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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:
GentlyBenevolent · 27/03/2015 10:16

I would love to be 6'2". Love it. Grin

26Point2Miles · 27/03/2015 10:18

No you wouldn't gently

Only places you can buy clothes to fit is next/long tall sally

Even the next tall range comes up a bit short on me. Long arms legs and torso. Have to buy mens running gear. It's not the best situation

needaholidaynow · 27/03/2015 10:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

WorraLiberty · 27/03/2015 10:20

The other aspect to having 'skinny' held up as aspirational is that it leads children to diet

That's true, it can do but so can being an overweight parent.

I've lost count of the amount of teenage girls who have said 'I don't want to be fat like my Mum'. Leading them towards all sorts of weird self imposed diets.

CalleighDoodle · 27/03/2015 10:24

Im absolutly sick of people who are over weight saying people who are a healthy weight, ie not fat, are the bad examples. FAT PEOPLE, STOP TRYING TO MAKE PEOPLE FEEL GUILTY FOR NOT BEING FAT. ridiculous.

GraysAnalogy · 27/03/2015 10:28

Kids shouldn't have to diet, but they should be taught from a young age that watching what you eat i.e. moderation and balance is the thing to do.

It isn't holding up skinny as an aspiration, is holding up obesity as a consequence.

Higgle · 27/03/2015 10:28

Yes, CalleighDoodle as a (hopefully temporary ) unhealthy fattie I agree with you entirely. Actually I feel I'd benefit from a bit of fat shaming to get me into action and back on my diet, I'll have to get DH and the children on to it.

LondonRocks · 27/03/2015 10:31

Why does it have to be 'skinny' and not 'normal'????????

What is the difference between skinny and normal. I'm normal. My DCs are normal. Do we have to have our bones hidden by dimply fat to be 'normal' in the world of the fat-is-best these days?!

GraysAnalogy · 27/03/2015 10:35

Skinny is the opposite version of 'chubby' IMO. I do think we've warped our views so much that a healthy person is seen as 'skinny' or whatever.

LondonRocks · 27/03/2015 10:41

Exactly, Grays.

It seems that if you'e not an "average size 16", some people think you're a skinny bitch (and you can bugger off, Meghan Trainor)!!

WorraLiberty · 27/03/2015 10:41

It isn't holding up skinny as an aspiration, is holding up obesity as a consequence

Absolutely ^^ this.

GentlyBenevolent · 27/03/2015 10:42

26 it's difficult buying clothes at 5'2" too. And you can't reach things. And your feet don't touch the floor properly in chairs, train seats, airplane seats etc. It's crap. :(

swiggityswoogity · 27/03/2015 10:42

Lordy Lordy.

Your perception is wildly skewed by the obesity epidemic. Do you really think that everyone was unhealthy pre 90s and continue to be in eastern Europe?

Excess adipose tissue does not make you more attractive, fatty organs and arteries clogged with fat are not good!

Stinkersmum · 27/03/2015 10:44

LondonRocks high five. Meghan Trainor is a twat.

pbwer · 27/03/2015 10:46

Dakota is a much better role model than Adele

Stinkersmum · 27/03/2015 10:48

GentlyBenevolent believe me, you're better off being 5'2 in a train, plane etc with your feet swinging around than 6'2 (with a 37" inside leg) having to sit sideways, sciatica screaming, DVT threatening, indents in your knees front the seat in front etc....

ToadsJustFellFromTheSky · 27/03/2015 10:50

Actually I think WorraLiberty has a point.

When I see skinny people, even ones that are obviously underweight, I don't think twice about it. It certainly doesn't make me think I need to lose weight to look like them. I just forget about them and get on with my day. However when I see someone who is overweight I feel more inclined to start dieting (even though I really don't need to) so that I don't end up like them.

Even as a teenager seeing super skinny women in the media didn't actually bother me that much. It was the overweight ones that had more of an impact and made me want to lose weight or worry about gaining weight.

Goldenbear · 27/03/2015 10:52

Average looking to me is a healthy BMI though not necessarily a size 16. Some women are happy being a healthy BMI but I think others find that difficult to accept. What is noticeable is that women are increasingly basing their happiness and self worth on being 'skinny', even if it's very far from their reality. It angers me that this aesthetic is held up as a virtue for women, it is regressive step for feminism, ghettoising women by defining us by our physical appearance only. I have an almost 4 year old DD and I hate hate, hate how even at her age people comment on her size, it is definitely mentioned more than it was for my DS who is now 7. My DD is only 97cm and 15kg and 4 on Sunday so not 'big' at all but friends/people always comment that she is. They'll talk of their own DD's being 'skinny' with a sense of pride. Comments on how much your child eats in comparison to their own. I think that's very worrying and the obsession society have with 'skinny' and how you look is trickling down to the appearance of very young children. They should be concerned with other things like their play interests or their imaginations.

I was 8 to 8.5 stone from about 18 -24 and everyone used to tell me I was too thin. My brother would tell me to put some weight on, his girlfriend (now wife) would say the same and she was lighter than me but is only 5ft 1. I stayed at my Dad's one summer holiday as I had a work experience placement at a famous London newspaper office, he spent the whole summer trying to feed me up- I was 20 at the time! He even got his business partner to tell me I was 'too thin' as this man had seen me grow up! Interestingly, the only people who were competitive and bitchy about your weight and clothes were my colleagues at the newspaper! This was nearly 20 years ago when nobody spoke of the 'obesity crisis'. Seen as I'm only 5ft 6 and nearly everyone said I was too thin at that weight maybe it is not just that we have 'lost sight' of what slim looks like, maybe some people just don't carry weight in the same way. Healthy BMI should be satisfactory, not 'skinny' is the only acceptable way to look and anything else should be lambasted!

LondonRocks · 27/03/2015 10:52

I have to say, I am LOVING the majority opinion on this thread.

And, most refreshingly, no one has uttered the thicko phrase du jour real women

Perhaps this is progress!

LondonRocks · 27/03/2015 10:53

Stinkersmum high five back at ya!

SaucyJack · 27/03/2015 10:54

Stinkersmum- actually planes/trains yadda yadda are just as uncomfortable for us shortarses as for tall people. It's very uncomfortable sitting for hours on end when your feet can't reach the floor.

Gets violins out Grin

Goldenbear · 27/03/2015 10:58

I don't agree, 'skinny' is virtuous, if you're a healthy BMI but in no way look skinny it is not acceptable for you do not to aspire to looking like a celebrity!

TheWordFactory · 27/03/2015 11:00

I'm slim.

Society definitely approves of this. When I was too thin, it approved even more.

I'm finding all this high fiving and self congratulating a bit horrible TBH. We all know that fat people are demonised. We all know that the food industries are so powerful that it becomes ever more difficult to remain slim, especially for the poor.

Why all this faux hurt at being called skinny? Why all this pretense that the slim are somehow being victimised? It's utter crap and we all know it.

Lancelottie · 27/03/2015 11:02

I'll say it again but you are likely to have the longest lifespan if you fall into a BMI range of 25-30 - arguably that makes it 'healthiest'.

It's interesting to watch this one swing to and fro with new studies, IsleepwhenIdie -- do you follow this area? In 2009-10 the mega-studies showed more mortality in the 25-30 group, but more recent studies do seem to say that 25-30 is better than 18-25; I wonder if BMI is just too much of a blunt instrument.

Meanwhile, 'upper end of normal' seems a good bet, the BMI 22 to 25 sort of range rather than 18-ish.

Higgle · 27/03/2015 11:02

I think I used the word "skinny" mainly because my friends are in their late 50's and being a healthy weight can make you look a bit gaunt compared to those who are overweight, My friend who thinks nothing of cycling 80 miles is super fit, but from an aesthetic point of view her face would look better if she weighed about a stone more. Past 50 you need to make a decision on the "face or ass" argument.