An Open Letter to a Selective Fraction of the Media - Comments

I absolutely adore this article. I've been waiting for someone other than myself to stand up and stay something, and I applaud you for doing so.

I'm what people like to call "stick thin" and honestly, I hate being so small. I honestly see myself in what I like to call "reverse-media influence" which means I see myself being skinny and want to gain pounds. I weigh 115 or 120 and am 5'7"
-ish which may be slightly underweight/barely normal for my height. I think this is kind of interesting because people who are heavier than myself take one look at me while I'm changing in the locker rooms before PE and tell me, "You're so thin. I wish I was as thin as you." Because of this, I have started changing in the bathroom stalls. I hate hearing how thin I am. It's like someone calling me fat - it puts even the slightest dent in my self-esteem.

And even when I'm as thin as girls my age are "supposed" to be I still hear insults because of it! People will never be happy with anybody's body weight. There's no such thing as the "perfect" weight. And even when I'm as thin as I'm "supposed" to be, I still hear insults because I'm not tan enough! People also tend to look down on me because I tend to be more modest, as in not showing off my body with shorts that ride up in the ass and low-cut tops that show off excess cleavage (which, let's be honest, I don't have much of in the first place) and they like to call me a "prude" because of it.

So to stop ranting and sum it up, people are never going to be happy with the way they or other people look. Media's pretty much wrecked body image as we used to know it. :/

Great article

This was a nice article and true. To Kafka, a couple down. You are somewhat right, however, there are those who are affected greatly by what they watch, hear, and see. For example, there is a girl completely convinced that she is a vampire at my school because of something from Twilight. By brother becomes a complete jerk when he listens to his screaming heavy metal. People are affected. As harsh as this sounds, it all comes down to how strong or weak minded they are. It also depends on what their parents taught them.

Nicely done. No matter how much people want to deny it, a lot of it is the media's fault. Flip on the T.V. Watch all of those beauty product comercials and perfume comercials. They have perfect-looking women. They depict beauty, but the truth is, everyone's beautiful in their own way. Tall, short, inbetween, skinny, fat, inside, outside. Whatever. People shouldn't have to feel bad about themselves.

It's so easy to blame the media, but the truth is that eating disorders have been around for muchmuch longer than the media has- even when the media seemed to promote a "healthier" idea of beauty (around the whole Marilyn Monroe era for example) there still were many girls who suffered from eating disorders. TV shows don't cause chemical imbalances in people's brains more than song lyrics make people kill themselves. We all watch the same commercials and the same movies, yet only a small percentage of us actually gets an eating disorders. If you don't already have a predisposition for it, you can watch as many sickly thin models as you want it won't make you starve yourself to death.

If people around us are dying because of eating disorders is first and foremost our fault for not doing anything to raise awareness, to reach out to the people who need help instead of bashing the media or skinny people and trying to find a scapegoat so we won't feel guilty.

It's not skinny-bashing in the least to me. It's not aimed at a skinny audience though, so it's only natural that it should alienate some. I liked it, and the Judgement of Paris link just cheered up my fat-feeling day. So thank you. ^_^

I didn't see any skinny-bashing. >.>

I am... sort of skinny, and I support her opinion and agree with it 100%.

I'm sorry to anyone I offended, but honestly, I don't dislike thin people or find them unattractive, or blame them for being skinny if they're naturally so. It wasn't my intent to bash them at all.

Rather, I was attacking the mentality that you have to be skinny to be attractive, and the fact that the media adds so little variety in body size. I was mostly pointing out the ways that this mentality is contributing to society's obsession with weight, hence the comments about the anorexic 8-year-old and the commercial diets. Plus-size people aren't being given a chance to feel good about themselves; instead, they're being made to feel inadequate.

Yes, I could have worded my ideas better; I see that now. But unless I'm missing something, it's impossible for me to go back and change things so that I seem less hostile toward thin people. So I'm sorry, but you'll have to take this as it is, and be content with the extra-article explanations I write.

While I agree with your article, it is a little...skinny-bashing. I do get the deeper meaning behind this, and I completely agree, I do think you could have done a better job presenting your idea without seeming to anger the girls who are born with a size zero body, high metabolisms, or diseases. But all-in-all. I completely agree. I have body issues as well and when I see a "plus-size" model {even though I hate the term} do something like win America's Next Top Model or advertise clothing it makes me want to buy that clothing more because its made for every size of women. Example, there is a brand of jeans called Social Collison. They have two numbers on them, the length and size. You can find every size matched with every length. They are designed to fit any body. If more companies used other than size -4 models more people would buy there clothes, not just women who are size 7 but even women who are size 1.

I'm thin o__o
Always has been.. I mean I always try to eat a lot, but I always loose it because of my high metabolism rate -__-" But yeah.. I'm thin :P

I agree with weekend warriors. Just because you're skinny doesn't mean you're ugly, and just because you're average or above average doesn't mean you're attractive. It's about taking good care of yourself. People have different body types, and sometimes they can't help that.

I'm glad someone posted an article like this. I am nowhere near skinny. I never have been. I'm 5'3" and wear between size 6 and 8 jeans. But that's just how I'm built. I am happy with how I look most of the time. Partially because my sister is a bit jealous of some of my curvier body parts. But I can't help but have moments where I feel like I'm less attractive than some irl who is a hell of a lot skinnier than me. But then there's my friend who was hospitalized for three months and missed the end of 7th grade because her anorexia got to such a point where it was seriously affecting her health. And now she doesn't seem like the same person she was almost two and a half years ago. That makes me feel glad that I like my body most of the time. And there is still another girl that I have known since elementary school who I am pretty sure is either bulimic. People on my swim team have caught her puking in the bathroom during practice. But the funny part is that I'm pretty sure that she thinks of me as competition. Well, she wins the skinny battle. Food tastes too good to give up.
Thank you for mentioning Judgement of Paris. That site is great. There are some really beautiful women on there.
But there's something else I have to say from the other side of the spectrum. My friend's brother is 6'6" and weighs less than me. I know this is a guy, but still. It's kinda weird. And yet he eats like there is no tomorrow, has sat at a buffet for four hours straight just eating, has been banned by his sister from going home for lunch, and I have never seen this kid gain any weight. So he's one of those people who is just naturally really skinny. So how's it his fault?
I know I'm going back and forth, but I really agree with the majority of what you are saying.

It is interesting how in this article, you are complaining about the media making people who aren't thin feel bad about themselves, and at the same time bashing people who are thin.

I'm a very thin person myself. But no it is not because I am on a diet or count calories or starve myself. It is because I have this little thing called a high metabolism. This basically means that my body digests things fast enough that it doesn't have time to really stay in my body and congeal as fat. Obviously, this makes me thin. Some people have no choice but to be stick thin. Those models you see on runways and in magazines? There is a chance that those women aren't so thin by choice.

I find this article pretty offensive. I understand that it is targetted at the media, but honestly it made being thin out to very unattractive and put it into a very very derogatory light. Since when is it not ok to bash people considered to be fat, but ok to bash thin people? You can't have one side without the other.

This is very biased and offensive.

So true.
I'm so glad I know that being healthy doesn't mean being stick-thin.
I remember feeling a huge wave of relief when I was watching a modelling show and found myself thinking they were disgustingly thin.
I've saved myself, for now, from falling victim to the demon that is the media.
If only everyone could.

I totally agree with that entire article, especially the part about plus sized models. Half the time, when I see an advertisement for some extra small clothing article, worn by an even smaller model, the only thing I think is "That, may be cute, but I'll never fit into that anyways."
For the average consumer, all an advertisement with an extremely skinny model is, is something to look at.

That was amazing.
Every point on there was so well brought across.
It is amazing how many people actually criticise size zero, and still nothing is done.
You have put everything into perspective. Well done.

This is a very good article!!!

Liz, I was reading this thinking how smart this person was, and then realized it was you!

Dear Liz,
I think you are incredibly beautiful. Seriously. I always have and I always will.
Love me.

I totally agree, though. Hell, I supposedly have a "normal" body and I feel bad about myself when I see models. They should definitely hire more plus size models. I think it would do a great thing for society and make lots of girls feel great about themselves.

As for the anorexic eight year old... my brother is eight. It's like him being anorexic.

My God.