posted May 17, 2013 08:49 PM            

My best friend back when I was a child was that way. I thought she was beautiful, but she thought she was fat...and she was on the chunky side, though I wouldn't call her obese, and she was a D cup (complicated as they were actually different sizes which upset her badly) which was sometimes good (for male attention, which she enjoyed) or bad (female jealousy which pushed her toward males even more). She envied how thin I was, but I thought she was nuts as I was both underdeveloped and under doctor's orders to gain weight...and she still wanted to be like me (with bigger breasts that matched each other in size without caring that having my body with big breasts would probably mean she couldn't walk without crutches ). She even physically hit herself before because she'd give in to the munchies with pot, threatened to become bulimic (seemed more interested in punishing herself first and losing weight second), and yelled at me a few times for not gaining weight and/or eating something fattening in front of her (I was very active physically, however, and I also had to make food go farther, and whereas she ate the school lunches I had PBJ more often than not, which not only meant her lunch was a lot more fattening but also gave her zits where I almost never broke out, and when I did it was barely noticeable). She hated herself and I think she only just barely resisted an eating disorder (and probably only because of the drugs & drinking...and maybe she DID dabble in bulimia, who knows what the sometimes secretive Scorpio kept from me?).

And here in the US most female actresses are going to be very thin (and also with a lot of photoshopping, though a few strategic curves and even digital breast enhancements may get thrown in). I have noticed it's not so ubiquitous in other countries (and women of other races in the US tend to find other trivial features to stress about instead, like black women with their hair instead of their weight). And there's lots of money to be made currying to women's vanity about their weight, I think more than trying to sell Viagra to men along with promises to increase their penis size (which is intense itself). Even when they're trying for a more healthy weight it seems they're more about losing weight and scales are used a lot more than by men. Women's clothing stores and magazines are adorned with pictures and posters of women who are bone thin. Ironically, the only way those bone-thin models can look good is by wearing extremely fashionable clothing but look sickly when near naked (Mom, a former model, did tell me that the camera adds the appearance of weight, one reason why it was important to be thinner than usual). Exceptions exist, but they tend to make the news...and not last. Even athletes who get away with more are "softened" and made to look feminine and nonthreatening when modeling (the only exception I can think of offhand is Serena Williams, and interesting enough she actually had to WIN, whereas sickly thin Anna Kournikova was even more popular despite a lack of wins...ETA: I suppose women in wrestling are exceptions as well, though I don't keep up with that to know).

posted May 17, 2013 09:04 PM            

I was one of them. Given that I was under orders from a doctor to GAIN weight, I was less than impressed. In retrospect, I think I know what went wrong: because of all the athletic hobbies I had mixed in with some hard chores I'd done over the last few months on a farm (including helping with digging up a sewer line, making holes to put in posts, and even hauling hay--and even mowing the lawn was hard work given the hilly ground), I'd built up a lot of muscle, which weighs heavier than fat. The problem was I was ALL muscle and virtually no fat, which the doctor said was the problem and why he advised my granny to feed me fattening foods & making me stay indoors more (she did the former but not the latter).

The other one to do "good" with the BMI was an anorexic (another reason for me to be less than impressed). Granted, she was pretty big boned (though obviously anorexic, at least to us), but I don't really know how she managed to pass as "healthy" but it endorsed the message to girls that anorexia was the way to go to be beautiful. This is part of why I suspect the coach of malice, knowing damn well that this would cause a blow on the self-esteem of the others as well as singling us out for further harassment (neither of us was bullied in a menacing sense, but we obviously weren't liked either, which no doubt made her even more anorexic while tempting other girls to embrace anorexia as well, and my own best friend wouldn't talk to me civilly for awhile either).

And the coach herself looked pretty big & round to me, and now that I think about it, she did NOT measure herself with BMI with the rest of us. I wonder how much trouble I'd have gotten into had I insisted?

But at least we didn't have obesity report cards. Not that I'm for obesity, mind you, but they use BMI, and healthy weight is overweight, if not obese, and the girls are often even crueler. That is to say these obesity report cards aren't about combating actual obesity but about promoting anorexia with school, government & medical authority.

Oh, and here's what's wrong with BMI:
http://jezebel.com/306096/somethings-wrong-with-the-body-mass-index

x

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439

posted May 18, 2013 12:29 AM            

My cardio teacher in high school put SOOOO much emphases on BMI.
She said my body fat was only 1% and thats unhealthy while I was actually in track and cross country and probably healthier than most people in that room... Then she sent letter to my parents about my possible anorexia. Wtf.....

posted May 18, 2013 11:07 AM            

Bravo was probbaly the first magazine - with external tendencies related to fashion, but the extravagance - the way some celebrity likes to dress - was taken as it was "just for show" - nobody dressed like that. And even some teenage shows like "Beverly Hills, 90210":

Jennie Garth, Tiffani Thiessen, Shannen Doherty - those girls were considered very attractive - both in terms of looks and body shape (curves).

The thing is - in terms of body constitution we have 3 "main" categories - as described in next article:

Endomorphs – “fat retainers” http://www.superskinnyme.com/endomorph-body-type.html

Mesomorphs – “athletic” http://www.superskinnyme.com/mesomorph-body-type.html

Ectomorphs – “skinny” http://www.superskinnyme.com/ectomorph-body-type.html

...but since global tribes mingled, the genes mingled and we have all kinds of subcategories - which are hard to define. One way to put it: http://www.channel4.com/4beauty/style-me/bodyshapefinder (some clothing firms use those measurements - for online purchases)

It's also worth mentioning that - there are some females from Ectomorph class - who look as if they're anorexic, but they're actually healthy. The dangerous part about fashion and ballet - they used to impose this type of measurements to those from Mesomorph class - and thus Anorexia emerged. With Ballet it wasn't about beauty - some instructors got the idea that - a ballerina should have a certain type of weight to give a better performance - which was again, a bad differential between Ecthomorphs and Mesomorphs. Apparently - as a Mesomorph you can achieve the body of a Ectomorph - and probably they considered this to be normal (seeing that it's possible). Endomorphs on the other hand - can gain a weight that makes them look fat, but even them are actually healthy. And again for Mesomorphs can be problematic in terms of health (hearth conditions especially) - if they gain that type of weight, while Ectomorphs can't get close to that type of weight - for them is hard even to reach the Mesomorph standards without nutrition.