MelanieW

Here are a few little size-positive snippets, all quoted from celebrities. Im always torn about these, because while it is far better for these stars to be making these kinds of pro-curvy assertions than if they were shilling for diet companies, the fact that the speakers are all still so thin undermines the effectiveness of their statements in promoting a curvier ideal.

Still, these are good words for young girls to hear, and a magazine with nothing but statments such as these (juxtaposed with images of plussize beauties) would be a positive one indeed.

A singer named Myleene Klass says she "hated" the experience of being a mere size 8, and prefers herself curvier:

http://www.nowmagazine.co.uk/celeb_...cle_114111.html

Says Ms. Klass:

I dont doubt it one bit. Starvation is just about the most miserable condition that anyone can be in, and to be in a state of perpetual hunger basically ruins your life, and doesnt allow you to enjoy anything else.

By contrast, eating for pleasure gives you a wonderful feeling and allows you to go through the day happy, and with a positive attitude.


Another singer, Alicia Keys, agrees completely:

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.ns...20wrong_1027251

Here is her press piece:

Well said. Women ARE "so much [their] curves", and when they starve away their figures, they starve away their feminine beauty.


Now, to come back to Hollywood, an actress named Mischa Barton - thin, as you might expect - issues a commendable call for the return of curves in Hollywood:

http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articl...&ssid=1&sid=ENT

Bravo to her for acknowledging that images of underweight celebrities do lead to eating disorders:

One could question whether Hollywood ever actually embraced plussize beauty, but at least in the 50s and early 60s (before the upheaval of the late 60s, when things really started to go wrong culturally), starlets like Kim Novak and Anita Ekberg did have womanly figures, and looked much softer than actresses ever have since then.


All of these statements are commendable, and would be "right" regardless of their source. But they also further underscore the lack of beautiful young plussize singers and actresses (as well as models), and therefore, the need for more Chloe Agnews and Christina Schmidts (as well as Shannon Maries) to become prominent in the public eye.

Kaitlynn

This isn't as farfetched an idea as it may seem.

I recently came across an article which described an experiment in which a group of British high-school girls were shown a teen magazine from the 1950s, called The Girl.

http://www.sunderlandecho.com/ViewA...&SectionID=1512

As the article describes, the magazine was remarkably wholesome and sweet, providing a startling contrast to today's teen magazines, which are incredibly raunchy and trashy, even explicit. It's a sad commentary on how steeply our culture has declined, over the past half-century.

But what struck me as particularly interesting was this comment:

So it CAN be done. A magazine CAN encourage girls to enjoy their natural appetite, to eat as much as they like and to relish becoming more womanly, rather than pushing them towards developing eating disorders, as today's magazines do.

Of course, the crucial difference between then and now is that this 1950s magazine could point to the "film stars of the day" to show that beautiful women did have curves, whereas today's A-listers are toxic icons of anorexia.

But if a teen magazine employed plus-size models in its fashion spreads, and made celebrities of them (along with focussing on beautiful young curvy performers such as Chloe Agnew), then it could achieve the size-celebratory effect that a magazine such as The Girl once had.

At a time when the pressure on young women to starve has reached truly frightening levels, the need for such a size-positive teen magazine is greater than ever.

vargas

Even if much of what is said by some in the fashion industry and in Hollywood is only lip service, this can go a long way towards influencing how others think, especially in light of the meltdown of certain young actresses in Hollywood and the deaths of young models in the recent past.

Even those in the industry, by their comments about thin tyranny, must see the craziness of it all. The fact that models are literally dying at fashion shows and that many young women in Hollywood and in the high-fashion industry adopt dangerous methods to lose weight and endanger their health to live up to a death-dealing standard can't be ignored any longer. They are feeling the heat of public disapproval and anger.

One of the exciting things that I'm seeing is that traditional media, which is responsible for much of the thinness brainwashing that we see in our culture, is increasingly having to compete with alternative forms of media - forms of media that can promote a different view of what the female form should look like. Images on TV or in the biggest fashion magazines no longer have to be accepted as the standard of feminine beauty.

More and more people are coming out and rejecting unhealthy thinness standards, and are looking for a healthier look in models and celebrities. Hopefully they will continue to move forward and accept the full-figured look in the future. The talk about reversing the trend of imposed thinness, if it keeps up, will have a positive effect on young women growing up now, and in the future.