Sadiq Khan shouldn't be able to tell us what is an unhealthy body

[feellikeahugefailure]

So the London Mayer has banned adverts with “Unhealthy or Unrealistic” body images. Doesn't this just all feed into people these days unaware of what a healthy body image is? This woman is in great shape and looks very healthy to me.

Sorry if there has been a post on this, I find the advanced search here not that great.

Of the women who did/do have a favourite sport to play as teens/young adults, how many of them, as mothers, get leisure time to participate in it?

Tara to address a few of your poitns:

I very much doubt there are many women alive in the UK who don't know that they "mustn't eat too much". You can't bring a birthday cake into a workplace without hearing women pre-empting reproof with a contrite "oooh, I shouldn't" before they have a slice. It's like plea-bargaining; only instead of a shorter sentence for an admission of guilt, one may have cake if one humbles oneself before the group first, and pleads guilty to the crime of being a at caaaaah.

But but but... you DON'T HAVE TO EAT THE CAKE. I wouldn't.

The 'admission of guilt' is play-acting, it's paying lip service to the idea of healthy eating before actually indulging yourself.

I have a relative who is like this- will announce loudly that she's only eating salad, before eating chips off everyone else's plates and then nicking my children's dessert!

Not everyone eats junk. You don't have to do it. It's a CHOICE - between being slim and eating calorie-laden food.

The 'moral oppobrium' is not real. Very few people really believe in it. They say "I'm so naughty" and then do it anyway. If you ACTUALLY attach 'moral oppobrium' to overeating, (like I do!) then people don't react well to it at all.

I have a few answers, such as offputting/traumatic experiences in school PE and changing rooms as adolescents, sport seeming inaccessible during puberty due to poor support during menstruation from teachers/parents, shit bras.

I had all of that and more during childhood/adolescence. Spent my 20s in a fug of drink, drugs and cigarettes. I'm in my mid-30s now and I work out all the time - I really love it. At some point you have to stop blaming other people/your past and to take responsibility for your own health and fitness (and appearance if that matters to you).

Proteus i only eat cake at family birthdays including my own which is tomorrow. It works out at about 4 or 5 times a year.

Unhealthily thin, is not healthy to see a grown woman's ribs. I knew when I was younger (a slim size 8 at 14) I was obsessed with how skinny celebrities were and would have used that type of image as a goal. I was obsessed with dieting to stop being fat even though I wasn't fat at all, I was convinced otherwise. I worried over arm fat, back fat, hair on my belly button, not having long legs and flat tum and big boobs and lovely cheekbones and I thought if I worked Harder I'd look better. I still want to be slim now but am old enough to realise girls Luke on that advert have been airbrushed and aren't realistic. Good on the ban!

I used to smoke but gave up eleven years ago. Ive never touched drugs and ive never been drunk........not once.

Am teetotal

Helena it wasn't directed at you, it's up to you if you want to make that choice.

I don't work in an office but my husband does and from what i understand, there is ALWAYS cake/biscuits/leftovers from meetings on offer.

It was a more general point, that the apparent 'guilt' of eating calorific food is really very superficial and very few people are actually willing to give up any of their indulgences, so the 'moral oppobrium' that Tara describes is nothing more than lip service to an ideal.

madein1995 Are you seriously saying this woman isn't realistic??

Lots of women look like this. She looks healthy and fit. I looked like that 10 years ago.

The world has gone mad if you think this is anything to do with body shaming. I don't think there is any "body shaming" anymore. Half the women I see walking about don't seem to care what they look like.

The ones that do care look nice.

Proteus after my initial weight loss i had a job in a shop. One of the others went to the bakery and came back with a load of Danish pasties I reminded her again that i was watching my weight and that i had already said no.

She said "Shut up and get that down your neck"

I refused.

My parents both had their 80ths this year. I ate cake at both and STILL lost weight. Because i dont do sugary stuff the rest of the time. I dont eat so called diet food because most of it has such a high sugar content.

You don't have to eat 'junk food' to get fat

Sugar is hidden everywhere.... Even in foods you'd not associate with being unhealthy

It's in bread, pasta sauces, stews,casseroles, healthy option meals, low fat products.... Not just cake!

Doesn't Sadiq Khan favour George Clooney ?

Yep it is I dont do ready meals either. Or bread Or pasta sauce. My mum is Italian and makes her own.

Mum I am well aware of this and I don't eat any of the things you mention. Most people are quite clued up on calories, I think. At least I am...

Helena I am (with 100% honesty) really glad you've found a way that works for you. Yes, it's really difficult when people pressure you to eat calorific food - I get it from my relatives and in-laws all the time. I agree it takes a great deal of strength and self-belief to resist.

Thankyou Proteus Its taken a long time to get here but the benefits are worth it.

Lots of women look like this. She looks healthy and fit. I looked like that 10 years ago.

I wonder if you'd say the same if the un-airbrushed version of the model was made public. It's quite scary how different airbrushed photo's can look compared to the original and you only realise how unrealistic an airbrushed photo is when you see a side by side comparison.

Clicky

I'm not against a moderated amount of airbrushing but when publishers are changing body shape and making people look like something they're not then using those edits as a way to sell their weight loss product/appear in a glossy magazine etc then it is dangerous

I'mwithspud FFS. Let me say again. Lots of women look like this. It's nothing special. It's how we should look

I don't care if this particular woman has been air-brushed. I'll say it again"lots of women look like this"

spud someone i went to school with is very overweight She has tried Cambridge and gets frustrated if she cant lose pounds and pounds every week.

I dont like VLCDs but its her decision. But i think the emphasis on speedy weight loss doesnt help and piles more pressure on.

Shes asked a few times what diet she can do that works and is not too expensive Most healthy eating plans do work but not fast enough for her liking.

She has just been told about pound shop milkshakes now thats worrying.

And very speedy weight loss is dangerous.

Those are just a few examples

Look at slimming world promoting muller bloody light yogurts!!

mumontherun i know Ridiculous.

But but but... you DON'T HAVE TO EAT THE CAKE. I wouldn't.

The 'admission of guilt' is play-acting, it's paying lip service to the idea of healthy eating before actually indulging yourself.

I have a relative who is like this- will announce loudly that she's only eating salad, before eating chips off everyone else's plates and then nicking my children's dessert!

Yes. It is play-acting. And why are they doing it? Because many women feel compelled to perform dieting and 'healthy' eating. They are not doing it despite thinking cake is morally neutral.

Not everyone eats junk. You don't have to do it. It's a CHOICE - between being slim and eating calorie-laden food.

Going out with a boy/girlfriend your parents hate is a choice too... But sensible parents know that the quickest way to drive their teenager into Gary/Stacy's loving arms is to forbid the relationship. Same phenomenon applies when teenagers feel forbidden to eat "junk", except that the relationship with food is never going to come to a natural end because Gary got caught copping off with Sarah.

I had all of that and more during childhood/adolescence. Spent my 20s in a fug of drink, drugs and cigarettes. I'm in my mid-30s now and I work out all the time - I really love it. At some point you have to stop blaming other people/your past and to take responsibility for your own health and fitness (and appearance if that matters to you).

Yes, you keep wanting to bring it back to an individual responsibility. Again, I ask you: has the guilt-tripping approach worked for the country so far? All I hear on MN is that "we're getting fatter".

How many people do you need to tell you that guilt-tripping sends them into shame spirals of binging?

P.S. so how many women do a sport in your experience? I'm not talking exercise for exercise's sake, I'm talking stuff that you do because it's fun and fitness is a by-product. Expecting the nation's population to be willing to spend 2-10 hours a week in the gym isn't a well-thought out approach to improving public health. It's about as realistic as expecting everyone to take up figure skating for their health.

But lots of women don't look like this at all. Some do, and that's great for them, they are what I would call the lucky ones as they have the body shape society wants them to have - where everything is in proportion and imperfections are minimal. Wonderful.

I know for a fact that I certainly could never look like that, yes I need to lose a few pounds (working on it) but that's besides the point, my body shape is very different to the one on the poster, when I was slim and active previously I didn't look anything like this model. Yet it's always the same 'ideal' body shape that is portrayed in these adverts.

So all of you complainers. If, facially, you are not blessed with good looks ( a matter of almost pure luck and good genes) do you hate seeing good looking women in adverts? Do you then feel "face shamed" ??

Where does this stop?

'I don't care if this particular woman has been air-brushed. I'll say it again"lots of women look like this'

If she is considered at the top with her face and body as she is a model and has still bern airbrushed then it's very unlikely lots of women look like that. But, i think there are far worse examples of body shaming and sexisn than that ad.

I'm not sure where to even start with this thread. In response to the original advert, the model looks fine, she's young and thin. Not overly fit in that I don't think it looks like she lifts or does much sport (but who knows, photoshop). For those who say seeing ribs is unhealthy, I'm a stone overweight and you can see my ribs, it's called a long torso and an hourglass figure.

In regards to whether the advert should be banned. Absolutely, it's advertising a false product. I'm actually completely for diet and diet supplements advertising being highly controlled, as they are potentially life threatening.

I love the response to this add, the whole #everybodyisabikinibody thing was fantastic.

I would love to see more diversity in models, be they thin, large, short, tall, differently abled, different skin colors, ages, etc etc. I love Victoria Secret's stuff, but hate buying online because, even though they offer a range of really nice clothes suitable to many body types, they only model them on the exact same type of body over and over. It's really frustrating and does them a disservice.

In terms of who should tell us who is healthy or unhealthy, only our doctors can do that. Advertising isn't where health judgements should be made. I wouldn't hesitate to put someone with cancer in an advertisement, and I don't think I'm glorifying cancer by doing that.

Finally, I do believe the modelling industry needs to be monitored. Many people have brought us Tess Holliday. She is ONE size 22 model, and she is in her late 20's. There are hundreds if not thousands of YOUNG girls, 13 to 18 years old, being forced to starve, take amphetamines, chain smoke, and engage in very unhealthy behaviors in order to be "cat walk" ready. If another industry was forcing teenagers to engage in unhealthy, potentially deadly behaviors in order to perform, you'd better believe we would be calling them out on it. The fashion industry deserves no less.

If I saw a picture of a beautiful woman ACCOMPANIED BY A SLOGAN IMPLYING ONLY PRETTY PEOPLE SHOULD GO TO THE BEACH then yes, I'd find it an offensive advert. For fuck's sake, how many times is someone on the thread going to point out that it is not images of attractive people that are being objected to - the shaming part is the fricking slogan that goes with it! That's the problem! I don't care that slim people exist and that slim people advertise products - that's fine! But don't tell girls and women that if they aren't slim then they aren't fit to be on the beach and they need to take WEIGHT LOSS SUPPLEMENTS!!!!! It is not a bunch of bitter, fat women who can't bear to see a toned midriff who are complaining about this! I don't begrudge the model her lovely body one bit! But I will not quietly accept massive billboards pushing the view that girls and women should be ashamed of their bodies in swimwear if they don't adhere to rigid beauty standards and that they should address this not through healthy diet and exercise but by taking a bunch of crappy supplements. I don't know how is possible for someone to read the thread and miss that bloody point so entirely!