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AIBU?

To wonder why we hate our curves?

291 replies

malificent7 · 20/03/2018 13:42

Ive been reading the beauty myth by Naomi Wolf and she makes some very intetesting points about the diet industry.

In the 1950s etc when women weren't in the workplace, curves were celebrated. Monroe was a size 16.

Since the 1960s when Twiggy was a role model, women were more succesful at work so the patriarchy had to make women slaves to being thin to keep them in check.

So do men prefer curvy women? Isn't fat on females healthy? Ive read on here that men stop fancying their partners when they put on weight?

So are thinner women more attractive or is that just what society wants?

From experience and after reading threads on here, dieting makes us miserable and we have a bad relationship with food..so why hate our natural curves (not obesity rolls of fat.)?

OP posts:
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Bundlesmads · 20/03/2018 13:45

It’s a myth Marilyn was a size 16. She was a size zero around her waist and not crazily much bigger around her hips and breasts.

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snash12 · 20/03/2018 13:45

Monroe was a US 16 which is a UK 12 I think.....

I think it is about individual taste.

I also think a lot of men like curvy women but wouldn't ever admit that to others because of the judgement involved.

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HangtheblessedDJ · 20/03/2018 13:46

I love my body. After bearing and feeding three children, surviving serious illness and allowing me to run, jump, swim and have a successful career that I love, it seems ridiculous to hate on a misplaced roll of fat or two.

I try to look after it so it looks after me back.

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BusterTheBulldog · 20/03/2018 13:47

A size 16 then is not the same as a size 16 now! I thought she was equivalent to a ‘current’ curvy UK size 10 and a us size 6-8.

If you look at any pic of her she’s clearly not a size 16 is she?!

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NotAnotherUserName5 · 20/03/2018 13:47

Pretty sure a 16 in the monroe era is a much smaller size in today's generous sizes.

There is a lot of pressure of women to adhere to this strict perfect look. Probably why lots feel they aren't happy with their curves

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PrettyLittIeThing · 20/03/2018 13:47

Ie heard the Marilyn Monroe thing is a myth and tbh I seen her dresses on tv (think this morning once?) an they were tiny, defo not a size 16. Yes I believe men prefer slim women.

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kaytee87 · 20/03/2018 13:48

Marlyn Monroe was not a size 16 🙄 ffs

To wonder why we hate our curves?
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BusterTheBulldog · 20/03/2018 13:49

Ps, I have a massive ass and hour glass figure, apart from it making me look like I’m trying to be ‘sexy’ in any fitted clothes I wear, I don’t have any issues. No one has ever made me feel I should be thinner, but I do like to be fit and healthy.

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WonderLime · 20/03/2018 13:49

Let's just stop with the 'Monroe was a size 16' crap.

She was not a modern day size 16 (just compare her to what anyone size 16 looks like) and her weight fluctuated during her career. She was tiny at certain parts of her career.

I also really hate 'curves' and 'fat' being used synonymously. There is nothing wrong with 'curves'. The likes of Nikki Minaj and KIm Kardashian have paid a lot of money to have curves, so clearly they are liked. You are talking about excess fat which is different.

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kaytee87 · 20/03/2018 13:50

People are generally attracted to healthy people and being overweight is not healthy.
People now use the word curvy for fat for some reason.

And I say this as someone who could really do with shifting a stone at least.

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Archietheinventor · 20/03/2018 13:51

Dieting doesn’t make people as miserable as being obese does. If you don’t overeat, you’ll never need to diet. What are ‘curves’ anyway? And exactly what the others say - Marilyn Munroe was certainly NOT a 16 - she was small, with a tiny waist, and had the sort of figure very few people would ever have without surgery, so isn’t a great example to hold up as someone to aspire to.

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WonderLime · 20/03/2018 13:51

Monroe was a US 16 which is a UK 12 I think.....

American sizes are the other way around - UK 10 is a US 6.

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PrettyLittIeThing · 20/03/2018 13:51

Tbh you can see very clearly by looking that she wasn't a size 16 why does anyone believe that.

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Bundlesmads · 20/03/2018 13:52

It’s all to do with money anyway. The favoured figure has always been one which shows the wealth of the person concerned, hence for much of history a plumper figure was favoured by fashion.

Since the advent of cheap, fattening food, a thinner figure has been favoured because it shows the woman can afford better quality food and has the time and money to follow a fitness regime.

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Whatshallidonowpeople · 20/03/2018 13:52

How many more times are we going to hear the Marilyn Monroe size 16 nonsense? She was tiny. Sz 16 is like size 2 now.

And who is this we?

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Bundlesmads · 20/03/2018 13:52

Or that they can afford cocaine. Grin

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kaytee87 · 20/03/2018 13:52

The average woman in the uk (5"4) would be obese at a size 16. I'm 5"4 and bmi 27 and a size 12.

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IanRushesInadequateFlushes · 20/03/2018 13:53

I think the fashion industry has a lot to do with it. High fashion clothes are often designed for very boyish figures - longer legs, lean hips, flat chests (a lot of top designers are gay men, wonder if there is a correlation there too, maybe?), so that's what we see and aspire to. I remember being about 18 and being utterly transfixed by the kate moss Calvin Klein ads. I'd have given anything to look so ethereal and haunting. Instead I looked like what I was - a chubby student rapidly gaining the uk equivalent of the "freshman fifteen" 🙈🙈🙈

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Omgineedanamechange · 20/03/2018 13:53

No one has any problem with “curves” it’s when excess rolls of fat are described as curves that the problems start.

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PrettyLittIeThing · 20/03/2018 13:53

That's the exact picture I looked at on google kaytee! An was thinking size 16 yeh right Hmm

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Hm67 · 20/03/2018 13:55

To a man, if I and my friends had a choice we would all choose slim (but not stick thin) with curves in the right places! We have had this discussion.

However as none of us are George Clooney, this choice isn’t always available and the feeling would almost certainly not be reciprocated !

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Bundlesmads · 20/03/2018 13:55

The size 16 is based on British Vintage sizing. I think from when she was filming the Prince and the Showgirl.

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GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 20/03/2018 13:55

YANBU that the diet industry is largely a way to control women and make most people think there is something wrong with their bodies. A wide range of sizes and shapes can be healthy and or beautiful.

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CoffeeOrSleep · 20/03/2018 13:56

I've seen the outfit Munroe wore in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - at the time I was a size 6, it looked like it would fit me on the waist, be too big on the norks and hips. She wasn't a size 16, or even a 12, more like a UK 8-10 with a corset to take another dress size off her waist.

Curves were back in fashion in the 50s because rationing only ended in 1949 and most woman were skinny and without curves, it was luxurous to be more curvy.

Back in the 20s, skinny figures were in fashion. The 30s look was lean and slender.

It goes in waves, but noticably, regardless of what's fashionable in terms of boobs and arse, a small waist and a flat stomach are always fashionable. Even know with people chearing those getting "thicc", it is still considered beautiful to have small waist and stomach. Fat can be sexy on the boobs, arse, hips, thighs, but never waist. Which is a shame as that's where I naturally put any weight I gain...

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NotUmbongoUnchained · 20/03/2018 13:57

Problem is that fat peoples use curvy to describe themselves and the meaning has got lost. I am curvy. My shoulders are the same width as my hips and I’m a lot smaller at the waist. A bit like a guitar shape. I am not fat.

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