Comments on: One Size Fits All – But What Size Is “All”?

By: deeeee

deeeee — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 03:11:54 +0000

Please read JunkFood Science about the (complete lack of) correlation between some magic effing waist size and health. Pronto. 37inches… so what? Mine is 35, it’s called “I had two kids and my gut is perma-stretched but I can still whup your ass backpacking and hiking”. How big my belly is or where one gains weight seriously has ZERO to do with health. Unless it’s like 370 inches. that might be excessive. A bit.

Also hiiii, HAES. Seriously.
Not coming back.

By: Kristy

Kristy — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:54:16 +0000

Plus-sized argument aside (as that applies across the board and not just to this shoot), I think this is great.

As far as the sexualized thing goes, here’s the deal (IMO): Renn is OLDER than this 17 year old girl, probably with far more experience at how to look “sexy.” The 17 year old was trying her damnedest (you can tell) at being sexy, but she just doesn’t know the “real thing” as well as Renn so isn’t able to represent it as well, that’s all. You see that in ANTM all the time — the young innocent ones not being able to convey sexy or daring, etc.

And the industry wants sexy — always has — and asked for that from both of them. I doubt they asked Renn for it more or chose the least “sexy” of the younger girl and most “sexy” of Renn.

Anyway, every person I’ve showed these pictures to loves Renn’s versions better. They look more normal and wearable and more accessible.

Joe’s comment: “The one on the left looks like a praying mantis.”
.-= Kristy´s last blog ..Guess Who Lola Wants? =-.

By: Saundra

Saundra — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:35:54 +0000

Well… I’m on the fence about this. I do love the idea of the two body types being represented. However, I have to say that it makes me kind of sick to see what people are calling “plus size” because I’ve always considered myself on the thinner side of average, but this “plus size” model is easily much thinner than I am, while still boasting sexy proportions and a bust I don’t have. I am normally completely accepting of my body, and sometimes I quite like it. I hate when something like a television show or magazine advertisement makes me feel like I’m somehow not meeting some standard–in this case, knowing I’m larger than this “plus size” model is throwing me for a bit of a loop. I don’t know whether I’m supposed to admit that I’m plus sized or criticize the modeling industry for labeling average-sized women as plus-sized.

I know a lot of people would find my dilemma sort of silly–so what if I AM plus sized? It’s just a clothing size, nothing more, nothing less. I disagree, though. For most people, the words “plus sized” mean “fat” or even “obese”, and I work hard to keep my body at a healthy weight. It’s almost as if the idea of being “plus sized” feels like I’m going to be lumped with the squillions of women in the US suffering from morbid obesity. Along with that come the stereotypes of laziness and overeating.

So, I think the thing that has me so worried is knowing that young girls, 13, 14 year old girls, will look at this completely healthy, average-sized woman who has been labeled as “plus size” and say “Wow, I don’t want to look like her, because she’s plus sized and therefore fat.” Instead, they’ll choose to look like the woman on the left, which we know is for a lot of people a goal that is either unattainable or attainable only if an eating disorder is embraced.

I’m not sure what needs to change–the meaning of the word “plus size” or the size of models used to represent it, but I honestly feel as if something does need to change here.

By: Retro Chick

Retro Chick — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:11:10 +0000

That’s a really interesting take on the article.

I think that in fighting so hard to be accepted “plus size” or “normal” women have often sought to prove that they can be sexy in the past, rather than focusing on the fact that all women are just women, and they come in different shapes and sizes.

It’s a natural result of the urge to pigeonhole at all. If skinny women are “sexy” in our culture then women who don’t fit into the skinny pigeonhole try to prove they can also be sexy.

It’s like 70s feminists trying to prove they could be masculine rather than that they had useful feminine characteristics to bring to the table.

Maybe we’ll move past the obsession with body size in time, maybe this is a revolution like feminism?
.-= Retro Chick´s last blog ..Define Your Style ? Part Two ? =-.

By: Sally

Sally — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:05:38 +0000

While I wholeheartedly agree that there is a LOT of unnecessary nitpicking going on in this worldwide debate, I am still a little weirded out by Renn being dubbed a “plus-sized model.” Much has been made of this already, as I know you ladies are well aware, but the fact remains: She may be plus-sized by modeling standards, but she is not plus-sized anywhere else. Not at the mall where they sell plus-sized clothing, and not according to the BMI health charts (suspect though they may be). And that distinction is not made, and people end up assuming that we are meant to see Renn as someone who is bigger than average. Potentially unhealthy, even.

All that said, I still don’t know what to think of this shoot. Clearly, the idea was to make Renn look “better” and more appealing than her counterpart. But why? What was the TRUE agenda here? I really don’t know.
.-= Sally´s last blog ..Not Here to Decorate Your World =-.