Gonna have to cancel my 16 year old daughter's subscription to "Shape" magazine. Actually, got it at a Freebie Site, so not much "cancelling" to do, just shoot off a quick email stating WHY "Shape" isn't appropriate for my daughter.

She's got an average body, little teeny pudge in the belly, but long-limbed, athletic and healthy. When she looks in the mirror she thinks she's fat. I don't call a 5'6", generously-endowed, 145 lb girl "fat". Good lord, I WISH I had her body (actually, I did...many, MANY years ago).

Each month I get a little angrier when I open the new issue of "Shape". Granted it DOES have a FEW articles about "living healthy", but mostly it's "Get a Bikini Body by Summer", or "How to lose 10 lbs in 1 week!", or other, similarly titled BS. Bunches of ads with semi-anorexic models. Don't see too many "healthy" bodies for girls/women to emulate. Who the heck wants twig-legs like Victoria Beckham or boy-boobs like Kate Moss?

Dear Daughter KNOWS she's not really fat, but as an average teen-ager, she watches films and reads magazines which seem to glorify skinny-ness. As parents, we've tried our best to instill a healthy body image, and her brothers are mature enough to know not to encourage her when she has her "I'm fat" moments, but I'm kinda at a loss in wanting her to persue her love of fashion without trying to emulate the "clothes-hangers-masqueraging-as-human" models. She and I are both aware that "models" are supposed to be walking clothes-hangers and not fashion icons, but unfortunately, the media continues to advance the notion that a woman must be a size 0-5 in order to be a attractive example of womanhood.

I LOVED Anne Hathaway (Princess Diary, The Devil Wears Prada) and her "real woman" figure, so sad to see she's lost 20 lbs recently. Yeah, I know, she DID get skinny for TDWP, but hey!...it's a FASHION movie!

What happened to curvy women? Big, busty chicks with rounded calves and hips you can sit a baby on? "Rubenesque" women who could bring a man to his knees with one swish of her backside?

Nah, I don't really want to go back to those days, but today's images of super-skinny wenches really tick me off.

Where o Where does a mother find magazines and print media that pushes forward a "healthy" body image consistant with reality?

So, Ladies, where do YOU go for healthy-body-image examples, and what do you think of the swing back TOWARDS "healthy" size, women role-models.

Guys...Wadda you lookin' for (if your wives even LET you look) - (a) shake the sheet skinny, ( Rubenesque © chubby-chaser, or (d) healthy - meaning size-porportionate?

Tough question. I just show my daughters pics of me when I was only around 110 lbs and very sick, and let them compare that to how I look now. Then we swim a few laps around the pool or ride bikes together. Both of my biological daughters look almost exactly like me. I don't think they would even listen to me about how unhealthy it is to be too skinny without my recent personal experience with bad health and I KNOW they wouldn't listen to me if I did not make an effort to stay in shape now.......not 110 lbs.....but around 135 lbs! ( being skinny isn't free in my case anymore-I have to work out these days, just like anyone else would) The fact that I am married to someone who likes my shape also helps.......but I am not sure the media is going to be that helpful.

You know, I am glad you brought this up, Jels... It is not only a frustration for grown women, but becoming an issue for growing "tweens" & teens. While I am sure body image issues affect both boys/girls & men/women, I feel it does create more often a bigger issue for girls/women.

How DO you explain to your DD that the entertainment idustry has created an almost unobtainable, unhealthy & sometimes even dangerous illusion of what a woman SHOULD look like. And this being the opinion of WHO?

I had thought we had come a long way from the "Twiggy Era", until the crazy popularity last year of celebrities like "The Skelatwins". We are seeing some real woman as models in magazines & commercials - but my problem with this is they are usually referred to as "Plus Size". Since when is a size 12 or 14 a PLUS??? Why can't sizes 8 - 16 be the NORM???

I wish there would be some type of retaliation from women to show that it IS O.K. to be normal. To be larger than a size 2 and actually healthier. Change the way the industry and clothing designers think a woman should be and help the average woman look & feel as beautiful as they really are.

It's scary when 8 & 9 year olds start to worry about their body image & their weight and how they look in clothes. That was the last thing I was worried about when I was that age. To have a conversation with your children on a healthy body image - while tip toeing around any possible weight issues without sending them into a full blown eating disorder or diminishing their self-esteem disheartening...

O.K. I'll step off the soap box now...

This is just one of the things that came up when I did Live Search.

http://www.listen.family.org/daily/A000000388.cfm

Looks like a great site! Thanks! I'll save to favorites & look some more when I have more time...

While I agree that the "skinny as a rail" body model isn't the best role model, and all the fashion magazines push the skinny role model, which in turn probably leads to a lot of teen anorexia and bulimia, and negative self image; I think we need to be careful and not stray too far over to the other side and venerate the overweight image. Neither is healthy, neither too skinny nor too fat.

I've noticed a lot of counter-culture advocates the "full-figure". Not that anyone shouldn't be proud of what they are or how they are built, overweight is unhealthy, perhaps as unhealthy as underweight.

Regardless, kudos to you all for taking a positive influence and providing guidance in your children's lives. It seems so many parents take the approach of just not caring.

well, I ain't gonna hang my head in shame cuz I got a big ass.

and I'm healthier than some skinny/moderate weight people.

and at least I have some muscle tone. I see women at the gym that have no ass or are skinny but have no muscle what so ever,it's just skin hanging there.

Oh, and BIG is BEAUTIFUL baby!

Jels................have you tried finding pics of how these models look without makeup? Also does your daughter know how photos are often touched up? Another thing people, girls especially, should understand is that skinny models were not considered beautiful until the early part of the last century, when designers started having runway shows. They needed models with no shape, so that they would not have to alter their sample garments. To me, that does not say "beauty".

Oh, my! So - I was googling oil painting images of woman and came across this painter - Hans Baldung... He has some beautiful work, but very risqué - especially for those times. I believe he was from the 1500's... Looks like some of his work is on the verge of soft porn!

I don't like to see her ribs, but I would like to be able to throw her over my shoulder and take her to the bedroom caveman style.

Just for the record though, I don't think Hollywood is that bad of an influence. I can think of dozens of celebrities that are shaped nicely that I wouldn't consider to be either too skinny. Jennifer Love Hewitt, Catherine Bach, Scarlett Johansen, Salma Hayek, Diane Lane, Kim Kardashian, Halle Berry, Elizabeth Hurley, Jessica Biel... I could go on. They are extremely attractive women that I don't think are bad examples. I'm not superficial when it comes to look and figures... I think all women are beautiful... well, except for Mama Fratelli... used to have nightmares of that woman.



I remember when I went to a friend's wedding a couple years ago. He and his wife are Puerto Rican, so it was largely a Puerto Rican wedding. Some of the best figures I've seen in my entire life and they could move on the dance floor. I had even taken some Latin dance lessons in advance so I could enjoy myself and I'm damn glad that I did. Man, they could shake their hips!

Looks like you have some good taste! But - I should point out that some of the woman you named are the very ones that Hollywood & the tabloids always give a hard time when seen in an unflattering bathing suit, or at a bad angle about their weight.

So, Coma... How much can you lift?

Put me down as a guy who is somewhere between likes his women healthy and likes them rubenesque. If she looks like I could sneeze and blow her over, I'd be afraid I would hurt her otherwise. Good point Coma, I loves me some Jessica Biel!!

Caveman style or romance novel style?

LMAO! Thanks - I needed that chuckle today!

Two Words...TYRA BANKS.

Sweet, slightly deranged Tyra has done multiple shows on "real" models/actresses/etc without make-up and "retouching". Tyra is great. She's a beautiful woman who seems to actually be REAL.

I'm lovin' some of the poster comments regarding other, healthy-sized women on TV. Great examples all. Thanks, I'll make sure to point those healthy-sized beauties out to her on a regular basis.

And to those folks who think DD's size 8/9 is fat, I'll quote the lovely, healthy-sized Tyra...."Kiss my big fat azz"

Cannot STAND her. Sorry Jels - I agree with you on most everything, but that woman is the most self-centered celebrity I've ever seen. She will take any topic and make it about herself. It's embarassing when she has a guest on her show, talking about their problems or whatever, and then rich, beautiful, Tyra turns it around into some horrible experience that SHE has had. Give me a break.

Sorry [/rant]

Ok, I gotta agree, she's self-centered. So am I.

But damn...that baby's got back and she ain't afraid to flaunt it.

I agree with the celebrities that Coma mentioned. Tyra is also a good size, though she is extremely annoying.

I watched a movie from 1995 or so, dark city, and the female star of the movie would probably be considered fat nowadays.

Personally, I'd like to be a size 7 again, that probably won't happen, so I'll settle for 9. In adult language that would be a size 8. I'll start working on that later this year

Exercise is a nice idea and all but after being on my feet for 10 hours I don't feel like doing anything but sitting on my big butt.