Yesterday, since I have been having car issues this week, I took J to school in the Prom King's car. Since I was literally being fueled by adrenaline and anger yesterday, I couldn't be bothered to change the radio station in his car. He had it tuned to talk radio - whatever local station carries Rush Limbaugh - I don't know the exact station.


One of the news items covered a study done with 55 little girls somewhere in Arizona in which some learned-type person was trying to study the girls' perception of body image. The girls were told they would be playing some type of game (for whatever reason, I imagined Chutes & Ladders), and given a choice of three game pieces: one thin, one "normal" and one fat.

The shrink that conducted the experiment and the show host were all in a tither because most of the little girls did not pick the fat game piece. In fact, some of the little girls even REFUSED to give the shrink their thin or normal game piece when she tried trade them for her fat one. THE HORROR!!!!!! I mean, some of the little girls in this study were AS YOUNG AS 3 YEARS OLD!!!!! Three and they are already on the precipice of anorexia!!!!!!

This leads me to a couple of thoughts:

1. Lets not let a study that is partially comprised of three-year-olds cause us to make any snap judgements about our society. Here is a news flash for our shrink: three-year-olds aren't really known for their well thought out decision making. I know. I have a three-year-old living in my house (and it's a girl! bonus points!). If you gave my daughter a thin game piece and tried to trade her for a fat one, she may or may not trade with you. However, I don't think her decision would be based on the general stature of the piece. It would be more based on which one was wearing pink or what hairstyle it had. Better yet, she might not want to trade just because SHE DIDN'T FEEL LIKE TRADING. Maybe she hadn't had a nap and wasn't going to agree to do anything for you at all because she is three and that is her prerogative.

2. Aren't we fighting some kind of war against obesity? I can't turn the Disney Channel on for my kids without Michelle Obama coming on there with one of the Jonas brothers and that Asian chick that's on the show with the twins telling us to eat less and exercise more. Because being fat is BAD and NOT HEALTHY. Haven't they been telling us for years that the American populace is generally lazy and obese, and apparently this is causing a great number of health problems? So, is being fat totally acceptable for game pieces only? I'm confused. Let's ask Michelle which game piece she wants to play with. Maybe that will help.

I am sure the shrink's study was funded by some type of federal grant. I know that Michelle's little program is. Is it me, or does this seem counterproductive?

Stay tuned readers, for tomorrow I will delve into the second thing about this interview that made me mad....