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.

Toads There's nothing wrong with curvy and size 8-10, my point is that they stand out from the majority as being 'bigger' - some of the 'standard' ie tinier models and carbs may well be naturally like that and very healthy but statistically I think it's unlikely

Carbs- celebs!

Sorry, I should have added 'unlikely that they all are'

Sorry, all the women you mention are healthily slim, not sticks. A size 16 might be average but unless you are 6'2" it unfortunately is probably overweight.
I recently cleared out some clothes of mine from the 80's - size 10, won't go anywhere near me now and I wear an 8 these days. There is more of a problem with obesity than being 'underweight'.

Ghettoising women so that they are only defined by their 'body' is what men used to do to us, now it seems we are happy to do it to ourselves!

I am 'more' than just my outward appearance- I have a brain for a start, then there's my heart, liver kidneys... And no I'm not saying this to justify being average or because I'm jealous that I don't look like a celebrity. Some women believe it or not are not consumed by thoughts of being 'skinny'.

Those women are not just in the public eye - they are performers, dancers and film stars. Beyoncé makes albums, music videos, performs live, tours the world, appears in commercials and makes films. -Jennifer Lopez is a dancer. Jennifer Lawrence plays a superhero in two film franchises - and therefore her job requires her to spend twelve hours a day running around film sets. Sofia Vergara is a model who makes 25 episodes of a TV show a year as well as appear in films.

No-one would say that David Beckham is an unrealistic role model for men because he has an athletic body.

But women performers who slog away doing hard physical labour are shamed because their bodies are "unrealistic" and they are "not good role models."

At 21 you should be slim, if not then when? I was 7.5 stone at 20, naturally, now about 9 stone. We have lost sight of what is normal, a few ribs showing when you stretch your arms is healthy for a young person, not a muffin top and fat gut!

I don't think op cares either way really

I have a muffin top!

My BMI is 20.something. But, hey, I've had a c-sec so I'm not too worried. I'm also in my 40s.

I agree with the poster who condemned airbrushing.

Ironically, just seen the TV advert with Mo Farrah advertisibg quorn,.

What a terrible role model that unhealthy & unattractively skinny man is...

Yes awful role model. As is that feminist, activist and award winning actress who played one of the most iconic TV characters of all time. Yes Gillian Anderson your career is worthless because you can't fill out a bikini like a "real woman" should.

OP think about what you're saying. If someone was calling you a ham I'm sure you wouldn't like it but you think it's acceptable to call slim women 'sticks'.

I'm size 14 5'4 and yes, I am fat. It is overweight whether you like it or not.

We are kidding ourselves if we think it's not. And no, average doesn't mean it's okay.

I'm sick of all this 'real women' bullshit. As if having a shed load of fat makes you a 'real woman' as apposed to a fake one.

Oh and the lovely 'men like steak not the bone'... which makes me cackle because steak would be muscle not the fat they are trying to proclaim is better.

YY ^^

Too bloody right!!

I'm heartened by the complete unanimity on this thread about this issue.

BMI is a good measure for adults (except athletes and other people with lots of muscle, such as bodybuilders). The healthy BMI range is huuuuuuge! I'm 5'8" and my "healthy" weight is anywhere between 9 and just under 12 stone. A weight of more than 12 stone at my height is definitely too much (I'm currently nearly 14st and want to get to around 10.5st, which is my personal ideal weight bit this still only puts me at a BMI of 22). I'm overweight, a size 16/18 and have a BMI of 29.9 (borderline obese). I agree with this.

AFAIK, Marilyn Monroe was 5'5.5", weighed around 8.5st (this fluctuated a bit) and measured 35" (bust), 22" (teeny waist) and 35" (waist). She had an extreme hourglass figure and would probably be a size 10 today (possibly a 12 in her larger phases). Definitely not a 16 in today's money, whether US or UK.

I do have an issue with 'role models' but blame the media rather than body shapes. Airbrushing - so there is a totally unrealistic 'ideal' to aspire to with no spots, cellulite or fat, impossibly long legs, perfect boobs etc.
Stage managed lives and relationships, which catch us off guard when we realise the perfect couple was not so perfect.
Unfortunately the media gives us what we want because it sells so maybe we should stop buying/clicking.

I think far too much is made of the effect celebrity role models have on children/teens.

Modelling good health and fitness begins in the home first and foremost. So many parents are pointing fingers at thin celebrities, claiming they're a bad example whilst absolutely not setting a good example themselves when it comes to weight and health issues.

Many parents struggle all their lives to be the weight they'd like to be and they don't always manage it. Why do they then expect complete strangers to manage to be a certain weight/shape/size, because they feel it would show a good example to their kids? The same example that they themselves are unable to show?

I think children and teens are far more likely to look closer to home when worrying about potential weight issues.

OP, you've trotted out some awful cliches there. It's not ok to put down slim/thin people then whine that people are putting you down for being overweight. Can't you see how hypocritical that is?

The Marilyn Monroe thing is a bunch of balls too.

A Size 10 now is the same dimensions as a size 14 in 1970

I have pairs of 25 year old jeans.
They are size 10
My new jeans are size 8

Some slebs are under weight, but most are the correct weight for their frames.
Its the readers and watchers of the sleb drivel who are the wrong size

There's nothing wrong with being 'average' if that is healthy for you and your not particularly bothered. Self worth should not be dependent on how thin you are.

I wonder if this is a sort of parody thread, mocking the ones where people say it's unhealthy and unsightly to be overweight. Maybe OP is making a point that few people speak out against fat shamers (we'll, actually, a lot do here but not really in real life) but most get up in arms about skinny shaming.

Assuming it's a genuine question though - YABVU. There's a huge difference between celeb/designer/rich style slim and a visible problem (not saying some celebrities don't have eating disorders, of course they do. But rarely can you assume that due to a very low weight).

I do have anorexia. My bmi is currently 17.1 and even I am not obviously eating disordered. I deliberately keep my weight high enough that it could be natural and low enough to please my sick need to be one of the thinnest in most environments.

To be honest, I think slim celebrities are better role models than overweight ones. We should be celebrating and encouraging acceptance of a wide range of body sizes but not every body size.

And to say that we should all have enough flesh to completely cover all bones is ridiculous! I've even seen overweight people with visible collar bones - it depends on frame size.

The best role models for young girls accept their own and other people's healthy weights and don't talk about it.

There's nothing wrong with being 'average' if that is healthy for you and your not particularly bothered

Well that would depend on what the average is wouldnt it? Currently I think 14-16 is average. Will you be saying the same if we carry on the way we're going and size 22 is average? 28?

What a load of shallow, vacuous crap- so 'you' decree that we the public are somehow 'wrong' for not looking like celebrities - it is not a crime to be bigger than a celebrity you know, anyway, how would 'you' possibly know that the 'watchers' are not the 'right' size?

I have a friend is very thin. She eats cake and everything. Some people are just made rhis way.

Erm I look like that Gillian Anderson pic. I am NOT too thin, in fact I could drop another 9-10 lbs and still be a healthy BMI. Look at old photos from the 50s - everyone was slim. I find it frankly scary that the average size in the UK is a 16.

I just said, if it is healthy for you, you've even quoted me on it, At the top end of a healthy BMI I am still a dress size 14. I have a swimming costume that was my mum's in the early 80's and it is a 12 I can comfortably fit in it when I'm a size 14 - it is from marks. I doubt many celebrities would be happy weighing what I do in a 'healthy' range bmi but I'm not a celebrity and can be happy with that 'healthy' average.