Plus-size models doing big girls no favours (1 Viewer)

lolwth

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Plus-size models doing big girls no favours | Opinion | News.com.au

Plus-size models doing big girls no favours

By Susie O'Brien
Herald Sun
September 08, 2009 07:39am

Brooke Elliott from Channel 9's Drop Dead Diva / Supplied


  • Big women "the latest fashion craze"
  • Sends message that it's OK to be fat
  • Well it isn't, writes Susie O'Brien
WHY are we suddenly lavishing love on the larger ladies given that half of all Australians are overweight, and one-fifth of us are morbidly obese?

Surely heavy models are no better examples for young girls than super-skinny models?

But in what is hailed as a breakthrough for "normal" females, big women are the latest fashion craze.

Indeed, this month's Fashion Week In Melbourne abandoned the usual stick insects for some models who were size 14-18.

It was a breakthrough to see fashion shows using not just ridiculously skinny models that make thin women feel fat.

But was it really a breakthrough for good health?

Let's be honest.

While these women might make us feel better about our bulging butts and guts, the truth is, few women over a size 14 are in a healthy weight range.

And many need encouragement to lose weight instead of being told to feel good about being overweight.
Seeing big girls might give us healthier self-esteem, but it might not encourage us to lead healthier lives.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think all models should look like Posh Spice on a diet.

Most of the women on catwalks are freaks of nature and it is only right that the pendulum is swinging towards more achievable bodies.

As a chick who's 157cm in high heels, I'd like to see shorter women on catwalks, as well as women who are curvier and have bums and boobs.

But there is a limit. I know it's not fashionable to say this, but some of the women being embraced as positive role models and ambassadors for larger people are obese and should lose weight for health reasons.

As well as the runway shows in Australia there's Drop Dead Diva, which follows the life of a larger lawyer who's a skinny model reincarnated. And, reflecting the expanding girth of many Australians, more and more retailers, such as Myer, Sportsgirl and even Ed Hardy, are jumping on the bandwagon, and offering larger sizes.

But this is not necessarily a good thing.

Yes, larger teens deserve to be able to wear fashionable clothes, like everyone else. But the discourse of self-empowerment surrounding the move is stopping us asking why so many young people are size 16 or more in the first place.

Sure, such moves reflect the reality of a rapidly growing population, but they also serve to normalise a size that is not healthy for most young people.

In recent weeks the debate has been spurred on by the larger thighs and flabby tummy of 20-year-old model Lizzie Miller in Glamour magazine in the US.

Readers in the millions embraced the image of the gorgeous, naked young woman letting it all hang out for the cameras. But at 180cm and 76kg, she's hardly plus-sized.

Like Miller, there are many people who are big-boned, or naturally curvy, and are perfectly healthy. And I'm glad we are seeing them in the media.

But there are also many larger people who are just plain fat, and who would be better off being encouraged to lose weight rather than always be told it's okay to be overweight.

Losing weight is hard work. It takes sacrifice and effort. As a mother of three in my late 30s with a new gym membership, I know this first-hand.

It's much easier to accept the pro-fat manifesto than hit the treadmill.

Interestingly, this trend has come at a time when the Federal Government is looking at a range of anti-obesity measures, including a tax on fast food.

So it just doesn't make any sense to also be sending the message that it's not only OK to be fat, it's a sign of self-empowerment.

Let's face it, Australians - like Americans - do not need any encouragement or permission from role models in the media to put on weight.

Alarmingly, a new Australian study of more than 30,000 people shows obese and morbidly obese men are less depressed and less suicidal than those of a normal weight.

The experts concluded that fat could no longer be seen as a cause of depression, and in fact may be "protective" for some people.

But it's time to get real - fat people may be happier but they're also digging their graves with a fork, and we're all paying for it.

I don't want to just see the latest fashions on models who have to run around in the shower to get wet.

But at the same time we should not openly embrace the move towards bigger women who may not be healthy.
 

Uncle

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Very typical of the fashion industry to cater to the extremes of society from the bulimic stick thin or the morbidly obese large.
I think they should be sent to train as soldiers or marines instead.
 

Sprangler

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Aren't there just.. in between, healthy models? I don't want to see skeletons or disgusting fatty fat fats.
 

Planck

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Not gwed for role modles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What the fuck is this?

Is this some terrorist recruitment bullshit? Get ASIO onto this asap.

I think it's saying the attack is scheduled for October.
 

Planck

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Use pornstars from naughty america as models, they seem to do alright
 

Garygaz

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Seems society is intoxicated with the extremes of both sides. These aren't normal women, they are overweight. How is that a triumph for normal women? Obese =/= Normal
 

Mudkip94

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Instead to making young girls want to be skinny... LETS MAKE THEM WANT TO BE FAT!!!
 

Napstar

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I don't give a shit either way to be honest. Fat people looking for acceptance are just as horrendous as spastics who vomit after every meal.

Kill them all.
 

kokodamonkey

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DAMN! That woman is fat. we should at no STAGE AT ALL encourage obesity and should encourage our children to live healthy!
 

anom1ly

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I don't give a shit either way to be honest. Fat people looking for acceptance are just as horrendous as spastics who vomit after every meal.

Kill them all.
don't forget dumb people.

and since you might not get what im implying, ill answer your question.

yes, that means kill you too.
 

Napstar

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don't forget dumb people.

and since you might not get what im implying, ill answer your question.

yes, that means kill you too.
I'm sorry, I didn't quite get what you mean.

Come again?
 

kokodamonkey

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lol. We should instead focus on stopping these things from occuring, mandatory daily exercise programs at school etc. national youth groups focused on self respect and healthy living.
 

Napstar

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1. Mandatory daily exercise programs will never exist because freedom and liberties blah blah blah, schools can't make kids do PE as it is and if parents are fuck off fat cunts with no regard for their own health let alone their fat bastard kids, they're not going to support it

2. We have national youth groups and numerous health initiatives regarding weight and self esteem, but kids don't buy the groceries do they.
 

kokodamonkey

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the word is called COMPULSORY. The japs did a good job of it in the lead up to WW2, all the young ones were out there exercising and keeping fit.
 

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