# Any Westernized culture where women are not shy about their weight and/or age?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-westernized-culture-where-women-are-not-shy-about-their-weight-and-or-age/795589>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 5, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-westernized-culture-where-women-are-not-shy-about-their-weight-and-or-age/795589 "2017-09-05T20:49:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-westernized-culture-where-women-are-not-shy-about-their-weight-and-or-age/795589/21 "2017-09-12T03:38:27Z")

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> [@Wesley\_Clark](#):
>
> East Asians have a very low obesity rate and women there seem very concerned about it. Didn’t evensven once say when she was in East Asia that the women were obsessed with being under 40-50 kilos?

Don’t know if 40-50 kilos was the benchmark (although that certainly sounds like where the standard would be set,) but yes, East Asian women were often fretting or highly self-conscious about weight - at least among Taiwanese and Chinese women.

And the vast majority of these women were \*not \*fat. It always seems to be the slim-to-average women who fret about weight (maybe a form of compliment-fishing); people who genuinely \*are \*obese would almost never mention the topic.

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**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-westernized-culture-where-women-are-not-shy-about-their-weight-and-or-age/795589/22 "2017-09-12T05:53:59Z")

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> [@Mijin](#):
>
> …
> 
> I would go further than that. For me (a male) it was tough hitting 30, and for many of my guy friends I could see it was the same – just as a guy you’re limited in how you can express it.
> 
> And the midlife crisis thing needs updating I think. The generation of people hitting 40 and 50 now never really lost touch with the toys of their youth. I still play video games. I ride a motorcycle. I work out. So how can I express some sudden need to be youthful when I hit 40?

As well as toys… Another thing that strikes me… I’m 60. My father was 30 years older. I don’t remember my dad doing anything that passed for exercise or physical activity other than basic yardwork when I was growing up, despite that when I was really young and before he married he would do skiing, mountain climbing, etc. My mother did zero exercise. Many of my peers fall into that category. (Perhaps my exception is due to not having kids) Exercise for older generations was the exception rather than the rule. Tennis for a few. Walking a round of golf was the extreme. Yet younger people seem to have not only kept their toys, but also their exercise toys - bikes, jogging, and plenty of other activities. As a result, I suspect hitting 50 or 60 is not as big a barrier for coming generations. When I was younger, it seemed people at 60 were positively decrepit, the age I associate with may 75 or 80 now that I’m 60.

Or maybe it’s changed perspective 🙂

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