As blogs and headlines blaze about American Idol winner Jordin Sparks -- and her body size -- I can’t help but wonder what messages her many fans are taking to heart, and stomach.

Jordan is curvy. And people call that “fat,” “overweight,” or “obese.” If that’s the common perception of a celebrity who isn't stick-sized, then millions of fans, who are also not skeletal, are probably thinking, “what about me?”

Blogs and headlines are abuzz about the body size of American Idol Jordin Sparks. If she takes the name-calling to heart (and stomach), she may engage in a regimen of unhealthy, “pro-thin” behaviors to try and join the ranks of idol winners and finalists Ruben Studdard (who lost 100 pounds), Diana DeGarmo (who dropped three dress sizes --to a size four), Carrie Underwood, (who’s accused of losing too much weight), Jennifer Hudson (who lost weight for her role in the movie DreamGirls) and Taylor Hicks (who lost 22 pounds and made the cover of People Magazine). Among other offshoots of the show, “Idol” is becoming a weight loss plan.

If you haven’t been paying attention, our nation’s weight obsession has just shifted to a whole new level. American Idol Jordin Sparks took anti-fat hits from National Action Against Obesity head, Meme Roth. Meanwhile, Roth took anti-thin hits from American Idol fans.

Both sides of the weight spectrum are playing war games with arsenals of pseudomedicine.

At the center, if there is one, is our culture’s ambivalence about fat and how much people should be carrying around (and on what part of their bodies). This weight consciousness is supposedly about health. But, we’d be kidding ourselves to presume that Sparks is being attacked because of her risk for future coronary disease -- or that Roth has been called the “c-word” because her thinness--dubbed “anorexia” by opponents--renders her vulnerable to osteoporosis.