Anyone can have problems with his or her weight - men, teens, even young kids. Obesity has grown to almost epidemic proportions. But it seems to be women that worry about it the most. I've tried numerous diets and belong to a support program, and from what I read, I'm not alone.

An entry on Big, Fat Blog intrigued me with the statement:

Young women today appear ultra confident in their clingy, revealing clothes, bare stomachs, low cut jeans and cropped tops, "but perhaps the truth is they just can't say the word fat. We should reclaim that word so these women can strut, with dignity. Why wait? Life is too short," said Raino who has always had a voluptuous body herself.

Who is Raino? This short blurb led me to an article in the Victoria, B.C. Times Colonist called Dancers at Large. This is a dance troupe seeking out what they call rubenesque women. The leader and choreographer of the troupe is Lynda Raino. Lately she's been having trouble finding and recruiting "larger ladies" for her troupe. She says:

"I was never a small person and large women have a sense of comfort in that. And I never have skinny, skinny dancers teaching the class."

She thought things had improved in recent years, with role models such as actress Camryn Manheim, who plays an attorney in The Practice. In her acceptance speech for an Emmy she told the audience: "This is for all the fat girls!"

But it seems "fat" has become a bad word and no one wants to get up on stage and strut their overweight stuff. It's a shame.