Comments on: Do you need to be skinny to be successful?

By: Vered - MomGrind

Vered - MomGrind — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:51:20 +0000

I completely agree that this is very damaging to women's self esteem. It's not completely the celebrities' fault though. I think they are under a lot of pressure to look a certain way. I'm also pretty sure that for some of them, being so skinny is the only thing they feel they can control in a life that's pretty much out of control thanks to the media frenzy around them. Vered - MomGrind’s last blog post..Ageism Is The Last Acceptable Form Of Discrimination

By: Tara Cain

Tara Cain — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:36:59 +0000

Only because we love you will we forgive you ThatGirl.
You are spot on with the ‘we always want what we can’t have’ thing. I guess the men would say that’s mainly a woman thing though isn’t it? Never satisfied . . .

By: ThatGirl39

ThatGirl39 — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:20:00 +0000

You see…. Grazia is the bible! The Thin List a good conversation generator! ! I’m not what you call thin and I’m not fat…. but a lot of us aspire (whether we like it or not) to be a bit better than we already are…. (me included!) If we have straight hair we’d like some beachy waves… if we have curls we want to be straight. If we’re a 12 we’d like to be a 10, if we’re too thin we’d like some curves etc etc….
Myself personally I would like some more time to blog as this whole Christmas thing seems to be getting in the way! (sorry for being a slacker my BTF friends!) xx

ThatGirl39’s last blog post..Back Again For The Carnival!

By: Tara Cain

Tara Cain — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:30:12 +0000

And yet so many women buy them and get depressed by them!
“Remember, it is only the opinion of about 12 people who write these magazines and then manage to influence the feelings of millions of women” how very very true. It’s all so very manipulative.
I absolutely hate those ‘look at how the celebs are just like us’ photos with big arrows to someone’s supposed cellulite or someone in a bikini with a bit of overhang. Those are the things that make us normal!

And I just love Fern Britton but that was a really interesting debate going on about that. She really did sing the praises of the larger lady and then, like you said, had a gastric band fitted and didn’t tell anyone and came out telling everyone how fabulous she felt on her new fitness and diet regime.
It’s like the ‘plus’ model Sophie Dahl too. She was celebrated for breaking down barriers in an industry notorious for encouraging painfully thin girls and then the minute she has her foot in the door she dropped about 4 dress sizes!

By: aconfusedtakethatfan

aconfusedtakethatfan — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:10:40 +0000

Mmm McDreamy. How I am missing him…anyway, back to the point. They say a woman’s self esteem drops significantly after reading a celebrity magazine, and I’m not surprised. I just wonder how it got to the point the magazine editors thought it was a great idea to point out people’s imperfections – like people’s sweat patches, or cellulite, or thinning hair, or roll of fat. I find it completely depressing. Imperfections are what makes someone beautiful.
Remember, it is only the opinion of about 12 people who write these magazines and then manage to influence the feelings of millions of women. I almost feel sorry for celebrities having to live in this constant state of criticism. I mean Nicola Girls Aloud has had a terrible time purely because she has red hair and is very pale. And having been on photoshoots with people like Girls Aloud, it’s interesting to see them walk in the room as pretty girls that you would find in any high street and three hours later…ta daaaa…they look amazing. It does take hours of make up, lighting etc to achieve that look.
And success is a state of mind, no matter what your size. But it would be interesting to see how prejudice people are to employing larger people.
Ooh, just a thought, Fern from This Morning, now where do we stand on that one? Someone who really said big is beautiful then went and got a gastric band fitted…hmmm?

aconfusedtakethatfan’s last blog post..So this is Christmas…

By: Linz

Linz — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:37:42 +0000

My Step daughter (who is a horrible size 10 and falling she has a food issue from her lovely bio-mum,bio mum is always on a diet!!!) Went in to a shop and the mannikin's where a size 6 and the dresses where a size 6 and wouldn't do up on the Mannikin's (I think it was a tv prog and she has got confused) Linz’s last blog post..Wednesday Weigh-In Blog to fit

By: Tara Cain

Tara Cain — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:26:04 +0000

“Truth is that no matter what you do, if you weren’t genetically made to look like Keira Knightley, it isn’t going to happen no matter how much you diet or how much surgery you undertake” – hear hear David.

And pushing super good looking people on us? Hell they can do as much of that as they like (and hands off McDreamy by the way Confused Take That Fan!)

Thankfully there are many people who succeed without the need to conform to a stereotype. But I think you are right when you say it’s not going to change any time son.

By: Tara Cain

Tara Cain — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:21:33 +0000

The trouble is Linz, 16 is the average size of a woman here in England, so why on earth haven’t stores cottoned on to that?
And I know what you mean about the size of clothes being different depending on which store you go in.
I can go in to one shop and need a pair of size 12 jeans, go next door and I can’t even do the button up on a pair in size 14.
So very frustrating and annoying and can only lead to making you feel fatter and more miserable than you were before you went in!

By: Tara Cain

Tara Cain — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:19:06 +0000

Yikes! It looks bloody great, but it’s just so unrealistic.
Have you seen some of the front covers of the glossy women’s mags like Vogue and Cosmo? Seriously, some of those women are airbrushed so much they don’t actually look like themselves any more!

By: Tara Cain

Tara Cain — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:09:34 +0000

Yes there is a big difference between being skinny because of diet and being skinny because of drugs, but some women in the spotlight turn to drugs because they see food as the enemy and can’t bear to let a single thing pass their lips for fear it will make them put on weight.
It is like dieting to the extreme.
And with Amy, the point being that until she lost weight (no matter how she did it) she was just another talented singer. Now she’s this troubled megastar who is photographed endlessly and pointed at and talked about all the time.
She apparently was once asked in an interview what she thought the secret of her success was and she said something along the lines of ‘it’s not just my music. It’s because I’m so thin. I had the same voice when I was fat but no one gave a sh*t then.’