To think that skinny celebrities do have a negative impact on women and girls?

[thatisnotcoffee]

How could they not? When you constantly have this ideal body type pushed in your face as the only right one and and when size 14 is considered to be overweight then how can that not effect you?

Dakota Fanning is considered to be a good role model for teenagers and young women but she's a stick! How can that be healthy? She's 21 and still has the body of a child.

I watched an interview with Amanda Holden recently and she's wasting away. I also looked up Gillian Anderson recently when I found out the X Files was coming back and I was shocked to see that she's also very thin. I was even more shocked when I looked at even older pictures of her from 10-20 years ago and I realised she was very skinny even back then. I just don't understand how being that thin can be healthy tbh.

This sort of shit just makes me feel like crap and that I must be a hippo at a size 16 even though that's the average size.

Sorry, five foot four and 12 stone is a couple of stone overweight.

You may be totally unhealthy as well if you don't do any exercise as anyone would be at whatever weight or dress size they are.

Er no love, no. My perception has not been skewed. It's FINE to see bone, the skeleton

Boney elbows not padded in fat with a dimple, ditto KNEES
Ribs
Ankles.... Not bloated cankles

It's you that has it all skewed!

I just think that we need to stop obsessing over body size. Some people are thin, others are fat. I think it's this focus on too thin/too fat that's confusing and distressing young women, not slim celebrities.

Bodies are amazing in what they can do and in their variation. Perhaps we should celebrate this and support other women in accepting their body, rather than berating the way other bodies look.

Someone else looking different to you makes you feel bad? Do you think they should be force fed or just padded out a bit until you feel better?

Op BMI is a healthy range of weights by definition

Therefore people at the lower end of BMI, such as 9stone for 5'9 are a healthy weight.

It's not an opinion, it's a definition.

26.2 you are a marathon runner aren't you (I was very moved by your Silverstone story) I would bet my granny's hat that no matter what 'size' you are that you are healthy and very fit and that's what counts.

I must admit, I struggle to see how being 12stone at 5ft4 is not overweight. I'm 5'7, just tipping the scales at 12 stone and I am 39 weeks pregnant. I am usually 9 stone and the slimmer side of normal. 3 stone is a huge amount of weight.

Many celebrities have been transparent is saying that staying thin is part of their job. They're not all naturally very skinny. That said, despite all these skinny role models we're all fatter than ever (illustrated perfectly by a size 16- which used to be the biggest size a shop sold!) being average these days.

boofy

OP you are the same height as I am and yet you are a dress size 16 and I am a dress size 8.

The only difference between us is that I'd never dream of criticising another person's body.

YAB Extremely U. None of those 3 women are emaciated or "wasting away". They are all a healthy weight for their builds. If you feel like a "a hippo at a size 16 even though that's the average size", that is something you need to address with yourself. Also, you do realise that the average woman is now in the overweight range - that is not a condemnation as I think that fitness is much more important than weight range.

Actresses in the limelight being slim is nothing new and to think that suddenly the fact that they are slim is having negative impact on women's self esteem is incorrect.

5'4 and 12 stones is overweight. I Was overweight at 5'8 and 13 stones, wearing a size 16-18.

Dakota Fanning looks great. Ditto Amanda Holden and Gillian Anderson.

I'm tall, slim, 9.5 stones and you can see my hip bones and collar bones. But I'm not skinny, I'm a normal size and shape.

I'm not overweight I am perfectly healthy! I swim twice a week and walk a lot so it's probably just muscle. I also eat a low fat healthy diet. I have a bit of a belly but that's the way women are meant to be.

5'4", size 16 and over 12 stone is very overweight. Not healthy at all. I'm 5'2" and a size 6-8 and have been all my adult life (I'm now in my late 40s and have had 3 kids). Are you SERIOUSLY trying to tell me that I'm 'not healthy'? That's bollocks. I'm the right size for my frame. 12 stone on a 5'4" frame is not, unfortunately, the right size.

Marilyn Monroe was a size 16 and she was beautiful. Yet these says it's considered obese! How does that make sense?

Overweight is a medical term associated with a BMI over 25. That is factual not judgemental particularly since I have just lost over a stone trying to drop from 12 stone because my height is 5'4.5" and I was sick of being overweight

You think someone who is a size 10 is unhealthy? Really?

You are being pretty insulting here OP.

And 'average size' means it's the most common. Because we've got fatter as a nation.

If you are so easily offended by other women being their normal, natural size (and you seem incredibly hateful towards them) and they make you feel like a 'hippo' you are quite clearly not happy with your body and need to address that away from the Internet and without picking on other women

Is the Marilyn Monroe thing the same as Godwin's law?

I think it is on the thinner said, yes. Maybe not underweight, but still thinner than what is probably ideal.

Marilyn Monroe was an American size 16, which is a UK 12.

I'm a size 16 and I'm 5'4 and just over 12 stone

Yep, that's overweight. Seeing bone under skin does not mean someone is too thin, I can see the outline of my ribs and when i bend over, my spine and I'm a 5'6 size 10 and 9st 13. Not too thin at all

Actually if you are 5' 4" and weigh 12 stone then according to the NHS you are overweight, verging on obese. I am 5' 3" and weigh 8.5 stone and am definitely not skinny, stick-thin or wasting away.

Perhaps your perception of what is healthy has been skewed?