? Is it Your Fault?
What does this little figure tell us?
This is the Venus of Willendorf. She measures four and a half inches high and she’s around 30,000 years old.
She has arms, though they’re barely alluded to, she doesn’t have feet and she has no face, though there’s braiding to suggest an elaborate hairstyle. It’s her body that’s the main focus of attention.
Is she a fertility symbol? A goddess? Was she created by an admirer? Is she simply a celebration of womanhood? We can’t be sure.
What we can be sure of is the fact that in prehistoric times, there was at least one huge woman — and where there’s one, it’s not hard to imagine there might be others.
In our modern society, where many people have no time to cook and have to rely on take-aways or frozen dinners, the chemicals and preservatives and dousing of sugar in such foods are blamed for the rise in obesity.
But this little lady, carved from a piece of limestone, did not have access to any artificial elements in her diet. It was probably frugal and consisted of fruit, leaves, insects and, when her tribe could get it, meat.
There is little doubt that our modern diet is causing havoc as regards health and weight. But this curvy Venus tells us something important: When it comes to obesity, diet is not the only factor.
I’ve known this for a long time. You probably have too. But society in general doesn’t seem to know it. I read an article by Fat Friend once in which she talks about being humiliated by so-called helpful comments and is constantly told that her obesity is her own fault.
Fat Friend — Venus is here to tell you that’s a load of rot. All sorts of factors have an effect on body weight and shape. Pregnancy can really muck-up your hormones and leave you with weight you can’t shift. Twin studies have shown time and again that there are genetic tendencies to body shape — including obesity. An underactive thyroid makes you heavier. In our pharmaceutical age, drugs can cause a massive weight gain. So can chemicals and toxins in food and the environment.
Our Venus had some kind of tendency to being overweight. But someone thought she was beautiful. Someone felt the need to spend hours whittling away with primitive tools making this little figurine, hand-sized so he could carry it around with him when he was away on a hunting trip; so it could remind him of the warmth, the abundance, the glory of that body he clearly adored.
Nature decreed she should be this shape, just as some in her tribe were taller than others, some had longer noses, bigger bottoms, skinny legs. No-one blamed her for her size. She was accepted; more than that — she was loved.
Whatever the cause, we should not blame anyone for their size. Even if a person is a compulsive eater, surely that shows there is a psychological problem is causing distress. In a way, it’s the flip-side of being anorexic. Blaming never helps and can make matters worse.
It’s sad to think that we’re so advanced technologically, have access to so much knowledge and are highly-educated, but we still shame fat people instead of working to solve their problems.
Those people 30,000 years ago had more wisdom and tolerance than we do — and it’s all here, carved in this little Venus.
