The Problem with skinny bashing

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  • MaximalLife
    MaximalLife Posts: 2,447 Member
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    Nice article, yes, we should all seek out our own goals based on what we desire - not society.

    And just a side observation.
    People are too fast to pin up pictures or cite Marilyn Monroe as some kind of example.
    She looks unhealthy to me. I don't know why people cite her as an example for anything but the consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle. That's not the ideal of female beauty in my mind, but maybe I have different taste than other guys.
    She looks like a fat barbie. If my wife looked like MM, I'd put her on a diet.
    And what a pathetic, miserable example of a human being anyway.

    Most celebs' existence is just as heartbreaking as Marilyn Monroe with unmanageable lives filled with drug addiction, broken relationships and even early death for some. Anna Nicole Smith was a centerfold too, and I am sure Marilyn Monroe was her idol.

    Both may have been sex symbols in their prime, but when I see a picture of either, I don't feel attraction but pity.

    As for peak fitness, we all should strive for our own ideal, and if we do the right thing with our program, our best is beautiful. The very celebs the media would use to drive home their perverted versions of beauty are not people we should envy in any way.

    I'll take a REAL WOMAN!
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
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    I am not sure which picture you are referring to, but I have seen one with Marilyn, and some sex symbols from her era above a picture of some young thin models. Besides weight, there is another difference. Age. Maybe part of the problem is that we have let the media sexualize the teenage form. Our obsession with youth ties into our obsession with thin, even underdeveloped bodies.

    I just copy and pasted the article,but they link the picture on the site.I was going to paste the picture with the article but it had some naughty words on it and I didnt want to get my post pulled
  • Just_Dot
    Just_Dot Posts: 2,289 Member
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    This is so true...thanks for posting, Fear.
  • darlilama
    darlilama Posts: 794 Member
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    We can analyze it all we want, but its all about proportions. If Marilyn Monroe carried the weight in her stomach, we wouldn't know who she was.

    True! Also, I generally get annoyed when people quote the whole "Marilyn was a size 12" thing. Marilyn was a size 12 in the 50s and 60s. Anyone who's shopped at vintage clothing stores knows that vintage sizes are about 6 sizes larger than today's sizes so if you wear a size 6 today, you would wear a size 12 in vintage stores. So while it's technically true that Marilyn was a size 12, if she were alive today she would be wearing a 6.

    The sad thing about clothing, that I'm seeing in my lifetime, is not that the vintage size 12 is really a "skinny 6" now. It's that the vintage size 12 was a "curvy" size and the current size 6 may still be a "curvy" size. The increase in weight gain and obesity in this country seems to have led manufacturers of clothing to "politely" increase who fits in a size range. So, if you're wearing a size 6 today, I'll bet 10-20 years ago you couldn't have got a size 6 past your thighs. Good lord, I was 5'6" and 115 lbs and wore a Jr. size 7 in the early 80s and by the mid-to-late 80s I was wearing a Misses 8 and I had little to no fat on my body… but the lord did provide me a nice set of hips. ;0)

    Seriously, how many of us have said "I'm not about to buy a pair of jeans in THAT size!" Of course how long did it take many of us to realize we needed to do something about that… not just wait on the clothing manufacturers to "up" the volume of the size so we'd feel better about buying those jeans?
  • foodfight247
    foodfight247 Posts: 767 Member
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    Wow! Thank goodness people out there finally see both sides!

    I'm classed as skinny weighing 6 stone, 4ft 11inches tall and wear uk size 6/8 clothes. I am in proportion in every way with curves I might add. I am here to gain some weight and then maintain. I only need another 1.5 stone on to look at my healthiest. Any more would make me (taking into account my height etc, overweight.

    I've always hated the fact im referred to as skinny. I'm not that skinny.

    I'm so glad you posted this article. Everyone is attracted to different body types, yet we should not mick or judge people for being, skinny or overweight. We need to support eachother in our personal goals and not judge. Tv/media has Definately not made things easy for the more voluptuous figures which I think is sad. Doesn't matter what size you are. It's the personality.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    Love. Thank you. The skinny bashing around here gets really annoying.
  • kammy92
    kammy92 Posts: 408 Member
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    Thanks for sharing!
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
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    Love it!
    I was talking about this just the other day after seeing all the skinny bashing going on on fb and on here, but the article you posted put it much better than I did! :)
  • Kityngirl
    Kityngirl Posts: 14,332 Member
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    Great article. Healthy comes in all different shapes and sizes.
  • CouchSpud
    CouchSpud Posts: 557 Member
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    :heart: :heart: :heart:

    Thank you for this, beauty is in the eye of the beholder!
  • beccyleigh
    beccyleigh Posts: 847 Member
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    I saw the pictures on fb & the weight of the subjects was never in my thought, rather that the modern day pictures were or women who were waify with no or fake boobs, flat bums & boyish waists. I took the point to be that women back in the day were accepted to be naturally womanly, with curves, real boobs& *kitten* & that the idea of beauty in the current age is more boyish or fake beauty.

    just my tuppence.
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
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    bump :happy:
  • wiggleroom
    wiggleroom Posts: 322 Member
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    I saw the pictures on fb & the weight of the subjects was never in my thought, rather that the modern day pictures were or women who were waify with no or fake boobs, flat bums & boyish waists. I took the point to be that women back in the day were accepted to be naturally womanly, with curves, real boobs& *kitten* & that the idea of beauty in the current age is more boyish or fake beauty.

    just my tuppence.

    Really good point. I think some people reacted horribly to the pics of the skinny women -- with "eww," etc. But I definitely agree with you that the "ideal" for today seems to be un-curvy. And, speaking as someone with curves, I would have to have my hipbones shaved or filed down or something to achieve that look!

    On the other hand ... I do see a lot of positive press for women with curves as well, like Rihanna. Maybe there's hope. =)
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
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    Just because people don't want to be oppressed by somebody else's idea of a norm doesn't mean they have to set up a new norm, based on themselves, which might be equally impossible for other people to conform to.
  • cobracars
    cobracars Posts: 949 Member
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    If the media were to be believed, the average woman would be a size 2, white, straight, and carry a $3000 handbag.

    I agree with your views on the media focusing on WAY too many skinny women. Its not the norm or even close to the average. But why bring race or sexual preference into your post? If 10% of the population is gay, then 90% is straight. So it makes sense to depict straight as the statistical 'average'. Not better, just more common. Same thing with race. Currently approx 70% of the USA is white so again the statistics would indicate that a larger portion than average of women are white. In the rest of the world 'white' is only 25% so outside the USA the average woman would not be white, but I would bet chances are higher that she would be skinny.
  • Silverkittycat
    Silverkittycat Posts: 1,997 Member
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    Just because people don't want to be oppressed by somebody else's idea of a norm doesn't mean they have to set up a new norm, based on themselves, which might be equally impossible for other people to conform to.

    this.
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
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    If the media were to be believed, the average woman would be a size 2, white, straight, and carry a $3000 handbag.

    I agree with your views on the media focusing on WAY too many skinny women. Its not the norm or even close to the average. But why bring race or sexual preference into your post? If 10% of the population is gay, then 90% is straight. So it makes sense to depict straight as the statistical 'average'. Not better, just more common. Same thing with race. Currently approx 70% of the USA is white so again the statistics would indicate that a larger portion than average of women are white. In the rest of the world 'white' is only 25% so outside the USA the average woman would not be white, but I would bet chances are higher that she would be skinny.

    I didnt write it
  • cobracars
    cobracars Posts: 949 Member
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    If the media were to be believed, the average woman would be a size 2, white, straight, and carry a $3000 handbag.

    I agree with your views on the media focusing on WAY too many skinny women. Its not the norm or even close to the average. But why bring race or sexual preference into your post? If 10% of the population is gay, then 90% is straight. So it makes sense to depict straight as the statistical 'average'. Not better, just more common. Same thing with race. Currently approx 70% of the USA is white so again the statistics would indicate that a larger portion than average of women are white. In the rest of the world 'white' is only 25% so outside the USA the average woman would not be white, but I would bet chances are higher that she would be skinny.

    I didnt write it

    Sorry, since there weren't any quote marks around it the appearance is its your writing.
    So...whoever the f*** wrote it, the question is still WHY BRING RACE AND SEXUAL PREFERENCE into an article about skinny bashing? Or for that matter why inject class warfare into it by mentioning how expensive a handbag she would carry? It takes so much credibility away from the author their argument is pointless.
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
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    If the media were to be believed, the average woman would be a size 2, white, straight, and carry a $3000 handbag.

    I agree with your views on the media focusing on WAY too many skinny women. Its not the norm or even close to the average. But why bring race or sexual preference into your post? If 10% of the population is gay, then 90% is straight. So it makes sense to depict straight as the statistical 'average'. Not better, just more common. Same thing with race. Currently approx 70% of the USA is white so again the statistics would indicate that a larger portion than average of women are white. In the rest of the world 'white' is only 25% so outside the USA the average woman would not be white, but I would bet chances are higher that she would be skinny.

    I didnt write it

    Sorry, since there weren't any quote marks around it the appearance is its your writing.
    So...whoever the f*** wrote it, the question is still WHY BRING RACE AND SEXUAL PREFERENCE into an article about skinny bashing? Or for that matter why inject class warfare into it by mentioning how expensive a handbag she would carry? It takes so much credibility away from the author their argument is pointless.

    I linked the article at the beginging of tyhe post,She brought up race but it doesnt take away from the message that its not ok to bash someones body weather the be thin or full figured. I thought it was relevent because there has been a fair ammount of "skinny bashing" going on here. And I think she used it to point out the messages the media sends us . the media does send the message that you NEED that expensive purse or shoes,just like the media They do send the message that you need to look a certine way.
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
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    Heres a link to the picture they were talking about in the article,it has the F word on it so if that bothers you then I wouldnt look.

    http://weknowmemes.com/2011/10/****-society-this-is-more-attractive-than-this/


    haha it censored the web adress just replace the stars with our favorite 4 letter word that starts with F

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