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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

aibu to think someone who is size 8 is not 'curvy'

87 replies

youtalkin2me · 30/05/2012 16:01

I'm so sick of seeing slim celebs described as curvy!! It sends out such a bad message to young girls. Don't get me wrong I think these celebs look great & if I had their bods I'd be flaunting it in a bikini all the while Envy , but just cos they have big knockers does not make them curvy!! I am a size 14 and not jealous at all I would describe myself as curvy, someone who is a size 8 imho is slim.

OP posts:
BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 30/05/2012 16:04

YANBU - I totally agree!

WorraLiberty · 30/05/2012 16:04

Of course you can be slim and curvy

'Curves' are your arse, hips and bottom.

These things don't just disappear because you happen to be a size 8...although sometimes people are particularly flat all over.

MissFaversham · 30/05/2012 16:04

I dunno on this one (as I know what you sort of mean) but some really small women still have curves and are not just straight framed.

A curve is just that - out a bit, in a bit, out a bit. So you are sort of being unreasonable.

BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability · 30/05/2012 16:05

Well IMO YABU
You can be a size 8 with curves as my sister is, with a definite hourglass figure and big boobs, or a size 20 and straight up and down except a fat belly as my friend is, she is by no stretch of the imagination "curvy"

lalaland3008 · 30/05/2012 16:05

Yes yabvu. Curves are not excess weight imo, they are hips, bum and boobs. And this is perfectly possible at a size 8.

MissFaversham · 30/05/2012 16:05

Mind you "curvy" is somehow used these days in a nice way to say someone's a bit plump, or fuller figured.

I'm a fuller figured one by the way Grin

Pochemuchka · 30/05/2012 16:06

YABU
I have been everything between size 6-12 and am curvy whatever size because my shape stays the same proportion, it's just bigger/smaller.
I have a small waist (not at the moment as I'm pregnant!) wide hips and large boobs so I look curvy whatever size I am.
Some of these celebs are curvy (Kelly brook etc) others not so much!
FWIW you probably are curvy too if you have similar proportions.

ProcrastinationAteMyMorning · 30/05/2012 16:06

YABU

It depends on body type as much as size - there are women who have enviable curves at a size 8 and others who are flat, straight and boyish at 12.

Since when was curvy an insult / euphemism for fat?

MotherHubbardsBigBottom · 30/05/2012 16:06

Depends how tall they are. A 6ft woman who is a size 8 would not be curvy. A 5ft one probably would- its all about proportion isn't it?

Kylie minogue is teeny and v curvy but I bet she's got a miniscule waist measurement!

I do agree though that, of course, normalising most celeb bodies doesn't help the rest of us (or our daughters) feel like we have normal bodies, especially when we only see them in print for the most part, airbrushed and photoshopped into oblivion.

WorraLiberty · 30/05/2012 16:06

And also, some people carrying a lot of weight and with huge boobs are not curvy...they're the same shape all over IYSWIM.

kickingKcurlyC · 30/05/2012 16:07

Surely if you go in and out you are curvy? You have curves?

molschambers · 30/05/2012 16:07

Well yes YABU really. My friend is a size eight with enormous boobs (relatively speaking) and is very definitely curvy. By the same token a size 14 woman may well be barrel-shaped (small bust, thick waist, narrow hips) and therefore not curvy. It's about shape, not clothing size.

I would agree that it is the lucky minority that can be both slim and curvy but they do exist.

Ephiny · 30/05/2012 16:07

You can be slim and curvy, surely? I think of 'curvy' as being someone who has in-and-out 'hourglass' curves, though often these days it's used as a synonym for 'fat'! Depends on your definition, I guess.

eurochick · 30/05/2012 16:07

I couldn't be a size 8 and curvy (I'm 5'6 and bony - I have been a size 8 and it didn't look good on me). But someone smaller framed or shorter could definitely be size 8 and curvy.

ProcrastinationAteMyMorning · 30/05/2012 16:08

Yeah, I don't know many women of size who are curvy.

woopsidaisy · 30/05/2012 16:08

My sis is a size 8/10 and she has amazing curves!

She is mixed race, and is tiny, but has "flesh" on her bones. Not one bit skinny or scrawny. She has boobs and an arse.

She is a PE teacher and has no kids, and also has the kind of life I envy when my own little darlings are doing my bap in! Grin

MotherHubbardsBigBottom · 30/05/2012 16:08

I suppose thought that yes a tall woman who went in and out in the right places would be curvy- but that if you are tall and relatively thin then its unlikely that you have enough flesh to curve!

Bletchley · 30/05/2012 16:09

That depends on whether you think that curvy means "has curves" ie bust and bum or whether you think the modern meaning (as a euphemism for fat) has replaced it. You can quite well be size eight and curvy, but if you are, the chances are that you are young.

fragola · 30/05/2012 16:10

YABU. I'm a size 10 and curvy (9 inch difference between bust and waist, 11 inch difference between waist and hips = curves!). Before I had children I was a size 8 with the same curvy proportions.

If you were a size 8 and virtually straight up and down you would not be curvy. If you were a size 18 and straight up and down you would not be curvy. I don't think curves have anything to do with size.

Original poster
youtalkin2me · 30/05/2012 16:11

ok maybe iababitu - but i think the media go way over the top describing slim people as curvy, i think of curvy people as being voluptuous, but not fat.

OP posts:
Hammy02 · 30/05/2012 16:11

Depends if they are a 'real' size 8. I'd imagine Kate Middleton is about a size 8 and there's no way she is curvy. Size 8 is teeny tiny. Unless people are falling for the vanity sizing nonsense.

PandaWatch · 30/05/2012 16:12

YABU

I'm 5'10" and a size 8/10. I have a small waist which means I have curves and therefore, by definition, am curvy.

NarkedPuffin · 30/05/2012 16:12

Curvy is used in the media as a euphemism for carrying extra weight.

Sittinginthesun · 30/05/2012 16:13

I am a size 10, but curvy (well, I have a big round bottom of that counts Wink).

FourThousandHoles · 30/05/2012 16:13

YABU I'm afraid although I do see where you're coming from.

My sister is v petite, a size 8-10 usually and not much taller than 5.2

She was really poorly with glandular fever a couple of years ago and dropped to a size 6-8, but she was still curvy - her hips remained a size bigger than her waist and she still couldn't find jeans etc to fit even though she was too thin for her frame.

I have the same problem, although I am most definitely curvy by this definition and yours. My hips and bust are a dress size bigger than my waist, and prob always will be even if I manage to shift the excess lard.