Model with flabby tummy shocks the world

[MmeLindt]

According to the Daily Mail

How sad is that? That we are so used to the airbrushed perfection of models that a tiny pic of a normal woman causes such a fuss.

She is 5ft 11in and 12 1/2st and is considered too big to model plus sizes

I think she looks fab. I have a wee tummy just like hers and she has made me feel much better about it.

Why do you think that, Riven? Don't you think that looking after your appearance is basic good manners, to yourself and to other people, just like saying please, thank you, good morning etc?

I am conscious of how I look and feel and try to be fairly healthy and look after myself.There is nothing wrong with this but if you consider the woman in that picture heavy you are mad!

Not quite what I saifd Monkey, but I do think half starving yourself and smoking to keep weight to 'skinny' is a bad bad idea.
How can life be fun if you are always hungry?
That model certainly isn't fat which Anna claimed. She looks like a normal happy slender woman to me.

I do agree that when I am feeling good about my appearance I feel more confident and happier in general.
BUT I would hope that there is more to me than what I look like.

And agree about there being more tall girls around these days. As a teen I was always the tallest of my friends, was relieved when I met my Uni friend and she was the same height (5ft9"). I have taken back jeans that were too long, which would never have happened 20yrs ago.

anna - being clean, reasonably well-groomed and behaving considerately to other is good manners. It isn't essential to look perfect or skinny.

If you went to your doctor here looking like that woman in the picture (and remember, she is aged only 20), you would be told to lose weight sharpish!

Not really Anna. Long as you don't smell why would it bother anyone if your hair was messy or not cut perfectly or you were wearing old jeans?
And what constitutes an 'acceptable appearnce' is hugely subjective.

The woman in the photo is fat....for a model. As a normal woman she is perfectly healthy.

but she's within the healthy BMI and looks slim!

So if people don't look the way other people perceive they should be that is bad manners.

To a lot of people looking after oneself involves plastic surgery,pencil thin eye brow(my pet hate),dyed hair etc,etc.I find that artificial look very unattractive but I'd never judge a person for it or deem it bad manners.

It's bad manners to be rude not to look the way you want to, it is after all your own body and face.

Riven, I can see your point of view too - but what you look like isn't ALL important here. You need to have strident opinions too, otherwise you'll get drowned out by everyone else! France is a country of wildly diverse political opinions.

And I'm not going to comment on the politics of how different cultures interact and hijab ladies/banning the burkini (although I will say no country is perfect and I find SWEEPING GENERALISATION ALERT French people a bit xenophobic for my tastes). But the attitude towards physical appearance is actually something I like about France as I have always believed how you look is about feeling good in yourself and showing respect for others around you. I accept that not everyone feels like that -I really do!

It's a bit off the point but I think it can be seen outside of people too and it's really a cultural thing - French cities and towns love to show off their ancient and historical or beautiful buildings and through time the cities have developed in such a way to enhance these beauties and draw your attention to them through city planning and landscaping. I don't think (and it's an argument I've stolen from architect and landscape architect friends) that English towns or cities do this at all and landmarks just pop up out of nowhere. In any other city, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben would have much more sweeping vistas and be seen from much further across the city.

I don't think ancient cities like London and many English cities, or Paris for that matter had much in the way of town planning. they sort of happenend over the centuries.

I'd hate to think I was mainly being judged on what I look like. I'd find that rude and disrespectful. But then I hang out with people who do not fit the 'norm' because they are disabled and therefore very very different. Even here they are judged soley on appearnce. the asusmption being that if one drools, one cant possibly have anything clever to say.

Riven, I am not trying to pick your points apart at all, just saying that there is nothing wrong with wanting to look good, and yes of course it is healthy to be slim rather than fat.
Just that there is more to the French mentality than just that, I think - Flying cloud makes some excellent points re architecture. London (where I live) is the most unplanned city ever and looks a mess as a consequence, despite some beautiful buildings etc.
But this is getting v off topic. The girl in the pic does look beautiful but i wouldn't define her as slim. Curvy, maybe, but not fat either.
This thread has actually made me want to move to France! I want to be on the French women's diet (fags, coffee, low carbs and all).

London does NOT look a mess

OrmIrian, i totally agree with you. i think we should each do what makes us comfortable / happy. i don't agree with societal pressures to make us conform. that includes people making me feel bad for making an effort with my appearance. it works both ways.

but to set the record straight - i am certainly not talking about that model when i said ' looks as shit as possible.'

to quote me earlier:

By warthog on Thu 03-Sep-09 08:24:40
i think she looks stunning! and healthy!

So, are all the Francophiles on this thread saying that the model in the picture would be seen as verging on fat in France? Because no matter how you wrap it up, as looking after yourself, or having self-respect or whatever, that would be absurd IMO. I love to feel fit and healthy - and that brings with it a slimmer figure, but I find it quite depressing that in such a civilized place someone could be defined so clearly by how they look.

Thank you Monkey

"just saying that there is nothing wrong with wanting to look good, and yes of course it is healthy to be slim rather than fat."

This is much better than what I said.

There is far too much temptation here for someone who hasn't been indoctrinated with self-control (like me, I have zero will-power)- someone mentioned Laduree - it is my heaven. In heaven I will be able to have afternoon tea in Laduree every day and never put on a pound.

I don't think that she would be seen as fat here in Geneva.

There is a difference between looking after your appearance and being a Victoria Beckham/Anna Wintour lookalike. I don't find that the women here are all skinny, overmade upu and underfed coathangers.

I do find the attention to detail, the smart accessories and the self-confidence that Genevan women have, makes them more attractive than the average British woman.

Actually, thinking about it, a lot of it is the self-confidence. The way they walk, head held high.

The model wouldn't be defined by how she looks! If she's a fantastic person, like anywhere, she'll make friends and get on in life, but she won't be heralded as 'model' based on her physical appearance.

But yes, based on experience with my doctor in early pregnancy (when I looked like her) she would be considered as verging on overweight.

Should I question my doctor more do you think?!

London isn't any more of a mess than Paris. Have people been to the outlying arondissements? There's some hideous places in Paris too.
But back to appearnace...only in super skinny anorexia land would that woman be seen as 'fat'

Anna , it's obviously ridiculous to claim that all women in Paris are slim. Yes women in say the 16th are thin, just like they are in Belgravia, the Upper East Side and any other high socioeconomic urban area around the globe.

Whenever I visit France I think that woman who wrote that stupid "Frenchwomen don't get fat" book should be had up under the trade descriptions act. I just had a week on Ile de Re, (lots of lithe, toned beautifully dressed women) and then a week in the Dordogne (lots of fat, lumpen, badly dressed people). I would have had a near- identical experiences at two different places in the UK with a similar socio-economic profile.

And if a doctor tells someone with a BMI of say 24 that they should lose weight, then they have a problem, not the patient.

Ok if you're like me with a saggy stomach covered in stretch marks dont take a picture of it as it'll just depress you after reading peoples opinions on this thread

Noddy I mean London has a disjointed look, compared to lots of other more planned cities (like Paris) - bits of it are beautiful of course and I do love it, but I think as a whole it is very bitty and made up of lots of wildly disparate neighbourhoods that don't have a cohesive look. I am a Londoner, I'm allowed to diss it!
OmIrian, I am a Francophile I suppose, but no, as I have stated, I don't think the girl is fat, just not thin! And also that she looks beautiful. I am not a thin fascist and would probably be drummed out of Paris for being a size 12 anyway.

Paris is not a planned city! Its like any other very old city in that it grew up around tracks and the river. London is the same. As are most Euroepan cities.
(been helping a friend who is doing a degree, one course is city planning so she is comparing Arabic, European and American (which are planned) cities.

It is funny how you can be the same height and clothes size but be a different weight. I'm the same height as that model and a 12 (therefore positvely obese to the French ) but weigh 10 and a half stone. 2 stone lighter.

Riven and I'm the same height a little lighter at about 12 stone but a size 14/16 on my huge bottom half 10/12 on top