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
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.
Plus-size models doing big girls no favours
By Susie O'Brien
Herald Sun
September 08, 2009 07:39am
- Big women "the latest fashion craze"
- Sends message that it's OK to be fat
- Well it isn't, writes Susie O'Brien
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.
