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sgrannel
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13 May 2008, 6:12 pm

LoveableNerd wrote:
There are plenty of modeling agencies out there that would disagree with you there, lol.


Right. But who is running the modeling agencies? Who cares what they think anyway? By promoting the excessively thin look they are doing a great disservice to women and straight guys. They are out of touch with what we really want and they are out of touch with basic human biology.

Why would a woman want to look a certain way? What is she advertising about herself when she does something to attract friends and partners? People with behaviors and physical characteristics which advertise reproductive fitness and health are more likely to successfully pass on their genes. Women who are either morbidly obese or morbidly thin are unattractive to most guys because it is unhealthy, and these women are less likely to succeed at producing healthy children. Wanting to look good is fine. Wanting to be too thin is counterproductive for looking good, attracting partners, and coming out on the winning side of the gene pool.


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14 May 2008, 5:00 am

LKL wrote:

than this:
Image


One word: Ewww!

I sometimes don't like the way I look and think I need to lose weight, even though I am a healthy weight, but I would never go as far as that. That's not even attractive...just boney.


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Purplefluffychainsaw
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14 May 2008, 6:58 am

LKL wrote:
I'd far rather be this:
Image

than this:
Image


... I find the second one far more attractive. Muscular women look strange and inappropriate to me (no offence to anyone, it's just a matter of personal taste).

I understand that underweight women are unhealthy, and that it's the media's influence that's made it the beautiful "normal" in today's society. I also understand that fatter women were considered more beautiful in the past. But I still aspire to be thin, even though I never have been and my body type isn't right to be able to get as slim as I want to be. It irritates me that I'm so influenced by culture.

It's not as though I want to slim down to get a boyfriend, because I already have the perfect boy for me. Part of it is wanting to be able to go out with him and feel like I deserve to be next to him (there's a lot of beautiful women in cambridge), and part of it is wanting to be healthy (I am actually overweight, even if it's just, and not particularly fit either), but I think most of it is wanting to be admired by other people. If I could become anorexic I would, but perhaps fortunately I am far too fond of my food to manage more than a couple of hours. XD

I wish we came from a culture where a healthy weight was what the media pushed for people to aspire to. But it's not, and until that's rectified there will always be big problems with people pushing themselves to fit in with the image that they're constantly told is beautiful. No matter how much work you put into helping them you won't be able to stop it until you can stop the media.


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LoveableNerd
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14 May 2008, 11:35 am

LKL wrote:
I'd far rather be this:
Image

than this:
Image
No offense but the first one looks like a man. The second one is a little too thin even for me,... she most likely is anorexic. But add about 10 lb and she'd be very hot.


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sgrannel
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14 May 2008, 12:30 pm

Purplefluffychainsaw wrote:
LKL wrote:
I'd far rather be this:
Image

than this:
Image


... I find the second one far more attractive. Muscular women look strange and inappropriate to me (no offence to anyone, it's just a matter of personal taste).

I understand that underweight women are unhealthy, and that it's the media's influence that's made it the beautiful "normal" in today's society. I also understand that fatter women were considered more beautiful in the past. But I still aspire to be thin, even though I never have been and my body type isn't right to be able to get as slim as I want to be. It irritates me that I'm so influenced by culture.

It's not as though I want to slim down to get a boyfriend, because I already have the perfect boy for me. Part of it is wanting to be able to go out with him and feel like I deserve to be next to him (there's a lot of beautiful women in cambridge), and part of it is wanting to be healthy (I am actually overweight, even if it's just, and not particularly fit either), but I think most of it is wanting to be admired by other people. If I could become anorexic I would, but perhaps fortunately I am far too fond of my food to manage more than a couple of hours. XD

I wish we came from a culture where a healthy weight was what the media pushed for people to aspire to. But it's not, and until that's rectified there will always be big problems with people pushing themselves to fit in with the image that they're constantly told is beautiful. No matter how much work you put into helping them you won't be able to stop it until you can stop the media.


What are the two women in the pictures doing? To me it seems the one in the top picture is probably much happier. Her attention is on other things besides appearance, and she is much healthier. Ironically, she also looks better. The one in the bottom picture looks like she is about to break an ankle.

Why does the media have such a strong unhealthy influence on people? What are they promoting? Why does anyone care about the images put forth by people they'll never actually meet? If you know you're out of shape, you can feel it, and it needs to be addressed no matter what the scale says. It's the things that can't be seen and the scale doesn't measure which are important, things like blood pressure, insulin sensitivity, and bone density.

I was slightly overweight not too long ago, but now I am on the upper end of the healthy range. More importantly, I feel better since I have ramped up my weightlifting and running routines. I also have the satisfaction of seeing my capabilities grow, doing things I never thought I would be able to do, like qualifying as a half marathon finisher.


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14 May 2008, 1:06 pm

I find it mind-boggling that anyone, male or female, can find the second photo attractive. That woman is so thin that she is very likely infertile; models like her literally die every year because their hearts don't have enough calcium and potassium to keep on beating.
The model is disgusting, but so is the idea that people can't recognize that.

As far as the soccer player looking like a man...! To each his or her own as far as what they are attracted to, but I think most people can tell the difference between genders regardless of the clothing or amount of muscling.



ford_prefects_kid
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14 May 2008, 1:15 pm

lovablenerd wrote:
No offense but the first one looks like a man. The second one is a little too thin even for me,... she most likely is anorexic. But add about 10 lb and she'd be very hot.

mmm, I'd guess more like 20.


LKL wrote:
As far as the soccer player looking like a man...! To each his or her own as far as what they are attracted to, but I think most people can tell the difference between genders regardless of the clothing or amount of muscling.


I think that's also partially that particular shot...she's yelling in triumph, fist-pumping, and in non-feminine apparel. (Because she's in a soccer game of course, and likely just accomplished something particularly impressive.)

I bet if you found the same women with her hair down, in a dress or even some nice casual clothes, people would change their stance on how "masculine" she is. Soccer was a big sport for girls at my high school- many pretty team members too- and they got kinda annoyed when people took pictures of them with their "game face" on. ...they weren't exactly going for "pretty" at the time.



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14 May 2008, 10:06 pm

She just scored the winning goal of the final match of the Women's World Cup between America and China. If the woman in the second picture put on 20 lbs of pure fat, she wouldn't look good. If she put on 20 lbs of muscle and 10 lbs of fat, she might look pretty good.



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15 May 2008, 1:56 am

*raises hand*
I have ED-NOS. Let me just say, eating disorders are not caused by the media, or a desire to be thin.. Thinness/not eating is just a symptom, blah blah bla, it's not about the food (nor is it solely about "control"), blah blah.. If it were that simple, they (anorexics) would stop and magically become happy/normal once they achieved their goal weight. Eating disorders are extremely complex.. just a big convoluted mess. Especially with starvation's strange little side effects on the brain..

Anyway. Lately I've been kind of eating normally for the most part, even staying at my body's natural weight (126ish at 5'7"). But when I'm stressed or angry or sad I start losing weight again. I don't want to just be thin. I don't want a body, period.


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15 May 2008, 3:40 am

LoveableNerd wrote:
LKL wrote:
I'd far rather be this:
Image

than this:
Image
No offense but the first one looks like a man. The second one is a little too thin even for me,... she most likely is anorexic. But add about 10 lb and she'd be very hot.


Switch outfits, make up, hair style and I think that No. 2 would look the most like a man. Especially if you met them face to face.

They are in their work clothes and they do different work so not a fair comparison.

For me the only advantage No. 2 might have could be her height. But best save that for another thread ;)



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26 May 2008, 4:03 pm

Quote:
i have been overweight since i was a spaced out 8 year old.

I had more issues with forgetting to eat when I was a little kid....so I was underweight...and would be ready to faint before rmrmbering to eat...


I had something close to that. Not that I forgot to eat as a kid, but I refused to eat school dinners. I had issues about eating anything mushy, and that seemed to be about 90% of what they served at school, so I just didn't eat. I was a skinny kid until someone noticed and my mother started making me a packed lunch, then I got chubby and have been 'larger than average' ever since. The only time I've been thin as an adult was just before my first wedding, when I was tired, stressed-out and felt awful - I wore half a ton of makeup on the day because my skin was so dreadful.

And, the one time I tried to go on a diet - it was during that marriage, and my ex had started to make it clear that I'd always, apart from that pre-wedding blip, been bigger than he preferred and could I do something about it? - I got completely obsessed with the fat content of everything I was eating. I'm not sure if this is an AS thing, because most NTs I know who go on diets get a bit like this anyway!

I'm a British size 18 now. I try to eat healthily, and to exercise when I can. There have been times when I've managed this better than I am right now, and those times I have lost a little weight. But not much. Certainly not enough to get me down to within a so-called 'healthy' BMI. I know many people who are a lot more careful about what they eat than me, people who actually like running or biking or whatever...still fatter than me! Conversely, I also see people all the time (fat, thin and everywhere in between) eating stupidly small amounts of weird processed stuff to lose weight, and thin people who stuff themselves with junk because they're convinced their size makes them immune from heart attacks, I'm convinced we would all be a lot healthier if we took the emphasis firmly off size and weight and put it back where it belongs, with universal encouragement towards more healthy behaviors. But there's so much media money invested in making people feel bad about themselves so they'll buy more Stuff, I can't see this happening any time soon.

Birdgirl, thanks for summing up the complexity of EDs. (My psych class once said that just to add to all that, there might be inborn problems with blood flow in the image-processing part of the brain, so it obviously might all go back a lot further.)


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26 May 2008, 5:35 pm

I want to be thinner. I used to be a size 8 UK but went up to a size 10 when I went onto prozac. It changed my metabolic rate and made me gain twenty lbs, and though I'm off it now, the weight still has not come off!

I want to be 106 lbs again instead of 126, even though I know it isn't healthy.



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27 May 2008, 11:34 pm

I'm pretty much average for my height and weight. 5'3" and about 130 lbs. I don't consider myself skinny even though a lot of my friends do. I'm comfortable with how much I weigh, even though I've always had a subconscious urge to lose 10-15 lbs. Lately this urge has been increased since I got home from college and have been lazy as f**k - I think I've gained about 5 lbs. in the past 2 weeks!

I have no desire to be waiflike, I like my curves. I just want to be slightly thinner, get rid of some belly pudge, you know? I think most people dream of this as one way to better themselves, its nothing unnatural. If a natural desire for self-improvement leads to an eating disorder, then you need to worry.



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28 May 2008, 1:25 am

I'm quite happy with my round, squishy body. :O)


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30 May 2008, 1:34 pm

I am really short and am not overweight at the moment. I still feel like a piggo. I think its pms, with the water retention, the cup size increase in the bust and the fact that i have the genetic jungle rump that i swear gets bigger this time of the month.
I used to be overweight and it still haunts me. I still feel self conscious in my clothes. I still hate to wear shorts. I still dont want people to see my tummy, even though it is reasonably flat and i am in pretty good shape. THat feeling doesnt go away just because the weight does. I am now back on track after a month of eating garbage. My husband is joining me in eating better, and it makes a difference when you have a buddy. I just wish it would come off faster. I know i would rather it go slowly because your skin and muscles have more time to develop, but I am still tired of looking at my pudges here and there.



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02 Jun 2008, 6:50 am

You know we had something similar to those pics in psychology class about women and the way they're advertised.....it was interesting.

Well I would like to be a certain size but I don't think that would realistically happen since some of us have different ratios of the hips and waist. I'm talking ration but not fat here.

Anyway realistically I'd rather be a healthy thin than anoerexic which is what I used to sort of be. It was miserable. Plus I like some physical activities. Yes I think it's normal for anyone to wish they looked a certain way or like a person but you can't really change that unless of course you have a lot of $$$$$. Which sometimes doesn't improve anymore unless you're happy with yourself. I even heard they remove RIBS!! ! 8O

What I'm trying to say is I think after going through many experiences of rehab and addiction, I'd rather be happy on the inside and then have it come out from that then be a miserable thin person.


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