to find the term "real woman" annoying?

[CaramelisedOnion]

in the context of a "real woman" being over say, a size 12, with the implication that those of us who are below this are somehow lacking?

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In some (not all) cases these "real" "healthy" women are......fat. Not so healthy.

I think both of those women are beautiful but agree that the "healthy" and "real" descriptions are a bit annoying when really the writer is just flailing around for an alternative term for "large" as though it is an insult or something to avoid saying at all costs.

I do think our perceptions of what fat constitutes are changing though. Celebrities definitely seem to be shrinking.

Celebrities may be shrinking but dress sizes are growing. I saw a weight watchers ad this evening (which sparked this rant) and there was a woman on saying she had dropped to a size 10. She looked about a 14.

All of a sudden topshop has to stock size 4 and size 6 is a much more common size.

I was always an 8 . these days I´m a 6 - without losing any weight

also....those women are both beautiful but they are both overweight also. Which is not healthy, even when it looks sexy.

Maybe they mean real as in not airbrushed to total buggery like celebs?

Do you really think that first woman is overweight?

The first woman is a size 6/8 and is a model - apparently she had a baby a couple of months before and they use that non airbrushed photo to show what she really looks like.

I find the term 'real woman' anti-feminist. We come in all shapes and sizes, to call some of not 'real' diminishes us as a sex.

It's just misogyny, just another way to hate women for being female.

To me the only woman that isn't a "real woman" is a man in drag. I'm a size 6-8 with an hourglass figure but I'm not overweight so I'm not "real"? Do me a favour! How demeaning.

I do think the first woman is overweight, yes. And I don´t think she is a 6/8 in that picture! more like a 12-14-

I think there is a good point made there by LFC though - "real woman" is an anti feminist term. It reduces our validity to the shape and size of our bodies.

I also find it pretty insulting the way 'real woman' is brandished around. It's always usually used to slimmer women, as if to imply they have the physique of a young boy or something. Why do people think that's acceptable though? It's no more acceptable than claiming someone bigger has the physique of a whale. Both totally wrong and rather sad that womens validity is based on their appearance.

YANBU

I completely get the desire to counteract the relentless propaganda that women are only beautiful if they look like stick figure supermodels. However, thin women do exist, and we're no less real and no less of a woman because we happen to be small in size.

I'm tall and slim, about a size 8. I don't eat particularly well and haven't seen the inside of a gym in my life. Guess what? My mother and sister look precisely like me, as did my maternal grandmother.

It's simple genetics. As is the fact that that I'm a woman. Beyond two X chromosomes, there really aren't any entry requirements to "real" womanhood.

I've heard a lot of people mention that shop sizes have changed but I think this has been happening to some extent for a long time. I have been a size 8 (except during pregnancy) all my adult life but my grandmother's old size 10 dresses are tiny compared to some of my clothes.

But how can you say a size 12 is overweight? I.E. The woman in the first picture?

We are so used to seeing perfect, model-sized women in the media that we forget what real women look like. I don't mean 'real', as in over a certain size. I mean real, as in not perfect; lacking model-like proportions.

The woman in the first photo has a bit of a post-baby tummy, and her thighs aren't parallel-straight. She is not overweight, though. And I say this as someone who is 5"9' and a size 10.

She looks not-perfect, because our eye is so tuned to seeing perfect in the media. I bet if you met this woman out and she was dressed, with the tum and the thighs hidden or flattered in well-fitting clothes, you'd think she looks amazing and not overweight in the slightest.

I hate the term 'real' when applied to mean very thin or skinny women. I do not mind it at all when it is applied to mean all the women in the world who come in a zillion and one different shapes and sizes; not just the one, single smooth, flawless identikit size that the fashion / celeb / show-biz industry deems acceptable.

But nobody uses "real" to describe "very thin or skinny women". Those are stick insects, ironing boards and women who are boyish. It's always "curvy" women.

Seriously, just fucking find an article about Christina Hendricks on say, Daily Mail etc, and look at the comments. Top comments, always: "Now that's a real woman, I'm fed up of size 6 sticks!"

Way to try to not be sizeist and end up making us slim people feel like shit instead.

absolutely, Aribura. Well said

Sorry, I meant to write 'real' when applied to curvy / fat / overweight; not skinny - got it back to front...

"I hate the term 'real' when applied to mean curvy or overweight women. I do not mind it at all when it is applied to mean all the women in the world who come in a zillion and one different shapes and sizes; not just the one, single smooth, flawless identikit size that the fashion / celeb / show-biz industry deems acceptable."

Re Christina Hendricks - her figure is just as unobtainable as the stick-thin version...

It's annoying that more variety isn't celebrated, instead of the very narrow definition of what's deemed acceptable. The 'I'm fed up of size 6 sticks' mentality just means it would be good if there was more variety, and weren't continually fed the same old, same old via the media. Albeit said in a very cack-handed way...

But they are real, ie not airbrushed images. I don't have a problem with the term in this context. "Curvy" is more the word used for larger women afaics.

I hate the way womens bodies are held up for scrutiny in a way that just doesnt happen to men. Any shape or size.

And anyone who thinks the woman in that first photo is overweight may want to investigate an eyetest.

YANBU.

I've also seen things that say 'Real men prefer curves'. Wtf is that about, I'm sure some men do prefer curvy women, but since when we we defined by what men find attractive anyway? As if every man that has a slim/petite girlfriend or wife is really just lusting after someone four stone heavier.

that first lady looks well within normal range to me.

sorry - healthy range

Every woman is a 'real' woman. What we should do is stop making our bodies only thing that matters about women. We need to stop this silly tug - got to be a size 0 oh no a bag of bones, this is a 'real' woman.

It's all crap. We're all real women and our bodies should not be what matters about us anyway!

And we certainly shouldn't be attacking each other over it.

If you have plastic surgery are you still a real woman :)

I think it's high time we were treated to some naked politicians and male journalists! Now that would show us what's real and what isn't!

Yes, I wouldn't want plastic surgery, I think it makes people look that they've had surgery. The only surgery that would stop you being a real woman would be gender reassignment, in which case you wouldn't want to be a woman.