Portrayal of women: (split)

[Tinkerbelle]

Originally Posted by garinda

I do of course see Slinks point. People think that being slim is more socially acceptable, and don't see the offence caused when it is remarked on, which it isn't usually when someone is larger, because people are more dipolmatic. Simple. Problem solved.

....... That's what we were trying to tell you if you'd taken your head from up your a*se long enough to listen!

[garinda]

Originally Posted by BLACKBURN RAVER

THINK THIS LIL SMILEY SHOULD SUM THIS UP NOW .....



kiss n make up then close the thread ...

Only kiss one of my cheeks though Slinks.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Tinkerbelle

....... That's what we were trying to tell you if you'd taken your head from up your a*se long enough to listen!

I just wanted to keep her going a bit longer, and get the dig in about her doughy cheeks.

[cherokee]

Omg I wish id have posted that hours ago lmao

[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by slinky

Yes well as a Naturally SLIM person let me tell you, yes putting on weight can be a issue too. Losing weight is actually easier than putting it on when you want to. Proven fact.

Losing weight may seem to be simple to someone who doesn't have the problem but if it really was that simple we wouldn't have a diet 'industry'. It is also a 'proven fact' that the majority of fat people who lose weight end up gaining more and being fatter than ever. It may seem illogical to a slim person. People who don't have a weight problem think 'eat less = lose weight = stay slim'. It would be great if that was true.

Unfortunately the human body is a bit more complex than that or I'd be 'stick thin' by now and probably loving people calling me that! The problem is that it has taken me about 16 years to realise that eating less, and then eating less than that, was actually having the opposite effect. When you (I, or any fat person) starve yourself (myself/themselves) the body goes into 'seige mode' and behaves as if food is in short supply. This isn't anything any of us can control. Unfortunately then what happens is that whatever we eat, however little, is then immediately stored as fat rather than supplying energy, so the fat person ends up fatter and more lethargic - you know - the classic image of the big fat lazy lump.

I have only recently begun to understand this properly and to try to learn when my body is telling me to eat - not when my body is telling me to stop. For far too long I have trained myself to IGNORE my body telling me to eat because I was determined not to eat. It's been incredibly difficult to recognise what feeling hungry feels like because I have purposely trained myself not to respond to that for years. And yes, fat people do feel hungry if they allow themselves to admit it. Being a huge mountain of lard doesn't mean we don't also need nutrition. It's hard enough as a fat person to understand this so I do appreciate that slim people find it difficult to accept.

The 'stick thin' people Rindy was referring to are not naturally slim people nor are they people who are considered underweight by those stupid charts and would dearly like to gain a few pounds. They are the naturally slim people who have then starved themselves into an unnaturally thin figure in a bid to reach some ludicrous ideal goal which the fashion industry has portrayed as the norm and which for many people is unattainable without making themselves seriously ill.

It's about time that people accepted that we come in different sizes and that there is a whole range of 'normals' without presenting ideals which many people would find it impossible to acheive.

I would dearly love to have your naturally slim figure. I would not like to be impossibly thin and have to be unhealthy in order to remain so.

I hope you can understand what I'm saying and how I'm trying to make the distinction between a whole range of natural and normal whether large or small and the unnatural and abnormal which is false and dangerous.

I cannot imagine that you as a naturally slim person (or anyone else with a similar figure) would ever want to be as huge as I am but I sure would love to be your size as I'm sure many other people with my problem would too.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Oh and as far as Gayle's original post goes and whether or not that was offensive all I can see in it was that she was trying to say that she wanted women in a whole range of sizes because in the real world women come in a whole range of sizes unlike in the world of models and supermodels where a very small range of sizes is represented. If anyone finds this offensive then it's the fashion modelling bods they should be offended by, not Gayle or Garinda.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

Oh and as far as Gayle's original post goes and whether or not that was offensive all I can see in it was that she was trying to say that she wanted women in a whole range of sizes because in the real world women come in a whole range of sizes unlike in the world of models and supermodels where a very small range of sizes is represented. If anyone finds this offensive then it's the fashion modelling bods they should be offended by, not Gayle or Garinda.

Much more succinctly and eloquently put than my ramble.

Thank you.

[BLACKBURN RAVER]

bloodyhell rindy..your a braver man than i, if your arguin with slinks....iv'e just been lookin through the gallery and seen ginge...

[mthead]

Thought the shape of some of todays models had started to change abit.What with that Sophie Dahl etc.(Think I spelt her name right ) Sorry not well up on these things,not a FTV fan

[Neil]

Originally Posted by garinda

A model at Milanvandamoda March '05.
Beautiful?
Healthy?
A role model for young girls to aspire to look like?
I think not.

Most definitely not. She should be sectioned and force fed before she dies of malnutrition.

I hope I have not missed your point Slinky. Am I correct in thinking it is all about labeling people based on their size (and probably other aspects as well)?

Originally Posted by slinky

Oh well I guess I'm out of the question then

From the above post Slinky, I would say that you are very much what Gayle is looking for. I took Gayle's post to mean she wanting anybody and everybody, just your average walking around town person. She said she did not want Milan type models, by that I thought she meant like the pictures posted above.
After all if you went to a fashion show would you not want to see clothes on someone like yourself, if not, how can you know what they would look like on yourself?

[accymel]

I'll give ya all balance shall i

I've been a size 16+ not happy bullied for being fat & ive been a size 10 - which is anorexic looking on me, now im keeping to be the perfect 14 which looks great on me & healthy as in preportion, dont forget we have different builds small, medium & large bone structures. People & the media determine skinny & fat, verging on perferable on the skinny side - look at all the women photographed in ok & other mags, likes of Mrs Beckham, Kate Moss etc lucky if any are over a 10............so that makes size 14 considered fat - the real problem is so many teeenage & pre teens having weight issues when they dont need to, my daughter last year had a real prob with her body image, meaning looking in mirror seeing herself bigger than she actually is!! Is it body dismorphia or something i spent many days just making my daughter see reality & removing the blinkers psychologically. I can agree with slinky that putting on weight is harder than losing - as done both, but for both sides of the spectrum putting it on or taking it off is hard!

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder & a positive state of mind whether to do something about it or to make the best - no one should be bullied or feel ashamed as to whether slim or big, as a quote from a film aptly says god makes us all in different shapes & different colours it would be boring if we were all the same off a production line

Life is too short be happy, worrying about it dont make it better or easier the less you focus on it - the better as the stress of it makes it worse.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by BLACKBURN RAVER

bloodyhell rindy..your a braver man than i, if your arguin with slinks....iv'e just been lookin through the gallery and seen ginge...

The one where he's wearing makeup??

He's a pussycat.

I was going to put I can handle him, but that would make him giddy and he'd have to go off for a shower.

[Gayle]

And to think I slept through all of this.

We've only met once briefly Slinky and at no point did I think 'this woman is unhealthy, you look like the naturally slim person that you are. At no point was I trying to imply that this was unattractive in any way - as you know from my diary early this year I was trying to attain that by dieting.

And to be honest, even if I had thought that you looked unhealthy I would NEVER, EVER have said anything about it.

What both Garinda and I were trying to say - probably cackhandly I admit - was that the models that appear on catwalks in Paris and Milan are NOT naturally slim - they are 5'10" and weigh seven stone - this is not natural, this is the result of starvation dieting. The people of Accrington come in all shapes and sizes - some naturally slim, some curvy, some short, some tall, and no one is excluded - in fact Slinky now that you've made a big point about it I would particularly like you to be involved.

I think this thread wandered into two issues though - the first being about the starved models who are used in the fashion industry and the second about insulting someone based on their weight.

I don't think it is ever acceptable to insult someone about their body. However, I do think it is acceptable to point out that someone who starves themselves because they have a perceived idea of beauty is unhealthy.

[Tealeaf]

Are you going to have any disabled models, Gayle?

[garinda]

Marilyn Monroe was a size 16, men universally found and still find her sexy.

Kate Moss is a size 6/8, and keeps her size by smoking and snorting coke, and is one of the world's most successful models in an industry controlled by men.

Go figure.