To be shocked by how thin this model is?

[Happyland8]

This model struck me as being particularly thin/ underweight. Topshop is a store that sell clothes to teens and anything upwards of that and my gut reaction was to think that young people really aspire to be like the models they see online/ in magazines, at least I did when I was younger. I thought that we should maybe be promoting a more healthy figure.

But then, I thought about the fact that many companies also have plus size ranges modelled by those who are overweight so maybe this is how things should be. We should have underweight, average weight & plus size models, in order to fairly represent society and to promote that people come in all shapes and sizes.

I'd be interested to hear what you all think?

I struggled with eating disorders when I was younger so I'm very much interested in this topic and how we go about promoting a healthy body image to the younger generations.

Was I being unreasonable to think that this lady is too thin or should we have models of all shapes & sizes?

We have threads like this every now and again. There are examples of very thin, clearly underweight models out there (nowhere near as many as 20 years ago). The picture on the OP isn't one of them.

In response to those asking about eating disorders being triggered by a traumatic event and not by very slim models, here's my experience.

For me, my first memory that shows I didn't have a good attitude to food & diet was this:

I was watching eastenders, well my mum was and I was in the room. Probably aged about 7. There was a beautiful girl who wanted to be a model and went along to a modelling audition. There were other girls in the waiting area and the girl asked another girl what she did to stay so slim. The other girl put her fingers up to her mouth to gesture that she makes herself sick. I remember thinking "I should do that". I didn't have the best childhood at times so there are things that could have triggered this, I'm not sure. Anyway, as I grew up and my body shape changed, I began to really feel repulsed by how my body looked. I'd look at pictures of slim girls in magazines etc. A thing called "thinsporation" was emerging and I used to try to look at that to encourage myself not to eat. I then struggled to starve myself and then when I'd eat I'd end up binging/purging, so I was caught up in the viscious cycle of bulimia. Luckily I've been better for years now but that is why this topic is close to my heart. I wish I could stop others from going down the same path I went down. It has left me with a lasting health issue and I lost the best part of 7 years of my youth.

Horrible outfit but I don't see anything wrong with the model, she's very slim, as are other women.

Ah looks fine to me
I think because most people are overweight we've forgotten how normal looks now

The fact that this thread is purely people discussing whether this women is the correct weight to be a model and whether she 'looks fine' by our own standards makes me uncomfortable.

I think she is a normal weight for a teen - legs are not particularly skinny although there is something odd about her arms - probably a victim of photo shop!

I had to stop looking at the bikinis on their website the other day as the models looked painfully thin to me.

"Painfully thin"

I don't think that means what some people think it means.

Her arms and legs are very thin and actually I think they've been edited which is really unacceptable.

I agree about model in bikinis.
Those who are so thin that they have no waist at all.
Those where you ca;see the hip bones coming sticking out.
The shape of the legs too is a big give away.

I agree that, in the U.K., we are used to see people who are overweight.
But if you go to otter countries such as France and look at women on the beach, they are thin but NOT that thin.

Notlivestock I agree. This is the first thing that came to mind. Bad photoshopping that made the model look weird. Plus the angle at which the photo was taken.

She looks healthy. Naturally petite. Much healthier than promoting an overweight "plus size" model. Being big is not healthy at all and its counterintuitive to promote it.

I instantly thought bad photoshopping. Something about the gap between her arm and her body just isn't right.

I think she's actually a healthy sized, very slim model and she's been photoshopped to look even smaller...bad call by Topshop.

YANBU in some cases, and it’s important. But the model in the pic you posted just looks slim to me. I’d give anything to look like that!!