When Hefty Was Nifty
As seen above, fat was admired throughout much of history. To be fat meant that you were doing well and had all you can eat (and more). To be skinny was not seen as attractive. Instead, it was a sign that somebody was not doing well, did not have enough to eat, suffered from poor health, or all of the preceding. Chunky was sexy, as illustrated by the art of Rubens and the standards of beauty of his hefty models. Some went beyond Rubenesque, though. Take King Rumanika, a nineteenth ruler of Buganda in central Africa, who had a thing for extremely fat women.
Rumanika had a harem of big ladies. So big, they could not stand. Rather than walk, they waddled about like elephant seals. They were fed – or more accurately, force fed – a porridge heavy on goat’s milk to keep them pleasantly plump. As in literally force fed: His Majesty had servants stand over his big mamas at mealtimes with whips to make sure they finished all the food they were given, and flog them if they did not until they did. To this day, fat women are seen as sexy in many parts of the world, while “model thin” skinny girls are pitied or viewed with revulsion.