The Definition of Beauty...

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Should the Fashion Industry take a more responsible role and stop promoting painfully thin women as either beautiful or representative of healthy women?

Yes
2
50%
No
2
50%
 
Total votes: 4

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Louis P. Burns aka Lugh
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The Definition of Beauty...

Post by Louis P. Burns aka Lugh »

There appears to be more and more calls for fashion and super models to not be portrayed as skinny, ill looking women.

An article this morning in DNA - World addresses some of the main concerns facing the Fashion Industry. J.K. Rowling (Author of the Harry Potter novels) has added her voice to the campaign against the 'skinny obsessed world'. Read the full article here.

In my opinion the whole notion of painfully thin women being representative of any definition of beauty is alarming. There is more than enough proof in medical media that women who strive to become as thin as some of the super models in the Fashion Industry are making themselves very badly ill and in a lot of cases killing themselves.

Do other active members of Sensitize have anything to say on this topic?

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Louis P. Burns aka Lugh
Administrator, editor & owner of the Sensitize © online community of forums and domain for artists, e-poets, filmmakers, media/music producers and writers working through here. To buy the Kindle book of Illustrated Poetry, Sensitize © - Volume One / Poems that could be Films if they were Funded by myself with illustrations by Welsh filmmaker and graphic artist; Norris Nuvo click here for N. Ireland and UK sales. If purchasing in the U.S.A. or internationally then please click here.

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the_leander
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Post by the_leander »

Hmm.

I could again go with the "let them eat cake" barb, but I'll hold off on that...

In truth I'm not sure what to make of it, on one side you have women putting themselves through hell to maintain a thin body, on the other, you have parents saying that stopping their kiddies from eating reprocessed poision is wrong...

I figure there are too many people in the world anyway, so if there are those who wish to poison themselves, let them, those that wish to starve themselves, let them also.

More room for the sane.
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Catherine Edmunds
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Post by Catherine Edmunds »

This is what I think...

Anorexic is ill. If you see an anorexic girl, your stomach lurches, and you either look the other way or stare surreptitiously. Your guts tell you something is seriously wrong.

The question is: does the bombardment of images of super-skinny models cause anorexia? In my opinion, no, it doesn't. The really skinny models are suffering malnutrition more often than anorexia. They still look ill, of course. An anorexic non-model, on the other hand, is not like that because she's trying to look like a model. She's like that because she has a mental illness that has dire physical side-effects.

No normal, healthy female wants to look like that, and likewise, no normal, healthy male wants to make love to a skeleton.

I have a completely normal body mass index (ie, I'm five foot five and weigh nine stone). This makes me grossly fat compared to super-models, so therefore the clothes they parade around in would look bloody weird on me. It also makes me really skinny compared to the obese types I see more and more wandering around ASDA. I'm perfectly happy with that. After all, most normal women would sooner look like Nigella Lawson than Kate Moss.

I really can't get my knickers in a twist over this issue.

I mean, look at pop stars. Hopelessly skinny: Posh Spice. Lot of good it did her. More curvaceous: Shakira. Who's the bigger star now? Going further back -- Debbie Harry wasn't exactly stick thin. Being fat never held back Alison Moyet. Then in the world of film: Marilyn Monroe, and even (heaven help us) Barbara Windsor. Curvy ladies. Their shape helped rather than hindered them.

There is a current myth that everyone wants skinny women. They don't. They never have.

The thing is, most top fashion designers are gay blokes, so they design for attractive, slim young boys. They use tall skinny girls as models, but only if they have sufficiently boyish figures.

That has NOTHING to do with what women want, unless they have been totally brainwashed or are quite unbelievably stupid.
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Louis P. Burns aka Lugh
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Post by Louis P. Burns aka Lugh »

Hi Delph.

You have raised several very good points here and it is interesting to hear a female point of view on this topic. I agree with you that there are several gay male (and straight) designers in the fashion industry who do indeed promote a thin boyish look in their products and I also fully agree that this is wrong.

The whole fashion industry is a hogwash of stereotyping that is unfair and targeted at either very rich but stupid people or highly impressionable young people. Same as the Pop Music industry - Muck for muck's sake...

I am over weight. This has negative effects on my health and I live daily with high blood pressure, fluid retention and discomfort. A lot of my weight was gained as a result of not being physical following injuries. I have felt the pain of being ridiculed about this and at my worst the shame of not being able to buy clothes that fitted. I am working on all of this now and have limited myself to eating a healthier diet and getting a bit of exercise each day. I do slip up from time to time. I am a male and the pressures on me to conform are bad enough. I would say that the pressure on females to stay thin are perhaps ten-fold and more.

I respect and thank you for pointing out the difference between wanting to be thin and anorexia which is indeed a mental illness and one that there still doesn't seem to be a cure for. My only concern when tying in the fashion industry to health is that the notion that someone is fat or fatter than what is deemed popular, might act as a catalyst to more serious illnesses. Surely anorexia stems from anxiety and depressive conditions? Isn't it the mirror image/illness of emotional over-eating? I may be wrong on this and would appreciate any points that correct this.

Thanks.
Louis P. Burns aka Lugh
Administrator, editor & owner of the Sensitize © online community of forums and domain for artists, e-poets, filmmakers, media/music producers and writers working through here. To buy the Kindle book of Illustrated Poetry, Sensitize © - Volume One / Poems that could be Films if they were Funded by myself with illustrations by Welsh filmmaker and graphic artist; Norris Nuvo click here for N. Ireland and UK sales. If purchasing in the U.S.A. or internationally then please click here.

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spacecadet
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Post by spacecadet »

Should skinny models be banned?

If women wish to starve themselves to the point of emaciation and then charge big bucks to wear stupid clothes then so what? It gives us something to laugh at. I will point out at this point that I'm a supporter of Fox hunting for the same reasons. I find the sight of upper class asses parading around in hunting pinks totally hilarious.

Also, if stupid girls wish to starve themselves to the point of renal failure to conform to this image then that's just Darwinism in action. Stuff 'em.

People have to be free to be that stupid.

(It has just occured to me that I could have used the phrase "Survival of the fattest" in the above.)
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Louis P. Burns aka Lugh
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Post by Louis P. Burns aka Lugh »

That 'Stuff em' comment was feckin' priceless Dave :P ...

Tad unrealistic though. Maybe we could stuff the fox hunters instead :wink: ...
Last edited by Louis P. Burns aka Lugh on Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Louis P. Burns aka Lugh
Administrator, editor & owner of the Sensitize © online community of forums and domain for artists, e-poets, filmmakers, media/music producers and writers working through here. To buy the Kindle book of Illustrated Poetry, Sensitize © - Volume One / Poems that could be Films if they were Funded by myself with illustrations by Welsh filmmaker and graphic artist; Norris Nuvo click here for N. Ireland and UK sales. If purchasing in the U.S.A. or internationally then please click here.

ASIN B00L1RS0UI

My writing is not covered by Creative Commons policy and may not be republished without permission. All rights reserved. All Sensitize © Arts sponsorship donations and postal inquiries to:

Louis P. Burns
42 Farland Way
DERRY
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BT48 0RS
Telephone (UK): 028 71219225


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spacecadet
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Post by spacecadet »

The only problem I can fortell for these Heat magazine reading wanabee bolemics is that they might not have the strength to push their triple pushchairs to the dole office to collect their free cash.

(Apologies - but I'm having a bad day and therefore leaning further to the right than normal)
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Louis P. Burns aka Lugh
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Post by Louis P. Burns aka Lugh »

spacecadet wrote: I'm having a bad day and therefore leaning further to the right than normal)
On a scale of 1 - 10, how far to the right are you leaning? Here a few examples ranging from;-


MILD or 1 - 4;-

Image

I can't be arsed doing anything today..?


MIDDLING or 5 - 7.5;-

Image

If only I hadn't puffed that reefer..?


EXTREME or 8 - 10;-

Image

B.N.P. UBER ALLES..?

_________________________________


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Louis P. Burns aka Lugh
Administrator, editor & owner of the Sensitize © online community of forums and domain for artists, e-poets, filmmakers, media/music producers and writers working through here. To buy the Kindle book of Illustrated Poetry, Sensitize © - Volume One / Poems that could be Films if they were Funded by myself with illustrations by Welsh filmmaker and graphic artist; Norris Nuvo click here for N. Ireland and UK sales. If purchasing in the U.S.A. or internationally then please click here.

ASIN B00L1RS0UI

My writing is not covered by Creative Commons policy and may not be republished without permission. All rights reserved. All Sensitize © Arts sponsorship donations and postal inquiries to:

Louis P. Burns
42 Farland Way
DERRY
N. Ireland.
BT48 0RS
Telephone (UK): 028 71219225


Click here to Join Sensitize © Arts via Facebook or to contact the site owner: Louis P. Burns aka Lugh with any forum hosting or site related inquiries.
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