Bikini Season / Women are like Chocolate Cake - Merge

[singsingsing]

Um, hello? Chocolate cake and other assorted treats ARE everywhere. Other people in your house buy junk, or you go to the grocery store and you're surrounded by it, meet up with a friend at a cafe, walk by a Starbucks at the bookstore, go to church and some thoughtful person has baked cookies for everyone, head out to a movie and the extra large buttery popcorn beckons you - need I go on? And yet somehow I manage to assert my willpower and NOT devour all these things if I'm trying to lose weight/stay healthy/not get indigestion. If you literally cannot stop yourself from eating something even if you think it's bad, you probably have an unhealthy relationship with food. If, as a man, you literally cannot stop yourself from lusting after, or even jumping on, all the attractive women you might see in a day, you probably have an unhealthy relationship with sex.

[RachelB]

Not a good analogy for several reasons. First, women are not chocolate cakes. Cakes do not have any say in whether they are eaten or not. Second, if I ate enough chocolate cake, I'd get sick of it. Also, I can eat a tiny bite of chocolate and be satisfied no matter how often I see the cake. Even if you are on a strict diet, a tiny portion of cake won't hurt your diet if you just adjust your calories for the day.

Actually, this analogy is pretty offensive to men.

Seriously.

My favorite online nutritionist talks about "permission" as a useful concept: If you give yourself permission to eat what you want, over time, you develop a better, less hostile relationship with your body and are better able to determine what it needs.

Over time I have learned that self-denial makes me cranky, self-righteous, impatient, judgmental, grudging, and inattentive to the pleasures of life-- in a word, fundie. My body is happiest when I eat an ounce of dark chocolate every day. As I am neither allergic to chocolate nor unable to afford it, there's no reason to avoid eating that ounce of chocolate. It hurts no one, makes the cake on the counter less compelling, and makes it easier to be around other people.

As you've pointed out, other people's bodies are not cake.

[blisterine]

can someone point me in the direction of a horny fundy boy with chocolate cake? I feel a sin or two coming on!

[Green Glass]

All of the analogies that leave men as men but make women objects (bicycles, used cars, chocolate cakes, etc) piss me off. They really show how fundies truly think of women: objects with no mind or will of their own.

[ADoyle90815]

Wasn't it the Buckingham-Hales who swam in pools and khakis?

I believe in getting a little vitamin D and when I run at 6 am I don't generally wear sunblock. But if I'm outside anytime after 10 am, I usually have on a minimum of SPF 30. Tis' the curse of being a ginger :evil:

One other thing I found that is great for those of us with extremely fair skin are those Under Armor type of shirts that are designed to keep you cool when working out by wicking away sweat. They're found in any store that sells workout clothing. For me, my prescription glasses are those Transition lenses that darken on their own when I'm in sunlight, but I might still get prescription sunglasses as well the next time I go to the optometrist.

[felinelurker]

I briefly wore sunglasses in my teens, but when I switched from wearing contacts to wearing glasses full-time due to dry eyes, I went without sunglasses for many years. (I finally bought a prescription pair maybe five years ago. They are the most expensive things I've ever put on my face, and they still don't have great coverage.)

Delurking to say I have the same problem. What I do is get BIG, inexpensive, non-prescription sunglasses and wear them over my regular glasses. Comfortable, provides lots of protection for face/eyes, saves money, I don't have to sweat about losing them, and I can have many bright sparkly pairs to go with different outfits rather than having to stick to one neutral one.

...Hi!

[Olive Plant]

Um, I am on a diet that does not include cake, because I'm intolerant of gluten and dairy. Every single day, someone at work puts out some treat on the break room table to share, and it almost always has gluten and/or dairy in it. Sometimes it's chocolate cake, sometimes it's pie, sometimes it's warm bread, whatever. I have yet to throw a tantrum telling everyone not to bring these treats because I don't want to eat them. Clearly, my self-control needs to be decent enough that I don't gobble everything within my line of sight, and it is NOT the responsibility of my co-workers to make sure I never catch a glimpse of their food lest I be over-tempted.

It's stupid analogies like this that make me feel naked around Christian guys when I wear a bikini. Normally, guys don't look twice at me in my bikini. But a good Christian man will oogle the shit out of me like I'm some kind of tramp. I have noticed it happening over and over among my more conservative Christian friends and acquaintances. Hanging out poolside with friends of friends can feel really awkward when you're wearing what would otherwise be a boring ol' bathing suit.