It's not often I think a fashion story is good news. So here's one I noticed today. In brief, Madrid Fashion Week seems to have introduced a rule banning models with a BMI of under 18 (under 18 is significantly underweight).
To be honest, one thing I really don't get is the difference between the male and female conceptions of beauty. I can understand women wanting to be attractive. But what (other than eating disorders) motivates them to get as this as many of them do? Wanting to show their stomachs off? Some kind of twisted one-up-woman-ship and pride?
Why is it that when the surveys consistently say that Western men like women with a BMI between (say) 18.5 and 25, which range is deemed "healthy", then many women try getting theirs between (say) 16 and 20?
3 comments:
because its a competition thing. the media tells us that skinny is good, so we believe that men want skinny, so we have to be as skinny as possible. say theres another woman, skinnier than you, then judging by the media that woman has more chance of getting a guy than you. so in order to further your own chances you have to loose more weight to put you higher up the ranks.
we seem not to judge beauty on what men think of us, but on what other women think. because, lets be honest, most women are going to spend more time in the company of women, who are nasty horrible creatures who will pick you to pieces over anything. the skinnier you are, the less likely you are to be picked on for it.
but i will point out that not all women think that way... although even those of us who know its not exactly healthy to look like victoria beckham or whoever still have enormous pressure on us to look good and be thin.
i could go on.... its a major issue and seen SO differently by men and women.
But why believe the media? Particularly when, if you just look around your average town for a few minutes, it's easy to see that there are plenty of people with less than perfect bodies who seem to manage to find other people, therefore it's pretty clear that it doesn't matter in reality.
Thanks both.
There's a bit of me then that thinks it would be helpful to redress the balance by taking the mick out of thin people a lot.
And there's a bit of me which vetoes it because if women are basing their self-esteem on their appearance even slightly, then it's probably going to be counterproductive. Better probably to try to boost the esteem of non-very-thin people.
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