Female celebrities, weight, and health

[Nikia]

Most people use the health arguement to justify bigotry against overweight people. Many of these same people are smitten with medically underweight female celebrities. If they think less of overweight people because they feel that they are damaging their health, why do they think more highly of underweight celebrities who may be risking their health? Why are female entertainers encouraged to be this way instead of at a healthy weight?
I know that this post may seem ironic in light of my weekend post. It was a thought that popped into my head when I was thinking about my potential problem.

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. It's a weird kind of hypocrisy

It's not okay to kill yourself by the medical complications of being overweight, but it's apparently okay to kill yourself by the medical complications of anorexia and/or underweightness.

:shrug:

I prefer a plain old healthy kind of look - not fat, and not rail thin either.

Though in some ways I can understand the rail against the overweight because of health problems simply because there are so far many more obese than there are unhealthily thin. So I would imagine.

But you're right - it's stupid to bitch about the health problems of one end, but give a total pass to the health problem of the other extreme.

[rfranklin]

2. Stop kidding yourself...eating disorders are not acceptable either way...

The supermarket tabloids recently featured hideous photos of celebrities who are starving themselves to death. Who wants to be around someone who is vomiting all the time?

There is also something unpleasant about people who eat themselves into morbid obesity and then demand that we not notice that they are taking up half our seat on the airplane or at the theatre.

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. understanding does not imply acceptance

I don't see where I am "kidding myself".


Argh, and don't even get me started on having to share airplane or subway or other space with people who have moved themselves into my territory.

[Mnemosyne]

9. Please get over the assumption

that most all are obese due to food consumption. I gained 100# in 4 years due to medications and the destruction of my thyroid through poisoning by mercury/chemicals/pesticides I was exposed to, some many years ago. I was eating 400 to 1000 cals. a day!!! Try that on for frustration.

[Nikia]

11. What I noticed from the tabloids

I read them for a while in college because one of the women at my campus job brought them in to read during down times. Over the course of a month, they's talk about an actress who "plumped out" by gaining 10 pounds, which still did not make her overweight. Then a few months later the same actress would lose 20 pounds to be 10 pounds lighter than she had been originally and they would say that she has anorexia. Perhaps that is the problem, they are told that there is a perfect weight and the it leaves little variation and they sometimes go too far on the lighter end.

[Shell Beau]

13. How do you know they starve themselves?

You have no idea what goes on in their daily life. That is like assuming an overweight person sits on the couch all day stuffing their face. Maybe they do have an eating disorder but maybe not.

[Shell Beau]

14. self-delete

dupe

[Shell Beau]

3. I don't think it should be anyone's

business whether you are too fat or too skinny. It is your problem, no one else's. You just can't win. You're too chunky, you're nothing but skin and bones. Let whoever deal with it. Who's to say what looks good anyway. If you feel good about yourself, then screw everyone else. As long as you are healthy, and even if your not, it is none of my business (of course unless I am family).

[tjdee]

5. But what Nikia is saying (I think) is that it *becomes* our problem

when celebrity women are held up as desirable/sexy/great looking when they have these health problems. Young women are held to impossible standards, which, if kept, are potentially damaging to their health.

[Shell Beau]

10. Sure, but who holds them to those standards?

Is it fair to talk about someone being obese or fat? People get offended by it. Why is it okay to do that to skinny people. They claim they are healthy. Are they? I don't know, and I don't care. They can afford chefs, and trainers, and stylist. They are paid to look good. It comes from within. If you are prone to be swayed by Hollywood standards, then maybe your self esteem isn't where it should be. None of us can live up to those expectations. Celebrities can't even. They all admit to airbrushing!

[tjdee]

15. Well, there is the drug use, LOL...

I'm not so much talking about grown up ladies with enough self esteem to go "she's like that, I'm not, whatever". I'm talking about the teenaged girls who feel like shit, or 'fat', and starve themselves because if Lindsay Lohan can be a size 0, why can't they? I personally knew a lot of teenagers with screwed up eating habits because they were getting 'chunky'.

Chunky according to what?
Chunky according to the women they see on tv, in magazines, in films, etc. Why the heck would they want to look like their boring moms/teachers/lunchladies? The celebs are the "hot" ones, who all the boys in their classes drool over, who are the jetsetters.... btw, this is why it's important for there to be equal representation of all body types in Hollywood. There isn't. I know for a fact that bigger women are told to lose the weight. They're not told "hey, you're talented, who cares how much you weigh."

You are right though, the ultra skinny say they're healthy, who's to say they're not... that's a good point. A friend of mine couldn't get out of a size 4 if she tried.

[Shell Beau]

26. When I was in high school

I lost weight. I wasn't big to begin with so 10 pounds looked like a lot. But I did nothing to lose that weight, it just came off. My mom kept asking me why have you lost so much weight. Some people lose weight like that naturally. Some don't. It's not fair to assume people have an eating disorder. The people to blame, though, are not the celebrities. It is the media and pop culture to blame. All of this air-brushing in magazines to thin you up or cover the blemishes or cellulite is beyond anyone's reach.

[ghostsofgiants]

4. Well I have heard a lot of people complaining about Lindsay Lohan recently

[tjdee]

7. She looks scary.

I just saw *another* picture of her in Entertainment Weekly.

It's not soooo much the weight though. The hair (hello? red was gorgeous?) doesn't help. She looks like an emaciated Elizabeth Taylor now.

[paula777]

20. OMG look at this before and after of her - she doesn't look healthy

[realisticphish]

8. yeah

i liked her; she was a normal-sized, attractive girl, who clearly was at a healthy weight. now... it's scary

[Shell Beau]

12. I know a lot of girls who do look like that normally. Really skinny.

It's their body type. I don't think it is fair to say they look sick. That is like saying an overweight person looks sick. There is no "normal" size. It is what is normal for you. Yeah Lindsay has lost a lot of weight. But who knows why! It could be from stress, eating disorder, etc. If she is happy, so be it. That is all she should care about.

[realisticphish]

16. fine, then

AVERAGE weight.

It's not the fact that she lost weight. It's the speed at which she did so

[Nikia]

17. But unfortunately

It is safer healthwise to be 20 pounds overweight than 20 pounds underweight. I think that doctors are usually more concerned about the newly underweight and decreasing than those who seem to be gentically predisposed to maintaining a low weight. But women like Lindsay have seemed to be given the message that it is better to be underweight than normal weight and horrible to be overweight even though this is not healthy.

[Shell Beau]

27. My point is we do not know why she or anyone

else lost so much weight. Maybe it is natural, maybe it isn't. But it is not fair to automatically assume just because you are small or have lost a lot of weight, that you have an eating disorder.

[JI7]

18. who is underweight ?

while the average celeb female is probably more thinner than the rest of the population who would you say is underweight in a way that is dangerous to their health ?

Lindsay Lohan did lose weight but i wouldn't say she is dangerously underweight that it's hurting her health. i do think she looked better before she lost weight and went blonde. but i'm not sure i would say she has health problems.

Calista Flockhart is one in recent times i would say was probably underweight enough that it was harmful to her health and i believe there was news of her fainting at times. but i don't think there are many like her.

i do agree about the industry having a part in pressuring girls to be very thin though which is why LL lost the weight.

[CBHagman]

19. There are a lot of issues here.

First of all, remember that people appear heavier than they really are in photos and on film. Whenever I see someone who looks alarmingly thin (not svelte, downright emaciated), warning bells go off.

Secondly, I worry that women and girls get totally unrealistic standards from the celebrity photos. Photos can be touched up to make the person look thinner, improve the skin, etc.

Thirdly, they don't tell us everything. I recall seeing an article years back in which a particular exercise routine was cited as the reason a particular actress was slim, despite having had four babies and an appetite for things like pizza. I found out later that the actress in question had also had a tummy tuck and breat surgery. She looks fine and appears healthy, but they didn't tell us all the reasons she looks the way she does.

The focus really needs to be on moving towards healthier eating and also incorporating daily exercise into our routines, plus getting UNIVERSAL medical coverage so that things can be dealt with before they create problems.

[4_Legs_Good]

21. That's what I was thinking

I'm not sure anyone I can think of is horribly, unhealthily underweight, most of them probably work their asses off (literally!) to get into the shape they're in.

As far as Calista Flockhart goes, I've known many women who simply don't gain weight and who are skinny naturally and eat tons, just like I am as a man (though post 30 I actually can put on some fat). It's possible that Ms. Flockhart really did have an eating disorder, but she may (for all I know) just have been naturally skinny.

david

[Nikia]

22. According to the BMI

If your BMI is under 18.5 you are medically underweight and anorxic if your BMI is under 17.5. A woman who is 5'5'' and 110 lbs is medically underweight. If she is under 105, she is medically anorexic. A woman who is 5'8'' is underweight at 120 lbs and anorexic at 115 lbs. I think that anorexic in this case means being a certain percent below normal weight. Not all people at this low of BMI are engaging in anorexic behavior like purposeful low calorie diets and there are some people who are heavier who are engaging in eating disorder behavior. I don't have a website listing accurate weights for actresses and other entertainers, but many are around these weights.
Some women (and men too) are naturually underweight. Some people are naturually overweight. It is not more medically dangerous to be overweight though than underweight by the same amount. It is actually the opposite. Society pretends that the weight issue is about health, but it is not.
One actress who recently sought treatment for anorexia was the Olsen twin (I keep getting the two mixed up).

[4_Legs_Good]

23. PUHHHHLLLLEEZZZZEEEE!!!

do NOT call the Olsen twins "actresses"!!!!!!!!

:)

I could buy 5'5" 110lbs as being underweight, but I'd be surprised if too many actresses fell into that column.

I believe you can still be anorexic and overweight, though, no? I thought it was mostly that you were losing weight in an unhealthy way.

I believe that the "overweight" problem *is* about health, whatever society says, however, I'll certainly give you that being on the low end of the satisfactory weight scale is *not* about health.

david

[Susang]

24. Anorexia is not defined by how much you weigh

It is based on behavior. It is disorder where the sufferer has such an intense fear of gaining weight and such a distorted body image that they starve themselves in search of their version of perfection. You can be any weight and exhibit anorexic behavior, as it is about control and perfection and not really only about food and weight.

[4_Legs_Good]

25. Okey dok!

That's what I thought. Same with bulemia, right?

david