There are some topics I never tire of writing and researching: healthy cooking, saving money, yoga… and then there are topics I hope to never write about again, like women calling each other "fat."

Politics and body image are two topics that rarely intersect, though we've grown accustomed to the endless commentary on celebrity weight gain. Tyra Banks, Kelly Clarkson, Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Love Hewitt have endured the media maelstrom. Each time, we shake our heads and wish that women could be valued for something besides their appearances. Though those women have been bestowed with musical, dramatic and other talents, it's the size of their thighs that most often makes headlines.

Now, Meghan McCain, a political blogger and the 24-year-old daughter of Arizona Sen. John McCain, is being criticized for her weight. This time though, it was not the blogosphere or the tabloids taking aim. It is one person--another woman, no less!

A conservative female radio show host, Laura Ingraham, recently called the size 8-10 McCain "a plus-sized model" after McCain criticized another GOP pundit in a blog. The debate between the women until then had been strictly political, not personal. Then 44-year-old Ingraham struck what many in the media to consider a low blow: She insulted the weight of a woman young enough to be her daughter, a woman for whom she could be considered a role model.

McCain says she's a size 8 and that she was a size 10 on the campaign trail. That's smaller than the average American woman, who is a size 12-14.

McCain took the high road, appearing on ABC's The View to defend herself and denounce criticism of women's weight. She said:

"I'm a political writer on a blog, and all of a sudden I'm too fat to write…Everyone from Tyra Banks to Oprah to Hillary Clinton to my mother, why are we so obsessed with weight? Why?"

"There's no place for weight criticism of women in 2009. ... There's no place for any woman to have her weight criticized no matter what her age."

Watch the full video:


This incident raises a few questions:
1. Why do we resort to such low blows instead of keeping our arguments logical and intelligent? Instead of insulting McCain's credentials, her ideas or her writing, Ingraham went for the sucker punch: McCain's weight.

2. Why aren't men held to similar standards? In entertainment, politics and business, a man's looks don't automatically overshadow his talent. Women aren't as lucky. Female celebrities are criticized for gaining five pounds (Dancing with the Stars' Cheryl Burke) or not being in prime catwalk-strutting shape (Tyra Banks), while men's weight and appearance is irrelevant. Look at TV and movies. Do you ever see an overweight or frumpy woman with a fit and handsome man? No, but the overweight, goofy man and thin, attractive woman is a common scenario (King of Queens, According to Jim, Knocked Up).

3. Why, as women, aren't we supporting one another? Ingraham was within her rights to criticize McCain's opinions, but the argument was not about whether McCain should wear the black polka-dot sheath or the purple velvet cocktail dress to the next GOP mixer or anything related to body image, weight or appearance. It was about a legitimate political issue. Women have fought long and hard to be considered more than a pretty face. Politics remains a venue where women are still fighting to get their foothold, which makes it that much more confusing that a political commentator would resort to such superficial comments.

4. What should we do about this? When their weight becomes an issue, most female celebrities give in and lose weight. Should they? According to the mainstream media, they look "better." But what kind of example is that sending to the rest of us?

Being too fit opens you for criticism, too. Michelle Obama's biceps have been called distracting by critics.

What do you think about this latest attack on a woman's weight? Do women have an obligation to refrain from criticizing other women's bodies? Is it ever OK to take aim at a person's weight? (Let's refrain from discussing politics in the comments and focus on the issue of body image.)