Morbid Obesity is now fashionable apparently

[MR2 Fan]

Just wanted to post my thoughts about this....soapbox mode ON. (Also, full disclaimer, I am NOT a skinny person, I currently weigh about 260 pounds and do NOT think I'm healthy at this weight and would NOT want to be on any magazine.)

So I've been seeing some twitter friends posting their support of this cover and I have a lot of thoughts on this.

First, I have NO problem with women who are a bit overweight as part of natural body shapes being on the cover of a magazine. That should be encouraged and we should be getting away from super skinny women only and highly photoshopped models.

I also don't think this kind of thing would be happening in most other countries, it's very much a U.S. thing and I expect the rest of the world seeing this are shaking their heads.

EDIT: I suppose I have to make a correction....turns out this was on the cover of the UK edition

Then there's the defenders of this...."OMG, body positivity" and "you're beautiful at any size" and the big one "If only I saw a woman like this when I was growing up".........no, that's not the right way of thinking.

Taking the idea that there's too many skinny, photoshopped models and swinging WILDLY the other way is NOT the right answer.


I know there's been a lot of talk on the right about people needing to be coddled and have their "safe spaces" but seriously, Men AND Women need to get mentally stronger and not be like "being this fat is OK because I can't deal with the ability to get thinner and I can still be a model on the cover of a leading magazine"......then I hear "some people can't lose weight for _____ reason"....that's fine, but we don't have to promote it as a positive thing for the 90% of others.

I have no problem with this woman or her situation, I have a problem with the idea that ironically, because she has a pretty face she can be on the cover...which seems to be simultaneously judging and not judging based on looks.

It just seems to promote "hey, be as fat as you want"

[dodint]

Not sure what is more unappealing; the tattoos or the lingering threat of congestive heart failure.

[Phil_SS]

Why do you have a problem with people being obese? If they are ok with it, why can't they be who they want to be?

[MR2 Fan]

I don't have a problem with people being obese as I'm one of them (as I stated). I have a problem with glamourizing it and people getting the wrong impression that if you're fat its ok

[Tom Servo]

FWIW, part of her response was the idea that her being on the cover is not going to convince a bunch of skinny people to become fat, and that there are plenty of fat people already despite there being very few positive depictions in the media.

[FaultyMario]

How many mainstream magazines have a model on the cover that falls outside of the normal distribution curve for size 14* women? What are the statistics for models on the left side of the median, what's for the right side? Is the outrage caused by the representation of unhealthy on either extreme of the curve balanced? is it only when fat people are put on the cover of mainstream magazines?



*I believe that was the observed median size for U.S. women. But substitute for whatever the current value might be.

[dodint]

Why do you have a problem with people being obese? If they are ok with it, why can't they be who they want to be?

The practical answer to this is the staggering public health cost that obesity brings. I don't walk down the aisles of Wal-Mart shaming fat people; but I am aware that collectively they're a huge drain on societal resources. The issue he's ranting about is the idea that mainstream acceptance of morbid obesity will have those (like myself) who are on the fence about bettering themselves might just say why bother. I'm not sure that effect could really be that substantial but I understand the desire to not want to mainstream unhealthy habits. Glamorizing obesity makes as much sense as glamorizing smoking or alcohol use, to me.

[FaultyMario]

I gues that what I am trying to say is, what's the outrage? Sure, that lady isn't representative of the average person, but is there an equivalent outcry when women with mental issues and eating disorders (prevalence: anorexia .2%, bulimia .5% and binge eating disorder 2% of US population according to NEDA) are glamourized for printed media? Or are we just expressing our own phobias?

[FaultyMario]

Isn't Karlie Kloss like 187 cms and 60 kilos? at about 25% less weight of what would be considered a healthy body.

[balki]

Hmm, that's the first plus-sized model I've seen that doesn't have a nice figure. Still, she's got a gorgeous face

googles:
So it's Tess Holliday and she's classified as Obese Class IV (Morbidly Obese). So Cosmo is proving what ... that what they find cover girl material is either too much or too little weight ...

Are obese folk really a drain on societal resources? Short-term I certainly see that, but we have way too many people living past 70; are they doing society a favor by dying before skinny people?