Skinny Women & Positive Body Image

[Xander]

This started on a LJ entry where me and someone are debating about this subject.

Basically she said that she always felt that Jessy Schram was always too skinny to be on TV and is promoting a negative body image for young girls to follow.

I argued that (presuming she is naturally like that, and not relying upon diet fads and eating disorders) she shouldn't be criticised, and perhaps respected for promoting her natural body image. Im not saying she should go around saying "I'm skinny, I'm so great!" but theres such a hubub about promoting your natural beauty, but what if she is naturally skinny.

The other person argued that whether or not it is natural she is still setting a negative example that they have to be skinny. I won't argue that some girls do look at skinny celebrities and try in whatever unhealthy way to look like them, I know it unfortunatly happens. However this person said Jessy shouldn't be allowed on TV, which I feel is wrong becasue it may be her lifelong dream and she shouldn't be criticised for being too skinny.

So whats everyone's opinions after I rambled? Are naturally skinny women promoting a negative body image to the rest, particularly celebrities (because lets face it, they are in way ringleaders), or, as long as they don't try and encourage others to be like they are, should they be praised for being happy within the body God gave them?

 

[Wicked]

That whole thing the other person is saying just makes me so mad.

I am naturally skinny. Really, really thin. I have been my whole life. I dont have an eating disorder, I eat like a pig and Im still this thin. And also 5' 11 so I look even thinner.

To me, there is nothing wrong with that. I got picked on all through school because of it. Now Im finally happy. (Most days. I can have days where I hate it) And I think its great if naturally skinny people are comfortable enough with themselves to show herself off. If she's anything like me, it may have taken her a while to be that comfortable.

So yeah, she should be on TV. Suggesting she shouldnt is like saying heavy people shouldnt be on TV. And if people say that, people go mad. Why should it be any different for skinny people?

POeople who diet themselves that thin, however...

 

[zombie.apparatus]

Well I think that women that naturally are skinny or beautiful are lucky and should be on TV.. women that stick their hands down their throat or decide not to eat shouldnt be on tv.... that basically sums it up

 

[Lyri]

how can someone say that just because a person is skinny they shouldn't be on TV? i'm detecting the faint signs of jealousy here.
if indeed this is this girl's natural body image, why shouldn't she be on TV, living her dream?
if she's dieted herself this way, then yes, it's wrong, and maybe she shouldn't be allowed to be idolized by thousands on young, impressionable girls.
i've been thin my whole life (thin, not skinny) but the rest of my family are quite big, so i've had to put up with all of that 'How can you be that skinny when your mom isn't that size? you must have an eating disorder' crap. i fought against it has hard as i could, but no one seemed to listen. even some of my friends started to believe the rumors and started watching what i ate so that they could figure out if it was true or not. for the record, it wasn't true...like Wolf, i eat like a pig everyday, but i work out and excerise, like you're supposed to.
why can't people just leave this girl, and every other famous skinny girl out there, alone to live their lives how they see fit...they want to entertain us, they don't want us to criticize them for their dress size.

 

[Angel's vision]

yeah, i agree with Lyri, infact so what if she is skinny! naturally assuming all skinny people anorexic is just plain daft! I myself am slim, but not quite on the skinny side, people say to me how can you eat so much and stay slim?
well it's the metabolisim i wanna shout! lol. They get abit put off by it but tough, people need to accept their size, wether they are big built or small built.

 

[Xander]

This particular person said she was not saying she presumes Jessy has an eating disorder, but rather the simple fact she is so skinny is setting a negative example.

I don't want to seem as if I dislike this person, just wanted to start a discussion and all that. As a skinny guy I get it too, people joking and all that but im fine with my skininess. But from what I hear girls are more subseptible (sp?) to seeing how other women look.

 

[SlayersDestiny]

I have a niece that is 6ft 2 and a size 4, she can eat anything and doesnt seem like she gains a pound. I also have a son like that, he is 6ft and swears he weighs 150 (not hardly..IMO). He too can eat like a pig and not gain. Am I jealous? A little.. but I know that metabolism has a lot to do with it, and genetics. My family genes are short and pudgy...LOL and I am ok with it. I dont want to start a battle of words, but what really hurts my feelings when it comes to weight issues are people that assume that larger (i.e. overweight) people are lazy slobs who just like to eat. Not true, I dont eat all the time and I exercise daily, but I cant lose an ounce. I guess its the same way with thin individuals, most people think they are anorexic. I know this is not true either and for some its very difficult to gain weight. Yes, I do envy them that they are skinny, but I have accepted the fact that I will never be a supermodel or a size 8 ever again. I just think there is too much emphasis placed on looks, it's what is on the inside (heart,soul, and attitude) that makes the person. *I will climb off my soapbox now... Oreos for everyone!!!* (j/k)

 

[killerdwarf]

I don't have a problem with skinny people per se, but...it seems that there is always a show on the air that has all the women catching what I call "the wasting disease". The women on the show start off relatively normal looking, but then, in the second season or sometime soon after, they all begin to look like refugees from Auschwicz (spelling?). Think "Ally McBeal"...Callista Flockhart was naturally skinny, but Courtney Thorne-Smith looked like a regular person. Second season arrives and she has hollow cheeks like a famine victim...and it is still going on. Just look at Marcia Cross on "Desperate Housewives". She was on "CSI" a couple years back, and looked good...now she's got the heroin chic thing happening. Terri Hatcher is wasting away too. Do I have a problem with skinny folk? No. I'm happy to be in possession of a metabolism that allows me to eat pretty much whatever I want, with little to no weight gain, as long as I get regular exercise. But, I think that showing women literally starving themselves on camera is offensive. What can we do about it? Pretty much nothing, since the women involved are not being directly forced to do what they are doing. We can't ban them, since we really have no way to know if they are out bingeing and purging, or just naturally skinny. The best we can do it treat TV like a fantasy world that has absolutely no bearing on real life. As SD said, it's what is inside that counts...

 

[eponinethen]

I wrote a really long post about a week ago, but it disappeared 'cause my internet went evil on me. Anyways, I see what your friend is saying Ash. There is nothing wrong with being thin (duh), and there's nothing wrong with having skinny people on TV, of course not. But that's not the problem, the problem is that that's all we see, usually. I'm not fat, but I'm not skinny, and if I was on TV I'd be "the fat girl" 'cause all the other people are so insanely skinny. And that is the problem. No, it's not the skinnys' fault that TV hardly shows us any not-too-skinny people, but it's easy to take it out on the skinny people we do see. Hell I can get mad at the pretty/skinny/sexy people sometimes 'cause they make me feel like shit seeing as it's kind of obvious I don't look anything like that.

(Btw that girl is super cute, "Hannah", and should definitely be allowed on TV 😛 )

 

[BillieHunter]

Im naturally very thin and I eat alot...i eat constantly actually...
I always get the youre so lucky cause you're skinny, and the im so fat, and you make me look even fatter (when they really arent fat at all)...i do think tv portrays a negative body image however people should not be kept off tv because they are thin...instead we need to bring other people who are an average body weight into tv as well...i dont rememeber where i read this but i read that only 8% of all people have a natural "supermodel" body figure...so what we need to do is instead start bringing that 92% of everyone else onto the screen as well...

 

[Mesektet Ra]

Well...

I think TV, as a rule, give us whatever they think we like, and that would be skinny little girls in clothes that are entirely too small. We know this already. It isn't news.

Now, though, to say that someone shouldn't be allowed to do television because of their body type...that's stupid. I mean, really. Okay, so that Jesse chick is tiny. So is almost every other girl you see on TV. SMG is tiny. Alyson Hannigan is tiny. So kicking every woman off TV that enforces a negative body image is basically eradicating woman on TV altogether. It sucks, but hey, it's true.

Also, I'm thinking it's kind of another form of bigotism to profile someone for their body type. So to say that someone shouldn't fufill their dream of being on TV because she's skinny is like saying she shouldn't do TV because she's gay. It's dumb. It doesn't make any sense.

I also agree with the statement that we should have more 'real' women on TV. I also beleive it'll be a cold day in hell when we see a TV show full of women who don't look like supermodels.

This is coming from someone who is nowhere near as skinny as the girl's on TV [read: as a rail], but in real life, is considered petite. I also dance and smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, so, no matter how much I eat [which, I tell you, is way more than my paycheck can spare], I don't gain a lot of weight.