Size 10...Plus Size???

[Guest Leslie2Lose]

I've been on and off watching America's Next Top Model. I missed the finale, but saw where Whitney won. Good for her!! She isn't a size 2, but a size 10. The last time I checked size 10 is normal - not plus. Yet they call her a plus-sized model. WTH? I guess I'd be a Super-Sized Plus Sized Woman.

I'd love to be a 10/12 and would consider myself skinny. I saw on some other boards that many people think she is an unhealthy role model because she is plus size....HELLO??? She is NOT plus sized NOR is she overweight. The fashion industry needs to wake up and realise not everyone in this world is a size 2. People that have extremly low BMI's are just as unhealthy if not more so than those with elevated BMI's. Of course I fall in the morbidly obese range. Which is why I have a LB and am on these boards to begin with.

I'd seen some rants previously (I'm more of a lurker) debating under-weight and over-weight celebrities. I just had to put in my two cents worth.

[travelinsnorkel 0]

I read this as I was reading the show, which I had Tivo'd...you ruined the ending, but I'll forgive you! haha. I totally agree. I was just sitting here thinking, SHE is PLUS SIZE?? I think that she is a normal size and the rest of them are overly skinny. This is why girls have such body image problems.

[Guest Leslie2Lose]

I'm sorry! I didn't mean to ruin your ending...should have watched it earlier - hahaha! Seriously though...I'm addicted to the show. No other "normal" sized girls have ever gotten as far.

[jannijax 0]

No need to take offense to the 'plus size' referral. In the modeling industry, runway models are typically size 2 because that's what the sample size of clothing is. Anything above that is plus size. It doesnt mean a fat model. In the real world (and even Tyra said it herself) a size 10 is a normal hot girl. My hat is off to Whitney for bustin her ass to get where she is.

[Gone4Now 4]

WTH? I guess I'd be a Super-Sized Plus Sized Woman.

Can I get fries with that? :thumbup:

Seriously...I think that if I were a 10, I'd be very happy. I think within the modeling world they have to be skinny in order to show off the clothes...like walking hangars. I think I remember reading about it a long time ago - where they have to use less material to save money.

But, I hear ya! lt's stupid. Size 10 is NORMAL. Hell, isn't 12 normal? I just wanna be a 12/14!

:thumbup:

[jfran 0]

Well, I have made it to size 10s and I definitely consider myself NORMAL, but I would still like to be a 6/8!)~ Size 2 is not in the cards for me, nor do I want to be, I like my curves! GO WHITNEY!!!

[Guest Leslie2Lose]

Can I get fries with that? :thumbup:

:thumbup:

Sure and a shake - and they way my Bootay shakes (it's called cellulite) it's definately supersized:lol:!!!

I'm not offended by the Plus-Size image of the fashion industry, just the wording. You'd think they would be smart enough to call it - "The girl eats daily and has boobs and an a$$"...you know, normal.:thumbup:

[Gone4Now 4]

Sure and a shake - and they way my Bootay shakes (it's called cellulite) it's definately supersized:lol:!!!

I'm not offended by the Plus-Size image of the fashion industry, just the wording. You'd think they would be smart enough to call it - "The girl eats daily and has boobs and an a$$"...you know, normal.:thumbup:

That's a great point. It's not really the modeling world that makes me grumpy, but the fact that the rest of the world looks at magazines, runways, and TV and emulates it. Rather than looking at it and seeing it for what it is.

No wonder we all have some form of eating issues. :thumbup:

Mmm...shakes.

[chocolate_snaps 3]

Freaking Ridiculous!

[Jachut 487]

I know I've always been an advocate for trying to get to your healthy BMI range and I get really peed off when people refer to a size 8 or 10 as skinny, anorexic or scrawny. Its a perfectly normal, healthy, attractive weight.

But plus size at size 10 is pushing the envelope a bit. Yet its true, it just refers to plus size in the model world, not in the real world.

I saw a magazine pic the other day of a plus sized model here in Australia she was a size 12 - which is an 8 to 10 in your sizes. At 5ft 8, she is 2 inches shorter than me and the same size, so technically, I should be slimmer right? Well that biatch had NO lumps, bumps, beautiful tone, no dimples (probably airbrushed, lol). I am so much flabbier - and 20 years older, sigh. Just goes to show that even plus sized models are genetically blessed freaks that us mere mortals cant live up to!

PS here I come!

On a side note though, does the real world really try to emulate these ideals? I really dont buy that. Its too easy an answer for our obesity epidemic, hey lets just make fat and unhealthy the new "normal" and then we dont have to worry. Personally, I always knew that magazine pictures are retouched, stylised, lit just right, etc and I never ever thought that the models would look that way in real life or that anyone expected me to look like that. I think its sad if someone is silly enough to believe that. I think our eating issues are our own responsibility, not the fault of the media.

Edited May 17, 2008 by Jachut

[MacMadame 81]

But plus size at size 10 is pushing the envelope a bit. Yet its true, it just refers to plus size in the model world, not in the real world.

It used to be that you had to be a size 12 to be a plus size model. At least that was the standard about 10 years ago when a relative of mine was doing it.

On a side note though, does the real world really try to emulate these ideals? I really dont buy that.

Yet you just said PS here I come. :thumbup:

I think what happens is that our images of what is normal get distorted. Then, we may not actually try to achieve those images -- since our brain knows they are often fake, what with airbrushing, camera angles and such -- but the images work on a subconscious level and cause us to enter into disordered thinking which can lead to disordered behavior which often just makes it worse because it sabotages our efforts to be healthy.

I think it's really important to understand how the media works and to be constantly on guard so that we are in control and not them. Otherwise, we can get into a situation like a lot of my thin friends where no matter how thin they are or how good they look, they beat themselves up because it's not good enough.

I can see this happening now with my 9 year old and it's pretty depressing and I feel pretty powerless against it. I talk to her and show her realistic images and talk some more, but I'm just a voice crying in the wilderness and I'm afraid I'm not being heard.

[Jachut 487]

Well, PS here I come was a bit of a joke....

[Jachut 487]

I think women with other women are every bit as powerful though. Even if there were NO television or magazines I dont think it would be possible to get through high school without feeling inadequate. Our society values a certain kind of beauty, that's not really going to change. We have to develop the inner strength to deal with it. Most girls will go through bad times with this, but hopefully will turn into adults with good self esteem.

[Guest Leslie2Lose]

I honestly hope Whitney makes it huge in the modeling industry and contributes to changing the ideal "Body Image"! I agree with Jachut, society does dictate what beauty should be. However, I have to disagree that it can't change. History proves it already has...

If we go back fifty years and look at the world's image of beauty, it was a size 10. The women from the 40's and 50's weren't necessarily a size 2. I believe Marilyn Monroe was a 10/12, Rita Hayworth had some curves, as was most of the women in fashion and television. I guess that is why I love the designs and images from that era. The women were beautiful, but had a realistic body image.

The image of models changed when Twiggy came along and was so thin - designers could put her in anything and it'd fit. If society and the fashion industry changed with Twiggy to stick thin/size 0/2 women, who says they can't change again to embrace a more realistic and attainable 10?

[Jachut 487]

Well, yeah, that's true.