Once upon a time, "skinny" was a bad word
rosebette
Posts: 1,660 Member
This is an interesting bit of marketing from the 1930s. Apparently, back in the day, those "vanity pounds" were 5-10 more pounds, not less!
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/kelp-o-malt-skinny-girls/
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/kelp-o-malt-skinny-girls/
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Eh screw that. I love to be skinny. I absolutely love not having any fat jouncing around when I run. I was there for a minute last year, I'm determined to get back there again.0
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To be fair, the average person was a lot thinner than today.0
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It's crazy how much societal norms and standards can change!0
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The only difference between the two women is boobs.
It's the Depression and then wartime deprivation-eras backlash from the 1920s "stick straight/boyish" flapper ideal.
The "ideal" body shape for women swings back and forth (hourglass, block, soft, muscle, heroin chic, ghetto booty, etc), but it's always thin.0 -
It's a symbol of wealth and privilege0
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It's a symbol of wealth and privilege
What's "it's"? Being slightly overweight or skinny? Or maybe both -- slightly overweight or curvier when there are food shortages (as during the Depression -- this ad is from 1936) and thin or skinny during times of prosperity. After all, in the U.S., obesity is income-related, with low-income populations tending to be heavier due to cheap, low-quality food. Geographical areas with higher educated, higher income populations tend to be thinner. In the "flapper era," educated women of higher income levels were the ones who could afford cars and freedom, so were thinner. I came from poor immigrant stock, and except for one tiny grandmother who was kind of a "hot ticket", the pictures I have of family from that era are of women with dour faces, hair pulled back in buns, and dowdy long dresses that hid their bodies.
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I still think skinny is not something to aspire to
Healthy, strong, fit are words I associate with targets, never skinny
Others feel differently
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I think skinny is fine if that's your natural size. A bit more on the curvy side is good too. To me, it's about broadening our ideals of beauty so that people who are active, eat well, and are healthy can feel good in their skin, rather than feel pressured to meet an ideal that would not be healthy for them.
Ideals aren't always thin. They have varied quite a bit. It's not just what the ideal is, but the amount of value placed on meeting that ideal.0 -
As my dad used to say, "Audrey Hepburn's a nice size, but so is Sophia Loren."0
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cwolfman13 wrote: »
I suppose I should use the word 'lean' then. But when I think skinny, I think fit, healthy, and a proper weight, not skin and bones.0 -
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And that's what I was about to say, some people are just naturally healthy and skinny. Healthy/fit is what I agree your goal should be, no matter how you might look in the end (skinny, thick, muscular, agile, whatever). But things change over years based on a lot of factors (economy, social structure, etc). I just can't see why healthy would ever be a bad target.0
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I've always thought "skinny" was as derogatory as "fat", that seems to be the way people I've been around have used it. The complimentary words I've always heard are "thin" "lean" and "fit", where as skinny meant under weight, more skin and bones kind of look. (Example: she so skinny, or she's too skinny)0
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cwolfman13 wrote: »
I suppose I should use the word 'lean' then. But when I think skinny, I think fit, healthy, and a proper weight, not skin and bones.
Skinny Staci on the left...lean and fit Staci on the right...and 11 Lbs heavier on the scale to boot.0 -
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cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »
I suppose I should use the word 'lean' then. But when I think skinny, I think fit, healthy, and a proper weight, not skin and bones.
Skinny Staci on the left...lean and fit Staci on the right...and 11 Lbs heavier on the scale to boot.
You look good in both pics, but the second one is just fantastic!0 -
cheshirecatastrophe wrote: »The only difference between the two women is boobs.
pretty much. i don't have big boobs at any weight.0 -
I still think skinny is not something to aspire to
Healthy, strong, fit are words I associate with targets, never skinny
Others feel differently
Personally, I don't even agree with these terms. They are all used to frame people into certain looks predefined by the society. There is a recent rise in the popularity of the "strong" look. The look that was not totally acceptable at some point is now "expected", probably as a rebellion against the older frail and weak ideals, as way to depart from that submissive image into a more empowered state. All is well and good. Nothing is wrong with wanting to be strong and lifting your weight in iron, but pushing that ideal on others makes the same mistake as all previous ideals: generalizing a standard for what looks good and deeming any other look as inferior. Who knows what look will be popular in the future.. 50 years into the future and people may look at our current ideals and wonder too.
Healthy is what I want to be, which means not being sick. Sadly the word has acquired more layers and extended beyond the state of being healthy. It now has a "look". It's possible to be on the lower end of healthy BMI, without a lot of muscle and be healthy. It is also possible to be at the higher end of healthy BMI with a good amount of body fat and still be healthy, but for some reason if someone does not look like the "healthy" ideal, they aren't considered so.
I wonder what a fair would describe an acceptable ideal that would encompass everyone. "Happy" perhaps? Happy in your own skin, no matter what shape or body fat you have, how much you can lift, or how fast you can run as long as you are not putting your health at risk.0 -
People used to work instead of sitting in front of a computer and television all day.0
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jenglish712 wrote: »
Okay, Staci looks fantastic in the second pic, then.0 -
the "non skinny" girl in the add is still damned thin by today's standards. It also said "solid flesh," several times. I don't think the goal was to just pack five pounds randomly onto the body. We still have a ton of products marketed today for weight gain, and a decent size group of people who use them.0
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To me, "Skinny" is and always always has been a negative thing. Being called skinny doesn't make me happy, it makes me sound frail and weak. When I see a skinny dog, my instinct is to feed it not congratulate it.
There are people who are naturally slender and petite but still very healthy. The word skinny applies to them in the barest sense, but those healthy slim people are not who I think of when I hear that term. I think of gaunt, ashen-skinned, sunken-eyed, desperate people who just need help.
I don't ever want to be "skinny"0 -
I really like both and neither of what I think of when I think, "skinny". In terms of a sustainable, "natural" look for me I'm probably shooting for something like the first picture.cwolfman13 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »
I suppose I should use the word 'lean' then. But when I think skinny, I think fit, healthy, and a proper weight, not skin and bones.
Skinny Staci on the left...lean and fit Staci on the right...and 11 Lbs heavier on the scale to boot.
You look good in both pics, but the second one is just fantastic!
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cwolfman13 wrote: »
I suppose I should use the word 'lean' then. But when I think skinny, I think fit, healthy, and a proper weight, not skin and bones.
That's interesting, since I actually don't think "skinny" has a positive connotation (even in the subculture I live in, where being overweight is far less common, or even thinking back to the '80s). Thin is a positive word, lean, slender, etc., but except in joking usages like "skinny minnie" (which IME is used positively) or wacko pro ana stuff (nothing tastes as good...) "skinny" is not, and it does mean skin and bones, basically, not fit, as I've heard it. (Used more as a negative for men.) Maybe skinny jeans being a thing changed the connotation some places, shrug, dunno.
No meaningful point here, just interested in how the connotation that words have can differ.
As a personal matter, the body I aspire to is not "skinny," which I understand to mean low LBM and low body fat. I'd like to lose another few points off my BF%, but I'd also like to gain some LBM and, more significantly, I want to look strong and healthy.0 -
I remember my 5th grade teacher telling us "women don't want to be called "skinny," that's negative! Women want to be "slim" or "lean." So I think because of that I've always thought of "skinny" as negative.
I remember seeing people discuss that awful all about that bass song and of course people were discussing how using the words "skinny *kitten*" is OK in a song but nobody could ever say "fat *kitten*," and a bunch of people said that skinny is never an insult. I don't know, I disagree it's just always seemed bad to me.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »
I suppose I should use the word 'lean' then. But when I think skinny, I think fit, healthy, and a proper weight, not skin and bones.
That's interesting, since I actually don't think "skinny" has a positive connotation (even in the subculture I live in, where being overweight is far less common, or even thinking back to the '80s). Thin is a positive word, lean, slender, etc., but except in joking usages like "skinny minnie" (which IME is used positively) or wacko pro ana stuff (nothing tastes as good...) "skinny" is not, and it does mean skin and bones, basically, not fit, as I've heard it. (Used more as a negative for men.) Maybe skinny jeans being a thing changed the connotation some places, shrug, dunno.
No meaningful point here, just interested in how the connotation that words have can differ.
As a personal matter, the body I aspire to is not "skinny," which I understand to mean low LBM and low body fat. I'd like to lose another few points off my BF%, but I'd also like to gain some LBM and, more significantly, I want to look strong and healthy.
It's not a compliment among my family members or anyone I know, either. It must be a word that has a personal definition for me different from what it means to most people. I ought to retire it in the interest of clarity!0
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