Heavy matter unites women
LIBERAL MP Andrew Laming has some unsolicited advice for the women of Australia: this woman is too fat and that the average Australian female who weighs in at 70kg is overweight.
The Liberal MP has taken his concerns to Facebook, where he posted a photograph of a Sydney vet nurse Melanie Ward, 35, to complain that fat is the new normal for too many Australians.
‘‘So, is it OK to be overweight, if it is now average!,’’ Dr Laming said posting a link to Ms Ward’s photograph where she is wearing workout gear.
But his free advice prompted an angry response from some women on Twitter and Facebook who accused him of ‘‘fat-shaming’’ Melanie and even posted pictures of themselves advising the MP that ‘‘this is what 70 kilos looks like’’. One user posted: ‘‘If I was Melanie, I’d say to Laming ‘‘I can lose weight, but you’ll still be just as stupid.’’
Ms Ward sparked a national debate last year when she posed for News Corp’s Body & Soul section to represent the ‘‘average’’ Australian woman who is 163cm tall and weights about 70kg.
With a body mass index that makes her borderline overweight, Ms Ward admitted she was not supermodel skinny but was happy with her body.
‘‘I know I’m not a supermodel but I am not com- pletely hideous either, I don’t think I amfat,’’ she said.
Contacted about Dr Laming’s comments she was ‘‘overweight’’ Ms Ward said it was ‘‘a bit weird’’.
‘‘I don’t know who he is or what his story is,’’ she said.
‘‘ I just think there’s too much emphasis on physicality. There’s hardly anything about working on being a better human being.
‘‘ I walk my dog nearly every day, I don’t smoke, I hardly ever drink. I think I am pretty healthy . . . It’s more than just about a number and what you weigh.’’
The veterinary nurse said people should be kinder about their bodies because they did ‘‘amazing things’’.
Labor frontbencher Kate Ellis said that Dr Laming should spare female voters his advice on acceptable weights for women.
‘‘The last thing Australian women (need) is the Abbott Government critiquing their bodies,’’ Ms Ellis said. ‘‘Perhaps if they had more than one woman in cabinet, they would be more in touch.’’