A WOMAN'S WORK IS NEVER DONE - THE PROBLEM ACCORDING TO ME (USING DIET)

Women are used to dieting; despite the fact that men can lose weight more easily than women can, men are not. Women are used to the pressures of Western culture that dictate, "Thin is in." They needlepoint pillows announcing their credo, "You can never be too rich or too thin.'' (Men prefer slogans such as, "Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I fear no evil . . . for I am the biggest son of a bitch in the Valley.")

Even in our fitness-obsessed times, men, especially straight men, do not experience the pressure to be thin as poignantly as women do. Married men over the age of thirty-five feel even less pressure. Men diet every now and then (often on a bet, which is a macho way of forcing one to lose weight), suffer from the same yoyo syndrome that affects women, and eventually rationalize their excess poundage with their masculinity. Until the day he dies, my husband will characterize his physical build as "big." Men think big is good.

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