Thursday, September 22, 2011

Ugh

[Trigger warning for body policing, fat hatred, and ableism.]

Linked from the front page of CNN: "Smart ways to keep your marriage healthy."

Number One on their list: "Watch your waistline." Seriously.
1. Watch your waistline

Now that you're married, you can finally relax and skip the gym, right? Wrong. Wedded couples tend to have fatter waistlines, which can spell trouble in terms of sexual attraction and general health.

A 2007 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that your chances of becoming obese increase by 37% if your spouse becomes obese. So unless you want "till death do us part" to include chronic health issues like heart disease and diabetes, it's important to establish healthy eating habits early on.
There is a lot about this to hate, including the usual axiomatic conflation of "fat" with "sick," but the suggestion that I would (or should) love my partner less because he was diagnosed with diabetes during the course of our marriage is absolutely sickening.

And lest anyone misunderstand that the entire piece is about staying physically healthy while married, the second item is "Have a financial plan." It's about how to avoid conflict and unhappiness, basically. Don't let your spouse get fat because zie might get sick or unfuckable which is a real marriage-ruiner! Ugh.

So. Gross.