Skinny Models: Telling It Like It Is

I remember when I was overweight and I'd look at fashion magazines and just WISH I could look like those models. I thought "If only I were thinner.." Well, to be honest, I'm never going to look like them because they do not eat anything and do not exercise and are born genetically tall. I'm short, muscular and compact. I'm also small (5'3" and 105 lbs) and thin, but I don't look like a model. I do like my body, but it took me a while to grow into it and accept the fact that I wasn't a model underneath the fat. I wish fashion magazines showed more real women...not necessarily different weights, but different heights and proportions as well. Not everyone out there is 5'11" with olive skin, people. Magazine editors know that too, so I don't know why they aren't doing more about it. They'd sell WAY more magazines that way.

I'm 35 and it's only now that I'm starting to like my body. I'm tall (1.8 m/ 5'11") and lean, but I'll never be a model - my shoulders are too broad and my waist is too short, according to the experts.

Some women envy me for being tall, but all through school I felt like some sort of freak-show amazon woman. All the guys I liked were shorter than me. So on the one hand there were all these images of tall, skinny women; and on the other hand, I was too tall and gangly to get a date!

I think the truth is, society creates these 'perfect' images so that we will NEVER be happy with our own, beautiful bodies. Now I'm 35, and I only wish I'd taken the time to appreciate who I was, instead of trying to be something I wasn't.

All women are beautiful - short, tall, thin, fat. We need to throw these 'beauty' magazines on the compost heap, and grow some flowers with the mulch we make from them :-)

...and has anyone noticed how now the Hollywood film industry is influenced by this skeletal-model 'standard'? Since a few years now, actresses (note not the actors) who once had nice figures, albeit slim are now boney, jaw lines so severe it is painful to watch their faces. Nude scenes - protruding spines, boney shoulders, knees etc and not to mention the ribs one can count.

This is attractive? This is desireable? No wonder the youth today - not having much life experience or self confidance enough not to follow the crowd - are under such pressure to look bulimec. They no longer understand what 'normal' is (albeit a vague concept). Normal for them now is what one used to call underweight, overly skinny. If you can't count the ribs and the stomach is not concave - then you are fat...according to a youth magazine interview.

When are women going to accept that women's bodies have curves, not angles?

Very sad.

This is very closely linked to 'fat bashing', it's just the opposite end. People are so repulsed by flab that they take things to extremes!
Yes there are 'pretty' skinny people, but there is also 'pretty' overweight people!
Fat people get treated in cruel and demaning ways, and this is how people treat themselves inside when they are obsessed with being skinny.
There is no easy answers, but you are right - The Mass Media, especially Fashion Magazines literally trade on this, and make billions on suffering.

"Craving is... an arrow. The poison of ignorance spreads its toxin through desire, passion, & ill will." - The Buddha

Skinny people can be really "fatty". It really depends on how much body fat they have in relation to their lean muscle mass, with regards to health implications. So, don't despair. Regardless of body size, we can still be healthy. Furthermore, for the ladies out there. Don't complain if you've got big thighs and bums because being a "pear" shape puts you at lower risk of chronic diseases or cardiovascular diseases compared to someone who is an "apple" shape. Some models may be stick thin but if you notice, they are parallel and absolutely verticle. They are blessed with smaller bone frame but that also means that their width of their waist is almost the same as their bums and thighs? Hmm,...that's definitely not pear shape. If they were shorter, they'll be an "apple",..so,.. go figure... :)

...so how do we begain to CHANGE this, people?!! None of us like to see it; everyone KNOWS it's NOT 'normal', so where's the campain to stop this kind of marketing of annorexia?!! I have dealt with body image issues, as sooo many of you, for pretty much my entire life... Why, as educated, 'normal' people are we continuing to allow this sh*t to go on?!!! It is obvious that there are so many more of us (the physically imperfect ha-ha) than there are of THEM (the skeleton girls), so why are we still buying the magazines? Why do we still pay $15 to see the movies? Can we do something? Can I get some direction as to where I can go to start this movement?!!! It took me moving to the middle of nowhere, turning off the cable and not subscribing to any form of media to finally realize that I love my body, and who's inside of it! It would be sooo great if I could help my "less than skeletal" compadres out there who can't do the same. Blessings to all, no matter what shape; I'd rather be a glowing orb than a fading candlestick.

You know, it's pretty funny this post (along with all of the comments) has come around. I was just in Charleston SC with my future wife (shopping of course) when we walked in a store filled with ultra skinny plastic "models". I made the comment that I would bet that the store would sell even more clothes if they included a few different shaped women. After all, more than a handfull of people look at the manniquins and think "Those clothes aren't meant for people like me".

What's even funnier is the fact that some of those same clothes look awful on the "model" but would look great on someone with a little more "curve".

What a $mistake$...

i been anorexic when i was 16 then i was bulimic at the moment i put on weight am 7st my height is 4ft 8 i might be healthy but i feel fat fat so just like the way you are from dorothy

i dont really get how they become sooooo skinny cause sometimes they are not so thin and from one day to another the are really skinny, i mean i know a lot of them have anorexia and bulimia but how does anorexia and bulimia work? it's really hard to develop a disease like those , how do they work so fast?

hi yah it's true i' am thirteen and am 98lbs and 5'3 i want to be a model when i'm older and alot of people think i' am pretty.I'm in the seventh grade and a lot of girls are toothpicks so i think im fat sometimes but i am between skinny and average. but i don't think i am tall enough or skinny enough while you are living in a society of tooth picks who are anorexic or bulimic so i think girl's in the magazine should be average girls and average girls are the normal skinny girls in life who are truly happy and the one's who don't barf to get there.

Okay being skinny isn't as "great, and perfect" as everybody thinks. I am a naturally skinny girl, I mean I could eat a pig and stay the same weight. i know some people dont find that difficult to believe but its true. I actually love the way I look I mean i'm a skinny girl with curves lol, but with people in this world assuming every skinny person has some kind of eating disorder is wrong and shows a lack of knowledge. Most of the time telling a naturally skinny person "you're really skinny" or "bony" is hurt ful, to me thats like calling an over weight person "an fat ass". I'm skinny but i'm no different than any fat person other than my size of course lol. I mean i'm intelligent, I have a great personality, and i'm healthy. I dont BARF UP ANYTHING KIND OF FOOD WHAT SO EVER... b/cI would like to keep my teeth, and keep my breath smelling fresh. Okay society does portray most runway models as tooth pick skinny, but what about the models that do print, some of them are average sized people (or what society portrays average size to be). I'm just here picking up for those skinny girls out there like MYSELF who are being put in a category of having some kind of eating disorder and lives' are being made difficult by those who claim to know everything when in fact they dont know shit, but only what the media shows them. I am 5'7 and i weigh 109 pounds, I dont have an eating disorder, i'm beautiful, I LOVE TO EAT, and I just want people to see people like me who happen to be skinny as any other average sized person, by whats inside, and not by my body size.

A frend of mine recently came back from 2 weeks at a rehad for bulimia. She walked out. Being there away from her family, and unable to relax herself by purging became to hard. I know i cannot change her, but i wish i could. Seeing this happen to her hurts but she has to ultimatly be the one to change.

People need to stop concerning themselves with weight so much. We see a teen at 125 pounds as overweight and stress the population with obesity adds everywhere you look. What is one to to do when adds like these are shoved in your face but to start dieting, which is where it begins. So you have to think, whats the real killer here, obesity or anorexia, because stressing someone to be thin in my opinion is worse than stressing them to gain weight which is something we very rarely see.

Okay what is the big killer? Anorexia, or obesity? Theres no differece, they both are eating disorders, they both kill, and they are both hard to control after a while. You just dont become anorexic, that is something a person chooses to do. Just like you dont just become obese, its some where in your jeans and if you dont learn how to control it, then it gets out of hand. And first off a 125 girl isn't considered overweight unless shes like 4'8 tall, this just shows how IGNORANT you are. You cant label people based on what you think, because most of the times you'll probably be wrong. Unless you're in the medical field and instead of being in the career of reading magazines and finding out whats healthy and not from local celebrities, then its not your place to put anyone in any type of catergory, such as Overweight or Anorexic. Pushing some one to gain weight is just as bad as pushing some one to be skinny. Both ways you make people feel bad about their bodies, and insecure. It all depends on how far you are willing to go to get there, that is whats going to make one worse than the next. Stressing some one to be bigger or gain more weight is actually not rare, its just not as publicized.

Heh, I'd just like to offer my congrats to Kenya. You have been delt some pretty stellar liberties, and you seem to be genuinely happy (while the prospect of scarfing an entire pig nauseates me slightly). I like hearing from optimistic, stable-minded chicks evey once in a while; 's like finding a sand dollar!
I agree, "it" isn't easy from any perspective. As we change and adapt, new issues will unveil themselves accordingly, and that, I believe, it what keeps life interesting. We as humans are capable of achieving so much, but, paradoxically, we often find ourselves blocking the road.
I suppose what I'm trying to propose is that life is what you make it, and change, how you take it. :D Be compassionate, and find health through what it is you love most.

I have an important question....Why do guys prefer bigger girls over skinny girls like myself? I actually really want to know, because thats a question my friends just can't answer. This may sound a little insecure of me, but i'm just curious so someone help me out, and give me your opinion!
thanks

From this obese lady:
Oh yeah, looking at ads in magazines made me hope to look like some gal on the cover of Vogue....I had aunts who were models so it didn't seem too far off.

However as I grew up I could not stop growing out.. All this happened despite eating normal to small meals and getting plenty of exersize.. I did tennis, swimming all summer long, rode my bike to school but still I was up to 190lbs. by my senior year of high school! How could this happen? I was/am a VERY active, healthy person!

This brings me to what Kenya was saying...she can eat! She doesn't gain? Why does one person gain and another have no problem whatsoever? I always wondered this. Docs will tell people who are underweight to eat and will tell overweight people to diet and exersize. But what do they say when that doesn't seem to work for either..."Bummer." It's like they think that you are lying to them! There is something going on chemically or mechanically with Kenya's body that does not go on in my own...or is it the other way around?

I have known women who are thin and beautiful display moments of pinching their skin and calling themselves fat and are by no means fat! I just look at them and roll my eyes and tell them they are beautiful! If only people could stop and think about what they truly like about people then then we could all be comfortable with each other at any size...anorexic thin or super-plus-size. I think that there is plenty of beauty to go around. Do people REALLY hate others because of what they see on the outside? Why should it matter. Would a 120 pound person be the same person at 220? Think about how differently you might think of the world and of yourself if you were weight opposite. Then perhaps you could gain some understanding.

Personally I view at the work models do as equal to living hangers and like people with sandwich boards around their neck. They individually might have a great personality, intellect, compassion, and be pleasant to be around as anyone, but their jobs are shallow. They are there to hold up largely inaccessible to the public clothing as flat as possible with as few curves as possible. This may show acres of tulle in a good light but it does women a disservice.

I wish that the fashion industry would diversify and model clothing at a size 0, 6, 10, 14, 20, 28. That way people could see that we should be accepting and accepted at any size. I don't know but if I had the money to pay for Custom Prada I might be able to have ANYTHING they make designed for a size 22--and why should that not be something that I should be able to get as easily as a person who is a size 2?

Ms Bee lol (what a cool name) I really do agree with you...i've never agreed with anyone more on this subject. I can honestly tell You THANK YOU, for giving me a different perspective on this. I believe there is enough beauty to go around big or small. I dont think its really possible to hate some one based on their outside beauty, unless you're mentally unstable, and you either see things in black or white (which shouldn't be the case because there is so much more variety of things in the world). I am really thankful for this blog, it gives me a chance to let others know there is more to people than their bodies, it gives me more understanding of others, and allows others to understand people like me. So what now? How do we change how the world thinks? How do we get people to understand beauty is universal, and it can't be explained by one kind of body type?

Kenya--I'm thin too, but I wasn't always that way. I used to eat like a pig and not exercise AT ALL. I had curves, I guess, but I wasn't healthy. Then I started eating better and working out and lost a lot of weight. Now, because I've increased my basal metabolism so much from running/strength training, I have a really hard time gaining weight even when I eat ice cream every night to try to gain. I also have very low body fat from training, so even though at 5'3" and 105 lbs I don't look "skinny", I get called "butch" sometimes (which hurts) or "Are you sick or something?" or my favorite: "You're so skinny you look like you could have an eating disorder!" Gee thanks...that's supposed to be a compliment? I'm married to a wonderful guy who thinks my sculpted shoulders and muscular thighs are hot, but it does piss me off that a lot of men go for women that are thin but not TOO thin and have the right amount of softness and boobs. We are all beautiful and we all have assets to show off.

Hi all,

I feel the same way as Kenya does, (and I have the same height and weight measurements at 37 as when I was 17, 5'7" and 110 pounds). I eat three meals a day, exercise semi-regularly and snack whenever I feel like it. My metabolism is naturally high and I don't feel like I should have to apologize for this. I don't target overweight people and make cruel remarks about their size, so why do so-called "normal" weight and overweight people of both genders feel justified in making rude remarks to me about something I can't do anything about? I guess it is just a matter of ignornce...

I am a 22 year old female, measure 5'2" and weigh just over 6 stones, I am naturally thin and hate it. My mum was really skinny when she was young and so was my dad, so I basically inherited 'skinny genes' from my parents.
It upsets me when people comment about my size and ask 'are you anorexic?'
I eat 3 main meals a day, and snack in between on anything I like, I LOVE FOOD! A lot of people are shocked at how much I can actually eat, but they still tend to say ' god your so skinny' I hate that word!
Many people are rude and make snide comments about people that are thin, but then again the majority of them always wish for themselves to be skinnier, why is this?
I completely agree with everything Kenya has said and feel the same way. People need to stop being so ignorant and realise that the same way someone can be fat naturally someone can be on the slim side.
Well I am going to snack on some doritos and maltesers now. I wish everyone the best.
X

I agree that everyone should be able to see themselves as beautiful no matter the size, but I personally have a very hard time. I am very young still and have a long way to go, but still... I am almost 18, I am 5' 4" and I weigh 130 lbs. I know I am not "obese" but I do wish I could be thinner. Out of all of my friends, I am the biggest. I guess I just have a really hard time being around them and not being able to control the constant comparisons that I make between me and them. I do feel fat around them, and all of the media and model infuences don't help at all. Every time my friends ask to borrow an article of clothing, I dread seeing them being able to slip it on while I have to suck in, squeeze, and yank to get it on me. Everyone tells me that I look fine... But I want someone to tell me that I look "great"! Most everyone that knows me don't understand... Yeah...I dunno...I just have an extremely hard time with dieting and working out, but I think I'm getting better...I guess I'll just have to wait and see. I guess if I was to give any advice...Just keep on trying...and DONT go on some life-threatening illness seeking rampage. Work it healthy!

Hey carrie, in a way i understand where you're coming from. Its hard to feel GREAT about yourself when you feel soo different from everyone else. Heres some advice for you, GET OVER IT! Love your body type, where clothes that flatter your body, If you have to get clothes that you have to squeeze into then simply get a bigger size (TIP: when you're a little big, wearing a size bigger can make you look smaller. If you think about it, wearing clothes too small shows your flaws). Its not what looks cute on a manikin, but what looks good on the body you have. You said " DONT go on some life-threatening illness seeking rampage. Work it healthy!" Well maybe you should too. Your life-threatening illness isn't an eating disorder its stress. You're stressing your self out to be like everyone else when maybe you should just work with what you have, and perfect it!

Hey anj, That is sooo true! lol. People tell me i'm skinny all the time, but then these same people want to be smaller in their size. Why is this? I dont have any type of eating disorder what so ever, but when people say certain things such as you look anorexic, or you're really skinny I get defensive. Not because I have an eating disorder because those are actually hurtful comments. If I was to answer "you look anorexic" with a "so what I am" those people would not dare tell me anything, they wouldn't know what to say. So someone tell me this, what is the real reason people make such accusational comments? Its not because they care, because if they knew you well enough to care they would know if you had an eating disorder or not, if they cared they wouldnt make you feel bad about your body, but help you to love it. Maybe its because they're jelous? thats the only reason I could come up with...Am I right or what? Maybe someone else could give me some other reasons that make sense.

When we talk about diversity, we're lying. I'm 53 now. I'm still 5'8" and 125 lbs. I still have blue eyes and a small, slightly-upturned nose. I'm a pale caucasian. I used to have long, blonde hair. (It's grey now.) The hair is also straight, like the nose and the teeth. I've had my hair yanked by passing strangers on the sidewalk. I've been spat upon for saying "good morning" as someone passed by. I've had an endless stream of catty comments about my hair, my weight, my nose, my skin colour and my eyes, all from strangers. Most of them took care to be certain I *did* hear them. I have a lovely daughter, who resembles me closely. As a toddler, she told me how much she hated blonde-haired, blue-eyed Barbie dolls. The "diversity teaching" in pre-school worked; she hated her own image, even though hers was genuine. Discrimination is not eliminated by simply changing the target. If "fat-bashing" is wrong - why should "skinny-bashing" be accepted? Remember the commercial in which Kelly LeBrock said "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful"? Too bad everyone thought it was only a joke.

Hey Kenya, anj, and naturallythin...do you ever have people telling you that if you have any sort of problem at all, it's "because you're so skinny"? A while ago I switched BC pills and the hormone change made my hair fall out for a little bit. I freaked and told my mom and she was like "Well, maybe if you were fatter, you'd have more hair". Fat people don't like being told that their back pain or acne or dull teeth are curable "if you lost some weight". It's not fair to dismiss health problems based only on weight.

Okay Basia....Look diversity IS a great thing! Have you ever thought maybe because YOU didnt like your self-image that you passed that dislike on to your daughter, as for where she couldn't be comfortable in her body? Okay to clear some stuff up, The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect.
It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences.  Okay so whatever Pre-school your daughter was going to wasnt teaching her that she wasn't unique, beautiful, or special. Just because your daughter has blonde hair, and blue eyes does not make her genuine. If you really thought that, then maybe you would feel better about yourself...

Hey Spectra!! lol, okay being fat or skinny contributes to alot of pain, and sometimes sickness. I mean a fat person could exercise more, and a skinny person could drink a Protein Shake, but why?

Okay last year I was in the hospital B/C of horrible stomach pains, The doctors believed I had a twisted ovary. You guys dont know how much pain i was in, it was almost unbearable! Well when they were looking at my right ovary, it was really hard for them to find it. He did tell me it would be eaiser, if I was a bit bigger. but it turned out it was just Killer Period Pain... I have a question, Are period pains stronger when someone is skinny? or is it just me?

Okay no one has yet to answer my question! Why are alot of guys attracted to thicker girls, than us skinny girls? I mean i'm a beautiful skinny girl, I just dont have a big body, so who has the guts to give me their opinion on it?

That is rally a lie you dont have to be super size to be a model or even skinny i think i think it is retarded !!!!!!!!

Yes Amanda I know! If you read the other comments i've posted you would know that anyone can be a model. These days size doesnt really matter. There are sooo manydifferent types of models, where size is not important. So before you give your opinion on what is retarded, look and see what everone else thinks

Kendra, you completely missed the point. Your post shows the same narrow-mindedness that I've had to deal with for years. I did NOT say my daughter is genuine because she has blonde hair and blue eyes - I said her *image* is genuine (go back and read) - and it is. We haven't had nose jobs or lipo, bleach jobs or tinted contacts. People have paid huge sums to look like us - because they had been told in the past that we were the "standard" of beauty - like a Barbie doll. And because they weren't us, THEY were taught self-hatred - which they converted to hatred against us. The fact that you were able to twist what I said shows that self-hatred has worked on you, too. Had I spoken AGAINST the blonde-haired-blue-eyed-thin "standard of beauty", you'd be the first to chime in to say all OTHER women should be included in the embrace of "beauty". Because I said blonde-haired-blue-eyed-thin women should continue to be included in the concept of "beautiful", you twisted everything I said.

Diversity has to include women who look like me and my daughter, or it's a lie. We're beautiful, too. Diversity as it is presently taught is simply a redirection of prejudice. You just proved that by twisting what I said. Go back and actually read it. I do NOT hate myself or my body. I like me just fine. The people who hated themselves for not looking like me were the ones pulling my hair and spitting at me. I did NOT deserve that - and neither did they. NOBODY should be hated for their appearance.

Diversity cannot be real if it excludes me and my daughter - and that's just what you did. You twisted my words to mean that I'm anti-diversity. No. I'm anti-prejudice in ALL forms. When you exclude me - you're still excluding someone. If you exclude me when preaching diversity - you're a phony. INCLUDE US ALL! Until ALL women accept themselves - little girls of some race/shape/size will be taught to hate themselves - and NOT by their mothers. Check yourself!

For a long time, women were told they had to look like me to be acceptable. Obviously, that's not true. But changing the message to make me into an ugly stereotype is just as much a hateful lie as stereotyping any woman of any race or shape. Want to see some real diversity?

Campaign for Real Beauty

Go there. Guess what; they include women who look like me - and probably women who look like you, too. Open your mind and learn to really hear other women. Until you do, there will be no diversity - just re-directed stereotyping. Your post was so disappointing - but I should have expected it. It's the example of what I said. You are repeating a prejudice that you don't even know you have. That means "diversity" is still not being taught truthfully, and certainly not being learned.

Kenya - my apologies for misreading/misspelling your name.

Okay Basia I see what you mean. I'm not trying to show prejudice towards you and your daughter. What I meant was, you calling you and your daughter looks genuine, because you are blonde with blue eyes is wrong, because there are soo many different varieties of looks. I mean that is what separates you from everyone else, you know what makes you unique, but I just dont think genuine is the right word. Theres nothing wrong with diversity, i'm all for it. By no means I am trying to be prejudice. You're right! if you were bashing blonde hair, blue eyed people, I would says something. So right now you're here commending blonde hair, blue eyed people, so PROPS TO YOU!

I think there is some sort of unknown prejudice in everyone. I dont fully understand it but its true.
Prejudice: An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts and An preconceived preference or idea.
So everyone shows prejudice at one time or another in their life, I wasn't being prejudice against you or your daughter. I was just responding to your comments on you and your daughter's beauty.

I have a full understanding of others, I learn from different people, and learn to understand their living, and the response giving to a certain type of beauty. I dont have hatred for myself or others, but knowledge from past experiences that i try to share, and give others an understanding of.

I could understand why you could found my post disappointing, you didnt really get the point. The point was diversity IS a great thing, and you and your daughter are included i mean every type is included. Calling your looks genuine shows separation, not PRO-DIVERSITY. Thats what i think, and thats what i stated in my post.

Kenya,

Okay - pick a different word for this so you can finally get it :

My daughter & I have blonde hair and blue eyes because we were born that way. It's not dyed. Not contact lenses. Not fake. In other words - genuine. Not because of the colour of either eyes or hair - but because the colour is real = genuine. Not fake.

Now do you get it? You keep misreading that - and that should tell you something. It's not others you need to understand - it's yourself.

You and I don't actually disagree. What I want people to understand and acknowledge is that frequently, diversity only means shifting the prejudice. Expecting someone of a given race to hate themselves shows a kind of prejudice. Expecting them to think they're better than everyone shows prejudice. Hearing them for themselves finally makes you prejudice-free. Hearing an individual speak for themselves is the only way to really end prejudice. You stayed with the conversation - so PROPS TO YOU TOO! Women like us can make a difference, one mind at a time.

PS - us skinny chicks rock!

ok BASIA, I dont care that you and your daughter have genuine looks, most people do. If it makes someone feel good about having enhancements theres nothing wrong with that either. You keep telling me "I NEED TO UNDERSTAND MYSELF" what reasons do you have for writing that to me? I understand my self fully, and usually others but you just seem to be a hard one for me to crack. Or maybe you're telling me to understand myself more because of my opinions? Thats just not valid enough for me.

Okay your telling me your daughter started not playing with barbies that look like herself, which is showing signs of hating herself. But don't blame that on diversity. Matter of fact your right we DON'T AGREE, now that you solely explained yourself where I can understand...Diversity has nothing to do with one race showing their better than others, or one race being prejudged.

"Hearing an individual speak for themselves is the only way to really end prejudice." for this diversity is required so certain inviduals like myself has a chance to talk to the world. I dont think its shifting prejudice, or making a certain race hate themselves, I think its shifting the mic to others who has never had the opportunity to talk for themselves.

p.s. - We really do lol

I think what most women forget or don't realize is that the goal is to be healthy. So many girls feel that they have to change themselves (whether to be bigger or smaller) to be happy. The thing is, there's no secret formula that works for everyone. Different thigns work out for different people. But there is no secret formula that works for everyone. I think it's so sad when girls think that if they look like the Media's definition of "perfect" that somehow they'll magically have a charmed life, or be happier or something. True happiness comes from (among other things) loving yourself, loving others, and learning to think outside yourself and serve others. I'm happy for the girls who have learned that.

Hey Kenya- You wanted an answer to your question about why guys are more attracted to thicker girls than skinny girls like you- I have an idea of what I think the answer is. I think that picky guys care about a girls body- they like the boobs and butt and skinny girls don't often have much of those in supply. (I don't mean to offend you- I personally like all shapes and sizes.) But not all guys are like that. The right guy for you will love you for who you are first, and then as long as you're healthy and happy with yourself, they won't care about your figure! Honest! This is what my good friend Colin told me. He said that a guy will notice if you're happy and healthy and like you for it. Only the picky guys will go for certain looks. And then they are bound to be disappointed because if you're focusing on that, how can you learn about the godo things people have to offer?

I hope I helped some of you with ym message. Peace.

P.S. Sorry if my message was confusing...I didn't edit it you know! I kinda have a hard time expressing myself in writing tho. What I really meant about the picky guys being disappointed is that when they are only going for looks, they could always find someone supposedly better. If they're going after something as unstable as looks when will they ever be able to settle down?

Hey board...
As a former "skinny model" myself I should say it's...well, awful. There are a lot of girls in the industry who have problems with their thyroid...a lot of girls born with diabetes...but at the same time, there are a lot of girls turning to eating disorders, laxatives, cocaine, etc to keep the weight down.

When I first met my ex-agent, I was too fat to model. At 5'10" and 135 pounds I was too fat. (I lost the weight, did the Italy thing, yada yada) At 150 pounds nowadays, people ask me if I'm still modelling, whereas if I walked into my old agency today, they'd laugh at me. Obviously real people have a much different perspective than those in the industry. I'm not going to lie, I'm still affected by the brainwashing that encouraged me to lose the weight in the first place, but I believe it's getting better everyday.

Many of the other girls do not have a strong enough mind to pull themselves out of the downwards spiral. If those girls stopped getting jobs in favour for more natural looking, feminine girls...maybe that would change something.

Hi Kenya -

Once again - the way in which diversity is supposedly taught -not diversity itself - is the problem. An entire generation has been taught that everyone is beautiful - unless they look like the ethnic group which has been chosen to be undesirable. It used to be that Caucasian was considered beautiful, and everyone else was just not "good enough". Women of other races tortured themselves and burned their skin with hair straighteners and skin lighteners. So now, supposedly, Caucasians have learned not to oppress people, and everyone of every race can be considered beautiful. But it's not that way. There is absolutely more diversity in our spectrum of beauty. What you may be too young to see (I don't know your age), is that Caucasians are only now being included again in the types of materials designed to educate about diversity. When my daughter hated those dolls, it was b/c she was actually exposed to teaching that discussed everyone BUT her. I know - I have worked in her schools from the beginning. I still do. The methods used 20 years ago TOLD children that everyone is beautiful, but the materials SHOWED children that the beauty did not include girls that looked like her. The sensitivity training was actually directed toward Caucasians as oppressors - not society as a whole. Because of that, Caucasians were not included in materials which taught children that "everyone" was beautiful. In other words, children were taught a false diversity. A number of children's books over the past 20 years claim to talk about world cultures, yet omit all European references. If we want to have a world in which all people are accepted - we need to include all people. That's only now beginning to happen. Previously, the so-called diversity training was actually just trying to overcompensate for centuries of discrimination. It was a good motive, but a wrong-minded application. The only way to teach - or learn - true diversity is to be willing to accept everyone.

And the reason I keep telling you to get inside your own thoughts is because you keep misreading me so much - but you don't seem to see that. If you're not aware of it - maybe it's because your own thought patterns are stopping you from seeing my plain message. Is it possible that you can't accept that an old white woman really does understand diversity?

As for why guys like rounder girls - it's caveman wiring in the brain. In pre-historic times, a rounder female was healthier. She obviously got enough food to grow into being a healthy breeder. She could bear lots of children with fewer complications because she, herself, had a good start. Millenia later, guys have no real idea why they like certain aspects of the female body - although they'll try to give you reasons. In the back of those male brains, there's a tiny caveman telling them curves = health.

Peace.

PS to Kenya :

"If it makes someone feel good about having enhancements theres nothing wrong with that either."

You're right and I agree, BUT - if a woman also hates the people who were born with the physical aspects she paid for, that's a problem. There's nothing wrong with changing what you don't like about yourself - or just changing something to be different. There's a problem if you also resent those who didn't have to change themselves to have what you want. There's a difference between dieting and hating us skinny chicks, right?

hey Basia-
I understand what you mean and I completely agree with you on all fronts.
It's unreasonable, unfair and hypocritical for society to suddenly disregard people with certain types of looks, just because they're not "diverse" enough for todays culture, or something equally ridiculous.
It's because blue eyes, blondes were the standart of beauty for so long that they get blamed for a lack of acceptance when it comes to other looks. Seems like they decided "well, since these people were "the norm" and everyone else was considered boring, or ugly looking, and we ARE redefining beauty... lets disregard them alltogether. They're not "unique" enough."
I'm definitely NOT blonde (although I am blue eyed) but I understand and think this is wrong: how can we learn to accept by rejecting any one type of people or group?

Basia- you stole my peace and my P.S! How dare you!

Models are pretty the way they are, and that's that. Why the need for all this debate?