# Damnit women, quit worrying about your weight! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 7, 2002, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732 "2002-07-07T03:31:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/21 "2002-07-07T23:22:43Z")
Actually, I was out with a lady last week who was obsessed by her weight (“I just want to lose 20 pounds” - I haven’t heard THAT before) AND her skin (“I’d love to get rid of these spots and these marks”). Since I gave up long ago, I just agreed with her… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/22 "2002-07-07T23:58:36Z")
“I may have bad skin, but I can get treatment. I may be overweight, but I can go on a diet.” But you, **Muad’ Dib** , will always be an asshole of the highest degree. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/23 "2002-07-08T00:52:23Z")
Holy shit, I see the ‘Inner-Beauty’ posse is out in full force. There is nothing wrong with not liking bad skin (or any other number of appearance-glitches). Don’t lay into Muad’Dib for expressing what is a natural, probably genetic, impulse. We want (or should want) healthy mates. Skin appearance is one means of determining health. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/24 "2002-07-08T00:55:45Z")
_God of Sarcasm and Satire strikes down members of the SDMB with a mighty lightning bolt_ Good Lord people. I am sitting at home reading the works of various feminists (no joke, I have a paper due on Monday), everything from Mary Wolstencraft (my favorite) to Naomi Wolf and (_shudder_) bell hooks. Of course a common theme in the more modern papers is how evil capitalist robber barons use marketing to make women feel bad about their appearance so that they will buy beauty products. While writing I think of the vague outline of every bad beauty commercial ever made. “Haha, I am so very witty” I say to myself as I type it up and post it to the board. I even considered putting an ending to it, something like “so try new Avon skin cleanser!”, but I thought that this would have been too over the top and ruin the joke. Apparently, I was wrong.:smack: Oh, and **x\_painless\_x**? _reaches round’ back_ While I appreciate that you have graced my thread with your second post, you may keep the Biore strips. And welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/25 "2002-07-08T01:02:22Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Brutus \* \*\* There is nothing wrong with not liking bad skin (or any other number of appearance-glitches). Don’t lay into Muad’Dib for expressing what is a natural, probably genetic, impulse.\*\*/QUOTE] No one’s laying into him for expressing a “natural, probably genetic impulse”. People are laying into him for being an asshole about it. Can you see the distinction? Oh, and **Muad’Dib**? There is _no_ indication on this message board that you are being sarcastic unless you say “I am being sarcastic”. You’ve been here long enough that you should know that. As is, it just looks like you’re backpedalling furiously, trying to make everyone think you’re not an asshole. It won’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/26 "2002-07-08T01:05:35Z")
If you think that anyone would use a phrase like " Not the mother of his, or anyone else’s, children; that’s for sure!" in a serious manner, there is something terribly wrong with you. ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/27 "2002-07-08T01:12:37Z")
Muad’Dib, I read the OP after I read your second post to the thread. I had my Sarcasmatron turned up to “high.” I still didn’t catch it. Had I been you, I would have included the explanatory paragraph that you decided to omit. Lord knows it’s better to spoil the joke and start a discussion or a thread of rants than to have the joke be a little _too_ subtle and start a shitstorm in the Pit. I think the best thing to do now might be to post something along the lines of “Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend. I was trying to make a point through a joke and it backfired on me.” Then, if you still want to talk about the way evil capitalist robber barons and their evil beauty products cartel, you might say something like “But hey, this is the point I was trying to get across…” But I am not here to tell you what to do. I am merely suggesting what I believe may be a painless course of further action. Your milage may vary. Offer void in Hawaii and Utah. Contents may have shifted during shipping. Not a significant source of calories. Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/28 "2002-07-08T01:40:31Z")
**Muad’Dib** , I read your post as it was intended. My wife is both well rounded and does have recurring skin blemishes. I see past all that and frankly, if it wasn’t for the attention she pays to her weight and skin, I wouldn’t even notice. I agree that society has influenced women in a very negative way to be preoccupied with perfection in appearance. I did feel that you were too subtle though and you got some deserved negative reaction. To those who reacted in such manner however, I would say that we have an excellent example here of someone who isn’t readily influenced by the superficiality of appearance, to the point that he was unable to comprehend the severity with which his remarks would be perceived ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/29 "2002-07-08T03:08:18Z")
Well, thanks for the explanation. I did have a hard time believing anyone could have actually intended that message honestly, but it did lack a certain je ne sais quo that would’ve made me see it was sarcasm right off. ---
**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/30 "2002-07-08T03:35:46Z")
That made no God-Damned sense what-so-ever. Good God, what were you thinking when you wrote that tripe? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/31 "2002-07-08T04:45:42Z")
Joke or no joke, you hurt people’s feelings, and that’s not funny. Do you think the hurt disappeared magically when they found out it was intended as sarcasm? ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/32 "2002-07-08T05:37:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muad’Dib \* > [BWhile writing I think of the vague outline of every bad beauty commercial ever made. “Haha, I am so very witty” I say to myself as I type it up and post it to the board. I even considered putting an ending to it, something like “so try new Avon skin cleanser!”, but I thought that this would have been too over the top and ruin the joke. Apparently, I was wrong.:smack: \*\* Yes, you were wrong. Subtlety was definitely not the way to go. I generally pick up on sarcasm fairly well. As you probably could tell, I missed it with this. According to you this means “there’s something terribly wrong with” me, because somehow you are so special we are all supposed to immediately divine when you are being serious and when you aren’t. Fine. You personify all that is clever and humorous, and no one should _dare_ question your pure intentions. Great. Have a cookie. - **arisu** , now feeling both ugly _and_ stupid ---
**Author:** ![NightRabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@NightRabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NightRabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/33 "2002-07-08T06:23:20Z")
I think we’d all need special glasses to pick up on your type of sarcasm, **Muad’Dib**. There are plenty of ways to make fun of the objectification of women without offending the whole crowd. Maybe you should try apologizing to people instead of making snarky comments about how we should have reacted. Or maybe there’s an apology hidden up there in your style du jour that no one recognized? ---
**Author:** ![Nightime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Nightime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightime)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/34 "2002-07-08T07:33:38Z")
I thought right away that muad’dib was attempting to be witty. It just happens that he is blissfully ignorant of this issue, and therefore what to him seemed to be a parody is actually the way a lot of people feel sometimes when confronted with the seeming impossibility of making their skin look good. By the way, males are more prone to acne than females, muad is just lucky apparently. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/35 "2002-07-08T07:56:10Z")
Well Muad’Dib, if you were Fenris or Scylla or someone else who’s been around a long time, we might have known you were joking. As it is, the only other thing I remember about you is the way you whined about your burrito question. So don’t snipe at us if we don’t get your joke. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/36 "2002-07-08T08:15:43Z")
No, I actually have pretty bad acne myself (especialy when I stay up all night trying to get the previously mentioned paper done). ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/37 "2002-07-08T10:34:47Z")
Gee. I picked up the sarcasm straight away. I was amazed nobody else did. How can anyone possibly think the OP was serious? I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/38 "2002-07-08T11:16:48Z")
sarcasm SYLLABICATION: sar·casm PRONUNCIATION: AUDIO: särkzm KEY NOUN: 1. A cutting, often ironic remark _intended to wound_. 2. A form of wit that is marked by the use of sarcastic language and is intended to make its victim the\*\* butt of contempt or ridicule. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/39 "2002-07-08T11:26:21Z")
Yes **spooje** and the **butt of contempt or ridicule** was intended to be the **stupid adverts that give the message portrayed in the OP**. Not anyone else. The joke fell flat, people got offended, but the intent was not to hurt anyone who suffers with bad skin. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2002, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732/40 "2002-07-08T12:42:41Z")
Sounds more like he intended those who would taken in by such ads. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damnit-women-quit-worrying-about-your-weight/117732.md?page=3)