SubscribeCelebrity Size Obsession
Over the last year there has been an increasing number of websites and magazines that focus exclusively on celebrity weight and size. I've always been interested in this kind of thing since many female actresses have the “perfect” bodies – any imperfection is worth noting.
However - there are times when the scrutiny can go a little too far. I've noticed that the “skinniest” person - i.e. most skeletal - is often complimented by authors and posters as looking good, or “not too skinny.” Sometimes articles are dedicated to celebrities' recent weight gain - even as minor as 5 pounds.
Once, when reading some of the posters' comments, one referring to a celebrity who wore a size six as “huge” - I began to feel that something was just not right.
The obsession with celebrities' weight is everywhere - all you have to do is go to any grocery store or gas station to find headlines plastered on tabloids - “Has (some actress) Put On Weight?”
Even Us magazine's most recent cover featured “Hollywood Revenge Diets” – showing pictures of female celebrities who'd lost weight after breaking up with their significant others.
And who could forget this quote from the movie "The Devil Wears Prada" - "(Size) four is the new six; zero is the new two; six is the new sixteen."
I believe America's focus has become skewed – as we all get heavier, we continue to be obsessed with unrealistic bodies – setting ourselves up for failure.
What do you think?
I am not a Britney Spears fan. I was very critical of her lifestyle. But I empathized with her when the "gossips" began mocking her for her being "fat." She is not fat.
What a pity that all women are now compared with the walking-talking skeletal remains of anorexics.
Replyyou can't compare yourself to someone who takes adderall as a weight loss suppliment. These people are more or less pressured to death to be thin so they can wear clothes by famous designers, multimillion dollar jewelry, and be picked for the most desired parts in movies and music videos. it is unrealistic to want to be as thin as people who have to work out 2 hours a day 6 days a week and 1.5 hours is just cardio alone... at least i can say that my body is mine, not my agent's.
ReplyIt is a shame! I saw the movie "In Her Shoes" with Toni Collete, who kept insisting she was fat through the whole movie just because skinny Cameron Diaz was her sister. She did not look at all fat to me but I SO Identified with her. She kept herself covered up pretty much during the movie while Cameron Diaz spent most of the movie half clothed.
ReplyI agree that this unrealistic view sets up unrealistic weight loss expectations and leads to failure.
I, for one, am not a fan of The Biggest Loser for this very reason. I think it's unrealistic to watch someone step on a scale and lose 5-10 pounds every week. And if they have a bad week and only lose 2-3 (!) pounds, they get upset or get voted off.
I think it does a great disservice to realistic weight loss goals.
Brian
ReplyMagazines are too critical. Or are the consumers too critical? Maybe people shouldn't be so judgemental.
ReplyThe websites and publications I see devoted to tracking every pound on celebrity bodies alarm me to no end. What's even more alarming is that the readers/consumers are mostly teens and young women at vulnerable stages in their lives when they make decisions about who they are and what they want to be. Is this what we want young people to learn, that their worth is measured by a number on a label or on the scale? Then what a small, small life that would be, engaged in a losing battle against Nature, resulting in eating disorders and depression. And those can lead to death.
I don't like being gloomy but I am concerned and hope that as a society we can reasses our priorities and rediscover what's important.
ReplyI think you are absolutely right Jim, there is such a thing as going to far and this obsession the media has on celebrity weight is one of them.
ReplyI think it's a good diversion tactic actually. If we are kept looking at the skinny/fat celebrities, we aren't looking at the real issues that are slowly etching away our basic rights as human beings. Look! Nicole is too skinny! Do not pay any attention to the man behind the curtain.
ReplyBrandy, I have to agree with you. Who cares about Iraq, Darfur, the fact that women still make less than men, or that people (even in developed countries) still face racism and human rights violations? Let's all worry about Nicole and Angelina's weight instead.
ReplyI agree with Brandy too. It distracts us from what is really important.
I don't really care what celebrities do, wear, eat, don't eat, what size they are, who they are dating, what tattoos they have on their bottom, who had what surgery, I just don't care.
Just from being alive in our culture and overhearing things and headlines that I can't help seeing, I know far more about Paris Hilton and all those type of people than I care too. Yuck.
ReplyWatching celebs is definitely like watching a train wreck! I just read on a gossip blog that Britany has bulemia and wasn't getting better in rehab due to her throwing up her meds! I agree Melsky - this is just way too much information! Protecting our kids from this is just getting harder and harder by the day!
ReplyWhenever I watch movies from the 80s-90s - one I noticed recently was Billy Madison - the token hot girls in these movies had great, curvy figures. I look at these women and think "Man, if that was still what was hot now, I wouldn't feel like such a lard arse as a size 10-12 (Australian)".
It really makes me angry.
ReplyIt is strange that we get fatter as those we "admire" get skinnier. Or do they get skinnier as we get fatter? Back in just Marilyn Monroe days models were heavier than models today and people were thinner than people today.
ReplyWatching celebrities like Mischa Barton and Eva Longoria makes us feel really crappy about ourselves, and I believe that that's the main reason we're getting fatter...even though we clearly all want to get skinnier. I also think that celebrities themselves are getting thinner by watching supermodels on television - and celebs actually have to look that thin because everyone is watching them and idealizes their body type.
ReplyBarton yes, but not Longoria. She says when she was younger she got teased for being skinny, so she works out to maintain her healthy weight.
I don't feel crappy seeing very skinny celebs. The only time I felt crap was when I saw a girl in my class who had a tiny waist. I've gotten over now since I've seen her skinny jeans' legs, and they're baggy showing she's skinnier than that.
Not worth it, imo.
ReplyI don't feel crappy for seeing skinny people at all, in real life or in the media. First of all cause I consider that celebritities live in another planet, and when it is in real life, I see or imagine the things they do to keep their shape. My husband has a coworker that everyone calls "Barbie" because of her resemblance to one. She is 6', skinny, blonde, wears a lot of pink. She eats a little salad once a day, that is it, and looks a good 8 years older than her real age. Anyone can be stick thin doing that, but the question is, why would you want to? I wouldn't. Now, seeing someone healthy being ridiculed for her weight, like we see sometimes in the media, that makes me feel bad, I have to admit.
So as far as I'm concerned, 1,000 "Look, Kate Bosworth is perfect" magazine covers just make me go "Ew, who is sick enough to think that?" but one little real life story where the Before picture looked like they didn't need to lose any weight for starters makes me feel a bit depressed.
ReplyHow about how when a celebrity has the slightest, tiniest belly or wears a looser shirt, suddenly, she must be pregnant? When did it become ok to ask a woman if she is expecting- this has always been a huge faux pas and considered extremely rude, yet every other day there is speculation that someone is expecting simply because they happened to eat lunch that day.
Two days later, when they skip lunch, a different photo accuses them of being anorexic.
ReplyI'm 14 years old and recently in my Media Studies lessons we have been looking at Celebrity magazines. I have seen how they use celebrities and their weights to sell magazines and I’m shocked. It’s ridiculous what they are doing and really I feel sorry for celebrities like Nicole Richie because all they are trying to do is get all the attention they can but really they don’t see that by doing this they are influencing young people that looking skinny is good and that’s just wrong. Those celebrities should be ashamed of themselves but I feel like magazines are very responsible for the messages they are giving to young people and at the end of the day all they care about is there money. All celebrity magazines show these days is how skinny Lindsay Lohan looks and how fat some other celebrity is getting and its gone past all the limits.
Replyi am 13 years old and weigh 50 kilos. i have had huge pressure to be skinnier from everyone especially the media. i myself am not happy with my body but i think that we shouldn't have so much pressure on us to be a stick. i wish that society wasn't so obssesed with the weight of females. i have to do a 10 minute speech for school and i chose the topic: western culture has become too obssesed with weight. the devil wears prada, size twelve is not fat, size fourteen is not fat either and ugly betty have great examples.
ReplyI am 16 years old and have firt hand experience of how easily these pictures of stick thin models can influence young girls. i myself am very easily influenced and if i pick up one of these magazines then i instantly feel depressed about my own body and even want to start a diet! just from flicking through the magazine.
Replyi know myself that its not the kind of life i want to lead atall but there is ever such a lot of pressure on teenage girls like me to conform to this image..
on this article... i beleive its good to be healthy and fit but now a days the stars and models look so skinny and the media makes it look good. so it influences young teens like me to feel like u have to be a size zero to ever look good. Im not fat or anything im just not a size zero and just because im not a size zero it makes me feel fat and now all i worry about is dieting... its something i dont beleive 15-16 year old girls need to worry about.
ReplyI think a lot of the people who post on these sites tend to be the the kind prone to body image disorders and eating disorders. They obsessively post about celebrities and closely scrutinize their bodies....it's basically obessional/addictive behaviour. These websites attract those with their own body image obessions.
ReplyIn today's world, I am fat, though my BMI is right in the middle of average. Whether someone is fat, skinny, slim, plump, whatever, the most important thing is that they are healthy. Maybe secretly we would all like to be perfect, but that isn't going to happen, is it?!
ReplyHey everyone... i get Looked at funnie and weird as if im not from this world... i have never been with a girl cos of my size... i realli cant take it anymore... i just wanna go to sleep and never wake up ...this reality is too harsh for me to take...
Replyi've struggled with my weight since at a very young age .. i just want to be able to b e loved and to give love back...
lame......stop whining about how actresses are so pressured. we all know that this is hollywood is and take it or leave it....and its not like its impossible to be thin. People come up with excuses like "oh I didnt't get good genes." well you can workout and eat healthy and you will lose weight. I've done it I'm, 5'2 and 95lbs and I used to weigh 150. Its a lifestyle change that is needed. So stop whining and go for a run. We just make this issue way bigger that it needs to be by paying so much attention to it.
ReplyWho on earth decided that size tiny is hot? To have those tiny sizes you'd have to have no muscle! A normal to high amount of muscle, plus some fat, gets my vote.
ReplyYou're totally missing the point. People can be healthy and not be a STICK. Whereas every celebrity acclaimed for their 'perfect body' is teeter tottering on the bottom edge of the healthy weight range.
ReplyAnyone who sees this comment, please go to the category of 'Celebrity Skinny' (in Related Articles at the bottom of the page). Then, scroll down to read some of the comments (or fights) that people had. Specifically, I want you to read the debate between Robyn and Lizzie.
It is an absolutely perfect example of the two sides of this "Hollywood skinny" problem. Robyn is so brilliant and right on the spot with what she says.
Please listen to her.
ReplyAnd what about those roots on Tori Spelling! Why with all her money and nutri systems
Replywanting to promote her didn't the give her time for a root job. After all they are paying her right? Looks very, very bad.
Weight watchers is a plan not a diet plan. They show you how to eat correct portions and now exercise helps but you eat regularly made food and you can even go out to eat. Just remember you don't need those huge portions. Some restuarants allow smaller portions to be served now. Try next time you go out. You will see. Also you do not have to live off lettuce!!!!!!!
ReplyIm 18 yrs old...my ex boyfriend wanted me too....thats another story....I was a 149 pounds and i am now 120 and still curvyy! It has been a struggle in the sense you have to look out for what you eat...but i still enjoy eating....i just exercise a couple times a week...I know it would be impossible for me to look like a celebrity...their jobs are too look like how they are....why...well we wouldnt really want to see fatties singing and dancing in hot bikinis now would we? Its about ones self opinion...if your confident with your self then u dnt have a problem...but for those who do have a issue with their body then considering doing something about it might help to boost it...i dnt mean bluddy starving your self...but minor adjustmentss will help...I may dislike my ex bf very much but i do think that losing weight hass worked alot of wonders for me....im slim curvy and whos to say he was the only guy in my life :P.... ENJOY LIFE PPL LOVE YOURSELF....xxxxxxx
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