Should Lesbianism Be Taxed?

As a follow up to this story about lesbians being twice as likely as straight women to be over weight and even obese ... I have a question:

LESBIANS are twice as likely as heterosexual women to be overweight or obese, which puts them at greater risk for obesity-related health problems and death, US researchers said.

The report, published in the American Journal of Public Health, is one of the first large studies to look at obesity among lesbians.

Ulrike Boehmer of the Boston University School of Public Health and colleagues looked at a 2002 national survey of almost 6000 women, and found that lesbians were 2.69 times more likely to be overweight and 2.47 times more likely to be obese.

“Lesbians have more than twice the odds of (being) overweight,” the authors wrote.

particularly given this item in USA Today which points to obesity as a major driver behind rising health care costs. If we can tax McDonald's, ban trans-fats, and tax smoking for health care issues ... is it time to think about a lesbian weight tax, too?

The study comes as businesses, the government and consumers are struggling with soaring health care costs. "Most of what is going on now to try to control health care spending is missing the target," Thorpe says. "Companies are tweaking co-pays and talking about health care savings accounts when really they need to redirect their focus to reduce the prevalence of obesity among children and workers."

Comments

[ec1009]

No.

[Zifnab]

I still think Dan has dreams of being a door-to-door lesbian detector.

[bloodrage bob]

is it therefore now safe to say that being queer is quite likely to be fundamentally bad for you? or that the "lezzies = fatter & unhealthier" equation is nature's way of punishing those who turn their backs on the biological imperative? no? so we should just ignore the stats?

[caseyschenkofsky]

No, but I do think it is time to think about reclassifying some kinds of prejudice as a form of illness that rarely recedes without treatment.

[BobInStamford]

On behalf of Condi, I say no.

[Leatherneck]

Just make it pay per view. BTW, no fat chicks please.

[Phoenix]

"...door-to-door lesbian detector."

haha. How does one do this job anyway? Woman answers the door - insurance rep tweaks her nipples. If she invites him in, she's not a lesbian; if she bitch slaps him, he writes her down as 'Unnatural' and raises her insurance?

jeeez, Zif.

"Pay per view." ? hah.... Nice bunch here......

"Biological imperative...." 'scuse me while I kiss this guy'... Ack! God smites him fat. Booph. oh wait.. Nature smites him lardly.

[Phoenix]

No, but I do think it is time to think about reclassifying some kinds of prejudice as a form of illness that rarely recedes without treatment.

Posted by: caseyschenkofsky | Monday, April 30, 2007 at 09:27 PM

Get off your chrome horse, Casey. There's probably not one of us on this blog who does not have a gay friend.

Permanently outraged diplomats get on my nerves.

[bloodrage bob]

when you try to classify "prejudices" as mental illness, casey....

1) are you aware that's how they whisked away troublesome proles back in the good ol' USSR? "anyone who would deviate from the state-approved dogma MUST therefore be crazy!"?

2) when you pompously intone "prejudice!", and "mental illness!", are you referring to the staggering liberal tilt in higher academia? and their ludicrous fear and hatred of conservatives?

you mean crazy like that???? or did you just mean 'crazy' like the people YOU think are bad folks? folks who eschew the authorized euphemisms for gay women? hmmm??

[caseyschenkofsky]

I don't think that friendship with any one person from a group has any correlative to a tendency towards prejudice or not.

If it is pompous to write of prejudice here in and of itself in reference to a question of taxing people for weight, I'm at a loss. As for mental illness and academia, well I don't know of any particular arena that has a lock on any kind of illness... Except for (in some academic circles) class and race prejudice. I would imagine that prisons and the military have pretty high rates of mental illness.

And as for the USSR and historical references to the State using illness as a vehicle for control and confinement, what makes you think that that is limited to one state and one time period? I thought most if not all states enagage in this practice.

And no, I don't see myself as the arbiter of "crazy." But I do think you should look at how American kids are being pumped up with medication because their parents don't want to deal with them. Should we tax the parents if they agree to give drugs to kids that are under the age of 18 and only exhibit no more than moderate "behvioral problems", including overeating? And if you find this idea offensive, why would you accept the original post?

[seekeronos]

I think that the "average" American parent who medicates their (so-called) ADD/ADHD afflicted kid(s) should be beaten severely with a Clue-Bat.

Plugging the kids into a video game or a TV, or worse, ignoring them altogether is hardly a substitute for spending time with them, correcting them when they go astray, teaching them about what sin, right and wrong is, and showing them genuine love.

Of course, my generation (born in the late 60's ~ mid 70's) grew up in the 80s where our parents (mostly baby boomers, and the tail end of the "Silent Generation") were busily building their fortunes and weren't always the best parents either.

But it is never too late to repent, and follow a Godly model of the family where the parents provide a home full of love and discipline for their children, "bringing them up in the admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4).

Coming back to the topic of tubby lesbians, there does seem to be a fair amount of truth to the stereotypical butch chubby lesbian with a mullet (though I have seen some fit lesbians that would put most men to shame for their masculinity).

Oh, that dreaded "gay"... indeed, sexual sin has its consequences. And I believe that we are assaulted every day on the left hand and on the right with it; the seeds are sown into tender soil from a young age.

We live in a time where the flesh is exalted beyond measure, where one can wander into a mall and find stores selling apparell geared for "prostitots", such as "abercrombie" (all lowercase: geared for 7-14 y.o. kids) and similar retailers.

How can boys (or young men, if in the "grown-up" Abercrombie or Hollister or American Eagle Outfitters, et. al) avoid the sexually charged content of the gigantic posters of semi-nude models carvorting with one another?

(For that matter, I've always wondered why the Abercrombie stores always had the giant posters with the half-nekkid men in the men's section and the women on the women's side? One would think that a mix of models on both sides of the store would be effective in reaching a heterosex majority shopper demographic...)

Or the girls/young women who lust after images of said models in their minds, and empty their parents' bank accounts trying to pick out the right clothes to get "slutted up" with?

How is it that one could not see the potentially "gay" marketing attempts even at that age?

The big market for the "prostitot" clothing lines is especially targeted to impressionable "tweens" (pre-teen/early teen) children whose parents have allowed out them of the house in attire which would be barely appropriate on women of ill-repute, much less a child who is being robbed of her innocence. The young boys fare no better, being inculcated into a consumer culture that degrades the honor and sanctity of women as the weaker but fairer vessel, if otherwise not tempting them afoul with the hypermasculine appeal of semi-nude male models ... should they already be developing a preference for that (no additional thanks to our ultra-liberal subversive "education" establishment is trying to drill in the mainstreaming and "normalcy" of "alternative lifestyles" into their heads).

When the flesh is glorified and sold at a madman's pace even to beleaguer and assault the innocence of our youngest children, it follows that acceptance and even denial of sin and a generally decreased resistance to the reproach of homosexuality _AND_ other sexual sins will be the dreadful harvest...

...and in its perverse turn, those who do reject God and embrace a life which is abhorrent to the Creator, what can He do more than give them up to their lifestyle, and the consequences (ill-health, an ill-mind, and maybe worse) that come from it?

[templar knight]

I believe there was a time, just a few years ago, when homosexualilty was considered aberrant behavior, and a form of mental illness. My..my..how the times have changed. Now someone who doesn't agree with such behavior, or speaks out against it, should be sent to the....gulag, according to Casey. For treatment. And they accuse Bush of being fascist?

[bloodrage bob]

(hat tip to TK) well-put, TK.

see, now *that's* what i was TRYING TO say. but then i got all, you know, all MAD at the freedom-fearing little fascist wanting to lock up the 'deviants' who refused to follow state-mandated guidelines for proper terminology regarding queer women....and....

well....

[DANEgerus]

If you can ban trans-fats...

[caseyschenkofsky]

"I believe there was a time, just a few years ago, when homosexualilty was considered aberrant behavior, and a form of mental illness."
Exactly. Notions of illness and treatment are variable over time, and are absolutley impacted by the needs of a state, and directions in medicine. It amazes me that people here are more interested in some abstruse notion of freedom and how some posts don't celebrate that, yet completely overlook the possibility that a politician, an advocacy group, a pharmaceutical company, and etc., might be driving their thoughts on how to "treat" various conditions.

As for locking up people and state mandated guidelines, those words never came from me, at least. If we were to look at some of our local ways of dealing with mental and emotional trauma among war vets, perhaps we could broaden the discussion a little bit. And what if we focused on Lesbian war vets?