Riding crop costumes go bye bye

[innerSpaceman]

Well, the answer to that one, GC and Prudence, is that NO PERSONAL INSULTS have been made.

Saying that a person who is fat would be more attractive if they were thin is not a personal insult. No one has been named in an insulting manner, and no group has been insulted in a derogatory matter.

If you disagree with that assessment, perhaps an analogy would help: Saying fat people are less attractive than thin people is like saying gay people can't have babies. It's a generalization based on common sense fact, but is NOT a smear on that group. Just becuase there are exceptions to those generalizations does not make them inapplicable, nor does it make them cross the line into personal insults. No one has said that fat people are evil or stupid or insane.

[tracilicious]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

If you disagree with that assessment, perhaps an analogy would help: Saying fat people are less attractive than thin people is like saying gay people can't have babies. It's a generalization based on common sense fact, but is NOT a smear on that group. Just becuase there are exceptions to those generalizations does not make them inapplicable, nor does it make them cross the line into personal insults. No one has said that fat people are evil or stupid or insane.

The difference is that one of these is a biological fact and one of these is subjective opinion turned into a broad generalization. Two men cannot naturally make a baby. Neither can two women. Saying fat people are less attractive is not based on common sense fact. It's based on your and some other people's personal opinion. And in our culture, saying someone is unattractive can be as insulting as saying they are evil or stupid or insane.

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by tracilicious

The difference is that one of these is a biological fact and one of these is subjective opinion turned into a broad generalization. Two men cannot naturally make a baby. Neither can two women. Saying fat people are less attractive is not based on common sense fact.

I think it was Szcerbiakmaniac who pointed out quite nicely why, in modern-day Western culture, the generalization of fat=less attractive than thin is an acceptable generalization. It remains a mere generalization.

(And gay men have the same ability to contribute to a baby's conception as straight men, they simply have less opportunity ).

I happen to agree with Prudence that such a generalization must be combatted and should be changed. But I feel perfectly comfortable in assessing it to be a valid generalization for current Western society. Your mileage may vary.



Nevertheless, my position remains that no posts in this thread have crossed the line into insults of a particular person or derogation of a particular group. If someone ventured the opinion that short men were less attractive than tall men, I would not consider that a slur upon we short dudes.


Edited to add:

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

Crap, running behind....too many posts to catch up with

Ditto.