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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

408 replies

thatisnotcoffee · 26/03/2015 18:06

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.

OP posts:
GraysAnalogy · 26/03/2015 22:39

People have different perceptions of what healthy is unfortunately.

SqueezyCheeseWeasel · 26/03/2015 22:41

The OP lit the goady touch paper and vanished into thin air. Huge surprise Hmm

AyeAmarok · 26/03/2015 22:42

WorraLiberty you're not allowed to post in weight related threads, remember Smile

SqueezyCheeseWeasel · 26/03/2015 22:43

Goldenbear - swimming costumes are buggers for stretching out over time up with washing and chlorine, even modern ones in technical fabrics. It probably isn't the original label size anymore.

SqueezyCheeseWeasel · 26/03/2015 22:45

Sorry for random "up" in my post. Also wasn't being goady with that post, justnsaying that a swimming costume probably isn't the most reliable garment to gauge changes in sizing over time.

SqueezyCheeseWeasel · 26/03/2015 22:45

Jeffing ipad.

ArgyMargy · 26/03/2015 22:48

Squeezy I have a pair of formal trousers from M&S about 15 years old which are size 10 and a bit tight around the waist. I'm now a M&S size 6. I haven't changed...

SqueezyCheeseWeasel · 26/03/2015 22:49

Quite.

Goldenbear · 26/03/2015 22:55

What's 'unfortunate' about it- odd choice of expression. You make it sound like 'healthy' eating is a virtue!

SqueezyCheeseWeasel · 26/03/2015 23:00

'Healthy' is entirely subjective.

One person's idea of 'healthy' might not match another person's or indeed the accepted norm of 'healthy'.

GraysAnalogy · 26/03/2015 23:03

Because it completely devalues the whole point you were trying to make about 'healthy'. Tess Munster says she's healthy, but there's no way in hell her organs aren't coated with fat.

WorraLiberty · 26/03/2015 23:03

AyeAmarok Grin

Goldenbear · 26/03/2015 23:12

I don't know who she is but have googled her-my point about healthy Is concerned with the BMI not what a person 'thinks'. However, my real point was that I think a lot of women have become obsessed with how thin or not they are there is more to life than self image!

Frostycake · 26/03/2015 23:21

Apparently, health professionals are now calling overweight people (BMI between 25 & 29) Pre-obese to try to convey the serious nature of their weight problem. I saw this in a (health related) trade journal at work last year.

I think Dakota & Amanda look very slim but healthy. I think Gillian has a stunning figure.

manicinsomniac · 26/03/2015 23:54

Blimey, you are being more unreasonable than I thought.

I just googled Dakota Fanning as I can't recall seeing any recent images of her and she looks totally averagely slim for a 21 year old. I wouldn't call her skinny in the slightest - beautiful, proportional and weight appropriate for her age and lifestyle.

happybubblebrain · 27/03/2015 00:11

I've been a size 8 a couple of times, both times my periods completely stopped. I'm 5.5. That is not healthy.

I think size 8 to 16 can be healthy for most women, anything outside of this range probably isn't that healthy. Obviously if you are 4.10 you would be healthier at size 8 - 10 etc.

I think what is healthy and what is considered attractive are two completely different things now.

mynewpassion · 27/03/2015 00:34

There are some actresses who are way too skinny. I saw Angelina Jolie a few years ago and thought her head was way too big for her skinny frame. She seemed to be all bones. She might be better now.

Actresses, mostly, are skinny but seem to be proportionate to their height and weight.

mynewpassion · 27/03/2015 00:41

Celebrities' weight and their images are just one reason of many in trying to explain women and girls' body issues.

FeijoaSundae · 27/03/2015 00:52

Assuming this isn't a goady thread, and taking it at face value... human beings are not meant to be overweight.

Historically, we ran and walked and pushed and pulled and jumped and moved, and ate only natural, unprocessed food. Human beings were, en mass, slim and fit.

Times have changed, and so have we. A size 16, while average, is also not an ideal weight, and I say this as a tall women, for whom being a 16 would mean I was pretty heavy.

And I would also suggest a tiny bit of cop on, re Marilyn Monroe. She was never even in the ballpark of a size 16 of today. Probably two of her would fit into a modern size 16 frock...

studiozero · 27/03/2015 06:34

I don't think that the OP is coming back somehow, quelle surprise.... Hmm

I agree with Feijoa we are designed to move all the time, it is natural for us to be skinny if you like. If we were still living in caves I suspect we would all be size 8 at best and super healthy to boot.

duplodancer · 27/03/2015 06:50

I have a problem with celebrities not representing a wider section of society. I think the ones mentioned have lovely bodies but nearly all celebs are very slim which isn't representative. Some of them might well be healthier a little bigger. There's no variety at all and that's definitely not good. I want my DD's to feel comfortable being themselves and to celebrate individuality.

Lots of celebs have talked about pressure to remain as thin as possible, and some do look unhealthy.

I don't think the OP is being that unreasonable at all. I get what she was trying to say.

needaholidaynow · 27/03/2015 06:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Duckdeamon · 27/03/2015 07:04

A LOT of celebs, models (in magazines and on TV), dancers, performers and women in the public eye will be underweight, lower than the bottom of the healthy range of BMI. They are under huge pressure to be that way.

There is underepresentation of women of any other weight than the lowest "healthy" weight and underweight.

People being overweight and this being "normalised' is another issue.

GunShotResidue · 27/03/2015 07:27

My sister looks very similar to the pic of GA shared and her bmi is 20.

I'm 5'5 and post pregnancy was size 14-16 and obese. 2/3 UK adults are overweight and 1/4 are obese. The average size is therefore overweight and we have definitely lost track of what healthy looks like.

Skinny shaming is no more acceptable that fat shaming. People of all sizes are attractive, funny, kind, clever etc. Stop judging people on their size OP.

And apparently Marilyn Monroe's waist was never bigger than 23 inches, a UK 6.

Amummyatlast · 27/03/2015 08:38

Between the ages of 15 and 30 I didn't change shape/weight. At 15 I was a size 10 and at 30 a size 6. Even post baby, I'm now only a size 8. It's sodding annoying as it means that I've always been restricted in the places I can shop.

No matter how many times I have tried to increase my weight, it hasn't moved. Even when I managed to gain a few pounds, a few of weeks later I would be back at my normal weight. After pregnancy I had hoped I would keep hold of some of the weight, but no, it's slowly creeping back to my usual weight. My body likes me to have a BMI of 17.5-18 and there's so way of convincing it otherwise, no matter how much chocolate cake I consume.