Summary

Because 60-80% of American women are overweight or obese, a smaller proportion of today's women are sexually attractive compared to women a generation ago. Relatively fewer attractive women drives up their value in the SMP and helps create much of the behavior we see today.

Body

60-80% of American women are overweight or obese. This was not the case as recently as a generation ago, and it's no coincidence that women's waistlines and sexual power have ballooned at the same time. What we're seeing is fat women effectively removing themselves from the Sexual Marketplace (SMP), and that translates to greater sexual power for the remaining attractive women.

To illustrate this, compare the SMP to the market for cars. Imagine yourself as a buyer in this market, looking for a car you can use to drive to work. Regardless of what you're looking for in a car, there's at least one feature you have to have -- it has to run. That's a basic requirement for a vehicle to even be on your radar; if it doesn't run, it's not in the market. Similarly, if you're looking for a partner, there's at least some minimum threshold of sexual attractiveness they must have in order to even be an option; if they're obese, they probably don't meet this threshold, and they're probably not in the SMP.

Now consider two lots of used cars:

  • In Lot A, maybe 10-20% of the vehicles don't run (a generation ago, maybe 10-20% of women had removed themselves from the SMP due to obesity).
  • In Lot B, maybe 50-60% of the vehicles don't run (today, maybe 50-60% of women have removed themselves from the SMP due to obesity).

Which lot has higher sale prices? If I'm selling a car in Lot A I can't raise my price too high even if I have a nice car; there are plenty of cars that will at least fulfill customers' basic needs, so they can easily pursue another option. But if I'm selling a car in Lot B I can jack up my price even if I have a run-down old Pinto; the same number of people need a vehicle, but only half the cars on the lot run. As a seller I have more power in Lot B; women have more sexual power today. More sexual power leads to the behaviors TRP describes.

Conclusion

Overweight/obese women taking themselves out of the SMP is driving up demand for the remaining attractive women. Higher demand gives women more power, and with more power they can act with less responsibility.

For reference, here is the CDC's adult BMI calculator.

EDIT: Lots of people in here saying that "fat women get fucked, too." That's true -- as true as saying that "post-Wall, overweight divorcees in their late 40s get fucked, too." Yes, women can always find some man who's willing to have sex with them, but we don't think of obese women or post-Wall women as active members in the SMP because:

  1. They command near-zero attention from the average man, and
  2. Even the most desperate of men would only touch them as a last resort measure to end a long dry spell.

To revisit the car comparison, saying that obese women are like cars that don't run isn't precise enough. They run, but they're the 80s compact car on bald tires, with no backseat, no radio, plastic over two of the windows, mismatched paint, rags for airbags, and a temperamental engine -- Tony will give it to you for just $300 cash! Yes, technically they run, but they're so far below even the dregs of the used car market that it's useless to mention them when you're talking about how people buy cars.