Body Positive or Promoting an unhealthy lifestyle

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  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    I find it sad and a little disturbing that anyone would look to a model of any size as promting a lifestyle. They are there to sell something.
  • ourtruelovewillneverdie
    ourtruelovewillneverdie Posts: 170 Member
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    MrM27 wrote: »
    ourtruelovewillneverdie wrote: »
    MrM27 wrote: »
    ourtruelovewillneverdie wrote: »
    My husband and I were talking about this last night. He doesn't agree with it because he thinks she isn't attractive. I, conversely, think she is very pretty, but I don't think that her size is giving a true representation of the average woman. I feel we see women too thin modeling, but if the average woman is a size 12-14, even with vanity sizing, she isn't an accurate representation either.
    I'm not sure models are supposed to be technically representing the average woman or man. If they were then so many of us would be models. How many men do you know that look like that guy on the cover of a magazine with the super chiseled abs?

    I understand that they representing what they are modeling or an idea, I was just trying to say I would rather see an average representation.

    But which one would sell better?

    In my opinion, the thin models and super cut models will sell better, but as a woman it would be nice to see other types. I personally love Kate Upton as model and would love to see more that looked like her.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    socunpato wrote: »
    She's beautiful, and you don't know anything about her lifestyle.
    In my opinion it's not promoting anything unhealthy, it's just giving bigger girls representation. Being fat doesn't mean you have to hate yourself.

    beauty is in the eye of the beholder....
  • Lauren5280
    Lauren5280 Posts: 67 Member
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    I think it is promoting an unhealthy lifestyle. Let's face it we're all here to get healthy/fit, etc. This is contrary to what we're all trying to accomplish. You can love who you are without deciding it is okay to remain morbidly obese. We're all here striving to do better, be better.... I think we can all agree it is the right course to take. I would like to see this girl make the same effort.
  • melimomTARDIS
    melimomTARDIS Posts: 1,941 Member
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    I think you should be happy in your skin no matter what size you are. When I was fat, I had sex, dressed nicely, went to events/etc. I mean, life wasnt over just because I was overweight. Now I am thin, and I still do all those things. I think its unhealthy to wait to live your life until your body meets a certain standard.

    I had different priorities when I was big, and I figure other large people similarly have other aspects of their lives they are focusing on, and arent bothered by their weight.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,741 Member
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    I agree that most plus size models aren't truly plus size. I actually believed they were, for years, and therefore thought the smallest I'd ever be was size 12-14. I am now in size 10 and M/L (juniors & misses sizing) and I'm still bulkier looking through the torso and rear than half of the plus size models. Clearly though, market research has shown that women who wear size 20, 24, etc, prefer to see women who are smaller representing them. It's hard to look at someone who is so drastically different from the norms we see represented and think "Oh that's me", even if that does involve some degree of denial.

    But at the end of the day I think models like the one in OP's link are a good thing, why not show a different body type. I think for every 1 teen it encourages to say "eff a healthy lifestyle I'll just eat all of the things" it will help 50+ other teens/women to feel "see, I'm not unworthy & horrible for being larger and looking different" and to me that's the bottom line.
  • melimomTARDIS
    melimomTARDIS Posts: 1,941 Member
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    like I know a girl who wont wear shorts or swimwear, even in a humid midwestern summer, because she is fat. So she just sweats and suffers all summer long. That is no way to live! A little self esteem would go a long way in her case.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
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    melimomTARDIS wrote: »
    like I know a girl who wont wear shorts or swimwear, even in a humid midwestern summer, because she is fat. So she just sweats and suffers all summer long. That is no way to live! A little self esteem would go a long way in her case.
    I bought my first pair of shorts in years last year, and only because I was going on vacation. I live in Houston, TX, and I usually just suffer through life in jeans because I hated my legs. I'm down 60lbs (100 from my highest), and I still hate my legs. But at least I don't think shorts are horrible any more.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    melimomTARDIS wrote: »
    like I know a girl who wont wear shorts or swimwear, even in a humid midwestern summer, because she is fat. So she just sweats and suffers all summer long. That is no way to live! A little self esteem would go a long way in her case.

    What I find sad about it is that jeans don't hide much more than shorts would... I mean, you don't have to wear super shot shorts if you don't like your thighs, but in my experience everyone can tell if you have bigger legs, whether you wear shorts or not... Although I guess I don't typically wear my weight in my legs so I admit I have no clue what I'm talking about.
  • mshum74
    mshum74 Posts: 3
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    honkytonks85 wrote: »
    What always gets me is the assumption that being big = unhealthy lifestyle and being slim = healthy lifestyle. Not really the case. It is possible to be overweight and still be healthy. It is possible to be slim and be unhealthy.

    Absolutely!
  • radmack
    radmack Posts: 272 Member
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    With so many now overweight, it should prove to be a profitable market - which is sort of the point of fashion (making money). :-)
  • vddamico84
    vddamico84 Posts: 15 Member
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    honkytonks85 wrote: »
    What always gets me is the assumption that being big = unhealthy lifestyle and being slim = healthy lifestyle. Not really the case. It is possible to be overweight and still be healthy. It is possible to be slim and be unhealthy.

    Exactly. The main focus for anyone should be to be healthy. And healthy looks different for everybody
  • IpuffyheartHeelsinthegym
    IpuffyheartHeelsinthegym Posts: 5,573 Member
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    she's beautiful and happy in her skin. Good on her!
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
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    I could care less. If that's what she wants to do , then good for her. I personally prefer being a smaller size, but don't care what size other people are.
  • racheljonel
    racheljonel Posts: 400 Member
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    I just don't see how anyone can be "happy" or "ok" with that much extra weight. I had almost exactly that same body at one point (I'm a little taller) and I wasn't happy at all. Not because I necessarily hated myself, but because that much weight is so uncomfortable. NO clothing is comfortable at that size....it's either bunching up under rolls, digging into fat or clinging in a weird way. Not to mention getting winded when doing ANYTHING, the sweating, the chaffing, not being able to literally fit in chairs or seats or back seats of cars...god I could go on and on.....it's just not fun. I guess she really doesn't know how inconvenient and ridiculous is to deal with all of that and that life can be so different, because she said she's been this way her whole life. I feel bad for her for that. To each their own I guess....
  • KnM0107
    KnM0107 Posts: 355 Member
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    I am 5'6" and at my heaviest weight I was a size 24. She can do what she wants with her body. I won't rally behind her because I have been there and the extra weight on the joints and fat around the organs is not healthy. I have seen too many people hide behind body positivity because of their own denial. Body positivity and fat acceptance are slippery slopes imo.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Slasher09 wrote: »
    Once I made peace with myself I started to see my body differently. I loved the curves I had that made me feminine. Then my weight loss took off. I loved my body and because of that I wanted to treat it well. I wanted to make sure it was nourished and wanted to make it strong. As I started losing weight, I started to see even more of a feminine shape (thinner waistline, more prominent curves) and I started to love my body even more and my body confidence started to grow even more...but I would have never had any confidence if I didn't have love coming from within.

    We need more people to love themselves enough to think they are worth taking care of.

    Agreed.

    I really don't buy into this notion that if there are some people out there happy with how they look at larger sizes that somehow it's going to encourage others to be unhealthy. People have their own reasons for caring about their size. (Similarly, I've never bought into the notion that people get obsessed with being thinner because of actresses or models.)

    On the other hand, I do think shame and self-hatred prevent lots of people from being able to do what they need to be healthy--it certainly was easier for me when I stopped feeling like I was a worthless person who didn't deserve to be happy (although that was about a lot more than weight and probably related to me gaining weight in the first place back in the day). So having someone who claims to be fit and looks happy at a larger size is, if anything, positive, although the actual difference it makes to anyone else is probably slight at most.

    Have to disagree with the bolded. Any time people see a behavior or condition that was previously viewed as a negative becoming more mainstream, more accepted, it lowers the incentive for people who do that behavior or have that condition to change (which can be good or bad, depending).

    If you hold that condition or behavior up as some type of desirable thing (which is not what is happening with the plus-sized model, but is what happened with underweight models), then you end up with some people trying to achieve that behavior or condition. Then you get situations like teenagers trying to diet themselves down to the same bodies as the models they see in magazines because they are held up as standards of beauty.
  • Burt_Huttz
    Burt_Huttz Posts: 1,612 Member
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    Wow, that article was definitely a piece of writing on the internet.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
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    Burt_Huttz wrote: »
    Wow, that article was definitely a piece of writing on the internet.
    I feel like your use of the word "article" was overstated.
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