To wonder if this Zara model is a healthy size?

[MondayYogurt]

Most models are tall and slim but something just made me stop and look at these pictures for longer, wondering.

Is it just photoshop?

Yes, it is still body shaming. You are not just shaming the model, but also everyone who is as thin as her

As a tall slim woman who has worked in the modelling industry in the past, I am horrified by the naive and perhaps disingenuous attempts to shut down debate on the use of overly thin models by labelling it ‘body shaming’

Someone who is naturally skinny is not the same as a model with significant pressure to be ultra-thin - potentially far thinner than they would naturally be - for their job.

Further, the impact on young women who feel pressurised by images of very thin women - is extremely concerning.

@17june2021

She looks normal to me, but I’m early 20s so I/my friends are slim without any effort

The model looks to be, what, 30 max? Of course she’s going to be fit and in shape at that age. I think ageing and having children means that being slim might be unattainable for some, but to the rest of us it’s normal.

What dangerous nonsense!!! I wasn't thin in my 20s for various reasons beyond my control. Anyone reading what you've just written who has issues with food could be sent over the line into eating disorder territory. You should be ashamed. Appalling behavior

@TatianaBis

Yes, it is still body shaming. You are not just shaming the model, but also everyone who is as thin as her

As a tall slim woman who has worked in the modelling industry in the past, I am horrified by the naive and perhaps disingenuous attempts to shut down debate on the use of overly thin models by labelling it ‘body shaming’

Someone who is naturally skinny is not the same as a model with significant pressure to be ultra-thin - potentially far thinner than they would naturally be - for their job.

Further, the impact on young women who feel pressurised by images of very thin women - is extremely concerning.

It's a fair point to mention homogenous body types in fashion modelling, and desire for more representation.

It is body shaming to insist tall/thin women are sickly or underweight (because they don't look like you) and should be removed and replaced by 'average' models only.

If you're suggesting a range of bodies, from model thin to plus size, and that there's also issues with unrealistic standard on the opposite end of the scale (to gain weight and be curvy/thick) that is a good point and I'm on board with that too

There's also the question of what's healthy for a body type, or when it is obvious there is muscle wasting. I know when I'm the healthy version of me and when I'm not, though they look sort of the same superficially in clothes.

It is body shaming to insist tall/thin women are sickly or underweight (because they don't look like you) and should be removed and replaced by 'average' models only.

None of which I said. However, there are plenty of tall thin women who are not underweight or sickly looking.

To those on this thread who are hollering 'body shaming' - what solution do you propose to the problem of people being influenced by the media into trying to change their bodies in ways that aren't healthy for them? Genuinely interested to know.

Its no effort whatsoever" would suggest that this is your normal weight regardless of what you ate etc....but having a very small appetite and running ultramarathons is surely making an effort to keep a lean physique?

No, I'm 55 and have only been doing the ultras for a few years. Didn't even start running until a decade ago, before that I did absolutely no formal exercise at all and my weight has been the same literally all my life. Put on about a stone when I was pregnant which was the baby and that just disappeared. I do appreciate I'm unusual but I can go on holiday for 3 weeks and drink cocktails all day and it makes not one hot of difference to my weight. I try and eat more to compensate for the running but actually it makes little difference either way

@bringincrazyback

To those on this thread who are hollering 'body shaming' - what solution do you propose to the problem of people being influenced by the media into trying to change their bodies in ways that aren't healthy for them? Genuinely interested to know.

Denying that slim bodies are just as normal and natural as curvy bodies, is not the way to do it.

Pretending that a size 14/16 is a model of health and the golden standard is twisted!

Its no effort whatsoever" would suggest that this is your normal weight regardless of what you ate etc....but having a very small appetite and running ultramarathons is surely making an effort to keep a lean physique?

gives us a break. Yes your body changes depending on your activity. It doesn't mean it's an "effort" to transform it that way, or that it's unhealthy.

A swimmer doesn't have the same body as a runner or a boxer. So what?

You can practice sport for the pleasure of sport, not because of the way your muscles change. I doubt any of these people looked a photos and said: there I want to look like this.

You can practice sport for the pleasure of sport, not because of the way your muscles change. I doubt any of these people looked a photos and said: there I want to look like this.

Yes I do it because I love it, my body shape hasn't changed at all. Maybe my heart is stronger? Can't be a bad thing.

I was thin until my thirties. My arms are still very thin. From where I´m sitting I can see a teenage photo of mine with arms like this. Even now my arms are thin although my middle has more weight. Some of us are built like this. Most bracelets actually fall off me...

"Every other poster popped up saying they were super healthy, exercised, lifted weights, ate healthily etc etc and were naturally size 4 or 6."

Posters in S&B may be thinner than average and very thin people might be more likely to post on a thread like this.

"Of course being overweight is also unhealthy, and you'll find plenty of people comment negatively on plus size models,"

I'm pretty sure a thread complaining about plus size models would be taken down.

Yeah I am an 8/10 and was a 6/8 pre-pandemic but what bothers me is cardio and strength, not a few more months of avoiding my tailored clothes.

Posters in S&B may be thinner than average and very thin people might be more likely to post on a thread like this.

Having posted on S&B in the past I’d say the posters there represent the general population and the rest of the forums - a reasonable number are overweight or obese.

What I find troubling about this thread is that so many people don't seem to recognise how photoshopped the image is. Her legs and arms have been elongated and are out of proportion.

It's not a healthy image because people are apparently buying into it being real. It's super unhealthy to have a fake image shown as desirable and attainable.

It probably is photoshopped, even my skinny legs are slightly larger at the top than the bottom! I kept looking this morning after seeing those photos

@TatianaBis

Posters in S&B may be thinner than average and very thin people might be more likely to post on a thread like this.

Having posted on S&B in the past I’d say the posters there represent the general population and the rest of the forums - a reasonable number are overweight or obese.

I've been posting on S&B for a while as well and I'd say that there is no way that you would know that the number of overweight and obese are exactly the same as in the general population.

It’s really not clear cut how much it’s been photoshopped. Some models do genuinely have very long very skinny legs.

Either it’s photoshopped to unhealthy thinness or the model is
genuinely that thin or a combination of the two,

Model that thin are plentiful in the industry or they were in the early 90s when I was doing it, I worked with much thinner women that.

@khakiandcoral

Its no effort whatsoever" would suggest that this is your normal weight regardless of what you ate etc....but having a very small appetite and running ultramarathons is surely making an effort to keep a lean physique?

gives us a break. Yes your body changes depending on your activity. It doesn't mean it's an "effort" to transform it that way, or that it's unhealthy.

A swimmer doesn't have the same body as a runner or a boxer. So what?

You can practice sport for the pleasure of sport, not because of the way your muscles change. I doubt any of these people looked a photos and said: there I want to look like this.

I'd think that weight lifters often do start because they want to look a certain way. With other sports, it might work the other way around e.g. a tall person being good at basketball.

Those photos of athletes are interesting. I actually put the height and weight of the marathoners into a BMI calculator - turns out they were just over being underweight.
The golfer has the most attractive body shape of them for my preference. I suppose it's less intense than the other sports therefore she look a bit more like non-athletes. The swimmer also looks really good whereas I had always thought that swimming gave women very broad masculine shoulders.

I think the thing that triggered my yikes button was her wrist bones in the hand resting on the car.

I have quite visible wrist bones. It's just my physique. I'm slim but by no means ultra-slim. People carry weight in different ways.

She's certainly very thin, but just as it's unfair to automatically assume a plus size model is unhealthy, we can't make any judgements on her health just by her size. The problem is when all models are her size. We need to see a diverse range of body types.

For what it's worth, I had a housemate at university who was very very thin. People assumed she had an eating disorder. They didn't see her at our house in the evenings eating loads of bread, pasta and cheese desperately hoping she would put on an ounce of weight (she also ate loads of fruit and veg and had a healthy diet, but just couldn't seem to put on weight).

As for the model's wrist bones, I'm a size 16/18 and my wrist bones stick out, that's just the way I'm built!

I've been posting on S&B for a while as well and I'd say that there is no way that you would know that the number of overweight and obese are exactly the same as in the general population.

I didn’t say it was ‘exactly the same’. I said a ‘reasonable number are overweight or obese’ and that the posters ‘represent the general population’.

Of the threads requesting help with outfits for example a certain % are size 16+ and plus size.

Looks underweight, to me.

Some of the comments on this thread. Imagine if this model came across it and found people describing her as looking like she has a medical condition that causes elongated limbs, she looks sickly, ill and weird etc etc.

Even just for people who naturally look like her, it could be awful to read.

I've always been that thin. Thankfully I no longer give a fuck what people think about what my body looks like as I don't exist to please other visually, but in my teens to twenties comments like these would have been incredibly hurtful.

I really think people should be more mindful of who might be reading these cruel comments.