The size debate: standards of beauty

Yeah. They "try not to take themselves too seriously". Riiight.

edit:

Looks like they are attempting damage control.

I had to double-check the name. That looks almost exactly like a woman I was dating around 2001.

She's extremely beautiful. The photographer seems inconsistent though, some of his work is perfect and some of it seems to miss the moment. (This could be Upton's inexperience as a model, I'm not experienced enough to know from just 8+ pictures).

Hilarious egg-on-face outcome from American Apparel though. Maybe someone should figure out that size 12 models don't need code words for beautiful. That said, I don't think AA was being intentionally cruel here. Seems like a really embarassing failure to communicate vs an attempt to humiliate size 12 models.

Make no mistake. The women on the pics in the OP are chunky. It's just that chunky is the new "normal".

This popcorn is f*cking awesome.

Wow, she actually won the contest. I didn't realize that, I thought she was an outsider who was carping at the real contest, but she legitimately won, and now AA is telling her:

“Oh—and regarding winning the contest, while you were clearly the popular choice, we have decided to award the prizes to other contestants that we feel truly exemplify the idea of beauty inside and out, and whom we will be proud to have representing our company.”

Christ, what assholes.

I got curious.
Lots of discussion in general and the AA contest in specific that touch on the thread topic.
Some swearing so probably NSFW

Paleocon wrote:

I've always been mystified by how the anorexically thin, nearly androgynous k-pop stars like Eru can be attractive to anyone. But then again, I don't get the Twilight phenomenon either. As for the older dudes, my friend Karen lets out a little "oh my jesus" every time she sees a picture of Ken Watanabe or Chou Yun Fat.

My friend in Japan who I mentioned above read this thread, and sent me this link as an explanation:

And she has a valid point with this guy. Not only is he physically hot, but what impresses me is he records his songs in three languages (Korean, English, and Japanese). This particular link is his appearance on a Japanese TV show, and the song is sung in Japanese.

He is also an aspiring martial artist and action films actor.

Paleocon:

Actually, I was that thin (thinner, tbh) at that age, and it wasn't like I was skimping on food or anything. I ate something like the equivalent of two Big Mac meals and a liter of soda every meal. I remember a time when my jaw would get sore muscles just on account of eating so much. I was like that under I turned 30, then my metabolism just turned off and I ballooned to double my previous weight, on less than half the food. We joke around that having kids seems to turn guys' metabolisms off, since that's a surprisingly accurate predictor of who's married (with kids) and who's not (or married without kids).

I dont buy the "my metabolism slowed down" argument. there's too much evidence contradicting it for me to think it's legitimate. things like underestimation of caloric intake and conversion to sedentary lifestyles are more likely culprits.

less convenient for blame shifting, of course, but more likely.

I have two words for this thread: London Andrews.

I'm out.

yikes, make sure safesearch is on before doing a google image search.

Seth wrote:

yikes, make sure safesearch is on before doing a google image search.

Ah yes, should've warned you. She's done all sorts of nude modeling and ... other stuff. Just modeling now.

i found her model mayhem page, which i would say is a more accurate portrayal of her work. She's stunningly beautiful with some good business sense. and 28, too. that's like ancient in the modeling world.

i may be biased. while i find beauty in all hwp people, post-birth modifications are not my thing. tattoos are something i have to look past, vs seeing them as an enhancement.

Also, she used to live in Austin, which I didn't know until she'd left.

Seth wrote:

i found her model mayhem page, which i would say is a more accurate portrayal of her work. She's stunningly beautiful with some good business sense. and 28, too. that's like ancient in the modeling world.

i may be biased. while i find beauty in all hwp people, post-birth modifications are not my thing. tattoos are something i have to look past, vs seeing them as an enhancement.

What is HWP? I cannot stop thinking that it is Hot White People but I am sure that is wrong.

Also, I would maul her like a bear looking for honey.

height weight proportional. It means neither the dangerously thin nor the excessively obese are attractive to me. And I've learned i have a *much* more forgiving definition of hwp than others.

Seth wrote:

height weight proportional. It means neither the dangerously thin nor the excessively obese are attractive to me. And I've learned i have a *much* more forgiving definition of hwp than others.

This is me, too, actually. Including the much more forgiving standard.

And now Yuki's sending me pinup pics of Gackt. No, I'm not posting them but if you remember that pic of David Hasselhoff with the strategically placed shar-pei puppies you have the general idea. Good Lord, woman!

I'm going to have to go back to ogling Hugh Jackman in leather pants for a while in self-defense.

momgamer wrote:

And now Yuki's sending me pinup pics of Gackt. No, I'm not posting them but if you remember that pic of David Hasselhoff with the strategically placed shar-pei puppies you have the general idea. Good Lord, woman!

I'm going to have to go back to ogling Hugh Jackman in leather pants for a while in self-defense.

I have some stills of me drinking a Diet Coke you may like.

NathanialG wrote:

This has some NSFW pics but is about a woman who entered American Apparels plus sized model contest.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/gavon/woman-...

Man, I could really go for some cherry pie right about now...

on the flip side, i have recently been made aware of a thing called "pro ana," which is apparently a niche of the internet dedicated to glorifying anorexia. I will leave you to your own devices to learn more, because the images are devastating.

American media has spent decades in the fight against anorexia so without placing blame anywhere specifically, it's obvious more could be done to deal with this condition. I waffle about calling either anorexia or obesity a disease, but for the sake of argument I'll assume they both are, because it's not hard for me to agree with the fact that intentionally causing a slow death by starvation/overeating is not rational.

to me, the pro ana movement is rooted in the same lack of self respect that drove hundreds of women to tweet "i would let Chris Brown beat me" a few weeks ago, and while maybe this posts belongs in the war against women thread, i think it fits more comfortably here.

Seth wrote:

American media has spent decades in the fight against anorexia

When did this happen? Yes, we have gotten Lifetime movies about the horrors of anorexia but the message that women need to be skinny to be attractive is certainly there.

NathanialG wrote:
Seth wrote:

American media has spent decades in the fight against anorexia

When did this happen? Yes, we have gotten Lifetime movies about the horrors of anorexia but the message that women need to be skinny to be attractive is certainly there.

hmm, I though Paleo and I put this myth to bed a few pages ago. Heroin chic hasn't been popular for a couple decades, now. the message is that women need to be healthy, not necessarily skinny.

Seth wrote:
NathanialG wrote:
Seth wrote:

American media has spent decades in the fight against anorexia

When did this happen? Yes, we have gotten Lifetime movies about the horrors of anorexia but the message that women need to be skinny to be attractive is certainly there.

hmm, I though Paleo and I put this myth to bed a few pages ago. Heroin chic hasn't been popular for a couple decades, now. the message is that women need to be healthy, not necessarily skinny.

Hence Madonna's guns.

Seth wrote:

hmm, I though Paleo and I put this myth to bed a few pages ago. Heroin chic hasn't been popular for a couple decades, now. the message is that women need to be healthy, not necessarily skinny.

Where is this message coming from?

I mean, take The Walking Dead. The zombies look healthier than most of the female characters. It's especially humorous to watch their stick-figure arms waving melee weapons around and bashing in zombie skulls.

Yeah, even the pregnant one.

(And no, they're not skinny because they're starving in the post apocalyptic wasteland, they were always that way and there are male characters who are actively obese)

Seth wrote:

on the flip side, i have recently been made aware of a thing called "pro ana," which is apparently a niche of the internet dedicated to glorifying anorexia. I will leave you to your own devices to learn more, because the images are devastating.

American media has spent decades in the fight against anorexia so without placing blame anywhere specifically, it's obvious more could be done to deal with this condition. I waffle about calling either anorexia or obesity a disease, but for the sake of argument I'll assume they both are, because it's not hard for me to agree with the fact that intentionally causing a slow death by starvation/overeating is not rational.

to me, the pro ana movement is rooted in the same lack of self respect that drove hundreds of women to tweet "i would let Chris Brown beat me" a few weeks ago, and while maybe this posts belongs in the war against women thread, i think it fits more comfortably here.

Part of the pro ana thing is also deluding yourself into thinking that you can minimize the negative effects of starvation on your body (killing your metabolism, heart problems, etc.) while cultivating the positive effects (being skinny). "Amateurs" might be motivated by comments guys make, or wanting to be thinner to be more attractive, but once people are well down that road it's not really about what other people think at all... then it just revolves around the arbitrary numbers on the scale/tape measure/calorie log. Control, baby. It's like slow-motion OCD. That's where the disease part comes into play.

(Not that I flushed the better part of a decade of my life down that hole or anything. )

Anorexia also has the highest mortality rate of all mental disorders, for obvious reasons. Most deaths are from heart failure.

well now we get into how to define healthy. sarah wayne callies is five foot nine, 130 pounds. this is a healthy weight. She's also quite fit *and* a mother of a toddler.

Lauren Cohan is five seven or five eight, and 120 pounds. this is a healthy weight. a little thin but nowhere near unhealthy.

Laurie Holden is five six, 120 pounds. same story.

and they're all pretty fit looking. I'm sure Callies can run me down over a 1 mile jog.

So maybe the disconnect isn't with the media, but with the inexorable ballooning of american waistlines.

Seth wrote:

well now we get into how to define healthy. sarah wayne callies is five foot nine, 130 pounds. this is a healthy weight. She's also quite fit *and* a mother of a toddler.

Lauren Cohan is five seven or five eight, and 120 pounds. this is a healthy weight. a little thin but nowhere near unhealthy.

Laurie Holden is five six, 120 pounds. same story.

and they're all pretty fit looking. I'm sure Callies can run me down over a 1 mile jog.

So maybe the disconnect isn't with the media, but with the inexorable ballooning of american waistlines.

Yep. Weight is just a number when you're not taking fitness and bone structure into account. Americans glorify body types that are slight these days, but that doesn't mean all those people are starving themselves into to those numbers. They just happened to win the genetic lottery and fall in the category that society digs now (the ones who are starving themselves tend to have that creepy oversized-head look, because their weight goes out of proportion to their build).

And then people talk sh*t to feel better about their own shape. It's just grade school all over again.