to think Keira Knightley is actually stunning?

[InMyLittleHead]

I find it v bizarre when people (usually women) go on about how she isn't that attractive really, too thin etc. Surely it is jealousy? Her face is literally perfect. Voice slightly annoying though.

Ballonslayer, your posts are pretty much the only ones on this thread that haven't made me go

I can't believe the insults that have been heaped on a woman for being thin.

Can we now pick a fat person and discuss how bleurgh her body is? Somehow I don't think that would be tolerated.

This is why women are their own worst enemies.

How bizarre that there is a thread that's got to 200+ posts about how beautiful or otherwise another woman is

The only problem I have with Kiera Knightley is the fact that she is lying about her very disordered relationship with food. Look at picyures of her from early in her career (eg Bend It Like Beckham), and compare them to pictures of her now.

The state she is in now is not her "natural body shape," as she claims. It is the result of a very, very low-calorie diet - which is to be expected, given that she is trying to forge a career in Hollywood.
What makes me regard her with contempt is the fact that she thinks that people are so stupid that they can't do a basic fucking image search. She clearly has no problem with starving herself and in my opinion she should come out and say so.

For what it's worth, my (male) opinion is that KK is undoubtedly a beautiful woman but she isn't quite to my tastes. I wouldn't call her stunning, but then I do prefer a few more curves. I've yet to see any particular evidence of KK's amazing acting talents either albeit I haven't seen many of her films so maybe I've missed it.

Give me Kate Winslett any day

Meh. Some people will like that look, many people won't. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it is literally impossible to proclaim anybody a "perfect" speciman.

thanks to those who came to my defence in my absence last night. good to know I'm not some mysoginistic opressor responsible for all the eating disorders and anorexia in the world.

Wow, this is the longest thread I've ever started. Really wasn't expecting it to descend into discussions of eating disorders though.

I think mayorquimby has been unfairly jumped on for merely stating a preference that doesn't fit in with what the majority expects. I don't understand why it is so bad for him to say on here that he prefers women who are naturally thin. Suggesting that it's 'men like him' who are responsible for eating disorders is silly. It would be different if he was actively telling his partner/daughter/whatever 'You're too fat, no one will love you unless you're a size 6 max' but he isn't (are you, mq?).

No wonder men always say, 'oh yes I prefer a size 14 to a size 8 honest' if they get the shit kicked out of them like this if they dare to say what they really think.

What is worrying is how many people buy into the idea that KK is 'naturally' thin. She is naturally slim but she definitely undereats to keep her figure that way, as do all the other actresses at the top of their game [Kate Beckinsale for example] Eating disorders are RIFE in the acting profession amongst women. And then to appear publically and say 'I eat pasta every night' or some such is such a terrible betrayal of young girls out there who want to be like that - I wish they would just be honest and say 'No, it is crap, I have to eat lettuce every night' but they want to appear super-human, to be idolized, to maintain the mystery. It is all bollocks. Plastic surgery is rife too. Any actress you can think of in Hollywood, I can almost guarantee they've had some cosmetic work, usually lips or nose and of course teeth. It is ok but the lie that is perpetuated lets young women down big time.

It really is irrelevant what men 'prefer'. Usually men end up liking an individual that has less to do with a fantasy type and more to do with enjoying someone's company, unless very shallow. I mean I fancy a few actors but I know they'd bore me senseless if I lived with them. [speaking from experience]

I used to be really, really skinny, even though I ate like a mammoth. So it is possible to eat and eat and eat and still be thin.

Of course it is possible. Every time a thread like this appears there are always one or two posters who say that. I have a friend who is like that. She is very tall too. But there is an entrenched and endemic culture of starving oneself in the acting profession, and just because there are a few women in the world who can eat shedloads and stay thin, that doesn't change. I've witnessed it.

I haven't read the whole of this thread but I would like to say MayorQuimby, can you just go away?
I come on MN to get away from annoying males like you.

I think it would be useful to repeat MQs post at this point. His post was (in its entirety):

"saying someone is too thin is like saying someone is too rich. It's normally not true and doesn't happen very often.
But then again I'm into thin in a big way."

A few people said this was a crass comment. Which I still believe it is.

One person said that comments like that lead to anorexia, which a lot of people have subsequently debated. Personally I agree that it is a very complex issue and to do with self-esteem rather than pleasing others.

Although when it is actresses and models etc who are starving themselves they are doing it as part of their job, I'm not sure then where that falls.

Fact is that women do starve themselves, for all sorts of reasons, and to say that this is "normally not true" ie that women who are perceived as "too thin" normally are perfectly fine, is to deliberately turn a blind eye to a real problem. It is also a bit of a strange statement as MQ has no idea where other people set the bar as to what is "too thin". It was a crass comment and needed picking up.

I think she is gorgeous but too thin also - naturally or not.

I think she's beautiful, there is something pronounced about her jawline but it contributes to the stiking poutiness I think.

Poor MQ, we are all attracted to different types. If this was a thread about how wonderful it is to be size 14 plus and he said he was attracted to bigger women most of you would tell him how wonderful he was. Why? Why not worry that he would encourage his daughters into obesity? That's just as illogical as getting offended over an attraction to KK's body type, She is not thin all over anyway she's much curvier from the hips down, agree with Bonsoir that she probably keeps her pearshape under control by remaining quite thin on top.

Also this business of thin women having to have had boob jobs is bolleaux. Even when I drop to a comfy 8 I still have a decent cupsize, some women are just built that way ffs.

P.s I think Cheryl Cole is beautiful too, so shoot me

I agree with SoNotTelling, but to say anorexia has nothing to do with the male gaze is wrong.

I think anorexia is a complex issue but the enviroment we live in, where we are force fed images of unnataiable beauty, unnaturally thin women who are made to look even thinner by retouching the images all conspire to a feeling of dissatisfaction with ourselves as women.

Many people think this is a ploy by a a patriarcal society to keep women down and in their place. Many people think that keeping women thin keeps them weak, and unable to compete with men. If you don't eat much, you feel like shit, you have no energy, you can't function properly. Many people think that by keeping women obsessed with their body image, spending all their time and money on 'looking good' you will keep them from being a threat to men and the male dominated society we live in.

I don't know if I agree with these views but it's certainly worth thinking about.

Nothing wrong with having a preference I think. I have a preference. I like large men, heavily muscled, a bit of fat over the top, nice and dark and I don't want anyone too emotional or complicated. Everyone has a preference.

sorry about spelling!

It's an interesting question framey, I think that it's more the images we are fed than the comments of individual men though. Unless of course you are in a relationship with a man who makes comments like that. The whole thing is terribly comples isn't it, and there are probably as many causes as there are women struggling with eating disorders.

Lasoidistantdame, I think that if a man came on and said that in his opinion women couldn't be too fat, that as far as he was concerned the health risks were overplayed and normally very fat women had nothing wrong with them, and that he was "into fat in a big way" he would get clobbered, yes.

I still think he's get far less of a hard time than in the opposite situation, which is ironic as obesity is the far greater problem.

I think he'd get labelled as a weirdo freakazoid "feeder" and shunned for all eternity.

I will be looking keenly for 'feeder posters' now to gage a reaction

I think she is very pretty, needs to eat some food though. i think she has a very different kind of jawline and teeth which personally I wouldn't like.