On January 14th, V Magazine’s size issue hits select news stands and there is already much buzz about over the argument of professional models vs. “actual, real, normal, regular, realistically (or whichever term you choose)” proportioned women. V magazine, which is known for pushing the envelope on fashion journalism, invited Karl Lagerfeld (infamous for being “fat-phobic”), to shoot a fashion spread of burlesque dancer Miss Dirty Martini for the issue (pictured above left), after Lagerfeld called German magazine Brigitte “absurd” for banishing professional models and depicting real women in their pages for good. Renegade fashion photographer Terry Richardson shot a professional model next to a “normal” sized woman (pictured above right) for the issue as well. Does one look better than the other? Don’t they look like Photoshopped images of the same girl? A couple of years back fashion officials in Madrid set a minimum body-mass index for runway models. Efforts gained urgency after 21-year-old Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston died of anorexia in November 2006, weighing only 88 pounds (40 kilos). Clearly some changes need to be made in the industry.
I know we’ve heard much from BurdaStyle members about wanting to see more patterns for realistically-sized women’s bodies and your desires for us to utilize actual “plus-size” models for our larger sized patterns (as you’ve quite pointed out that our beloved Alden is not plus-sized according to the real world) in photo shoots. It’s too bad we cannot afford Hungry author and international plus-sized model Crystal Renn (bottom right), who I find absolutely stunning, with her Natalia Vodianova eyes & pout, to pose for us. She is the only plus-size model to have ever appeared on a Harper’s Bazaar cover and has been spotted on the runways of Vena Cava and Heatherette. Lets hope this trend will stick.
What do you think of the use of professional models? Would you like to see larger women on runways? In magazines? Do clothes look better of waif-like figures?
Feb 13, 2010, 06.30 PMby sweet-saboo
People tend to see the world as they are, rather than as it is. For example, Karl Lagerfeld was about 90 lbs overweight for his height, for the majority of the last 25 years. it is not beyond possibility that the things he disliked about himself, he projected onto others. And couture clothing, since it it custom made for the unique measurements of each individual (at great cost, averaging between 20 to 40 thousand dollars for a single garment) and couture design houses consider themselves fortunate to garner any number of couture customers possible, regardless of whether these customers are hourglass figures, pear shaped, or stick thin. Try not to take the runway so seriously, it’s not real life. Celebrate what makes you feel beautiful, and leave karl to his illusions, or delusions.
Jan 27, 2010, 01.41 PMby misssylver
I want to see models who ARE like me. For years I have felt morbidly obese because I’m a UK size 12 rather than a size zero. How dare Karl Lagerfeld class girls like me as “fatties”? Surely it’s more of a challenge for a designer to make clothes for girls who are hourglasses, pears, stick thin and still couture?
Jan 25, 2010, 03.03 PMby sweet-saboo
we are just as unlikely to see the dimensions of physical diversity on the runway as we would for dancers in companies like American Ballet Theater…while this is not politically correct to say, it is pretty close to the truth. Runway models, are basically like performance artists, in that they communicate nonverbally, and the ones who are successful, communicate a feeling that translates into sales (buyers leave orders for garments because they want to sell that feeling to their customers). Also, when designers create the dozens of garments that are shown as a collection on the runway, the fabric and concept meetings take place about 6 months prior to the runway show. The design sessions and fittings (where the garment is translated from a sketch, to a muslin, and then fit-corrected) take place over the next 4 to 5 months, depending on the delivery & availablility of ordered fabrics. Most designers rely on a fitting model whose physical proportions yield sample garments that fit the other 12 or 15 models that are booked for the runway showing. As a former model for 19 years who did a great deal of sample fit work, I can assure you that not all runway models have the same body type. The basic similarity among models, is that the size of the frame is approximately a size smaller than the size of the flesh (ie: size 4 flesh on a size 6 frame). It’s not cheap for designers to spend months designing and fitting a collection, renting the tents, and booking the recongnizable models of the moment in the hopes of garnering the greatest visibility for marketing their collection. Which is part of the reason we don’t see many different body types on the runway. The garments created during the fittings also need to be able to fit the models who are showing the collection in the showroom during market week, and need to be able to fit the print models who pose wearing the garments in editorial photo shoots, as well as needing to be able to fit the models who wear the garments for buyers’ shows and informal trunk shows when the collection is sent to different retail clients in various regions of the country. The logistics of creating a dress that fits only one person’s unique body is simply not going to work in the above context. Please understand, that I am for celebrating the diversity that is beautiful regardless of age, physical proportion, and uniqueness of ethnic origin. As a former runway gamine, who at midlife now has a more curvy figure, I’m simply sharing an insider’s view of the view of the logistics of creating a collection and producing a runway show…and that celebrating & accepting physical diversity as beautiful is up to to individual. It’s not a perfect world. And there is beauty in imperfection.
Jan 24, 2010, 02.33 AMby chanelleaj
Wow, who knew this was such a sensitive subject. I just wanted to say being a girl who was picked on for being as skinny as a rack that a definition of a real woman to me is someone who embraces who they are inside and is confident with who they are what ever your shape or size.
I have always hated it when people look down on women for being skinny and class them as non real women at the end of the day just becuase you have hips, ass, boobs and a bit of fat in between doesn’t mean your any more real than a woman who is stick thin straight up and down, sometimes it’s just in the genes. I think people should stop labelling people and just enjoy who you are.
Also wanted to point out I haven’t got an issue with seeing skinny models on the catwalk, the model is meant to act as a walking hanger to show off the garment and let the garment drape of the body rather than hug the body? Can you imagine if designers had to make samlpes for a standard size 16 all that material its just more economical to use a smaller model.
Jan 20, 2010, 04.50 PMby almatinka
Jennifer-anne, I hope you don’t mind if I quote you (and thank you for sharing your story!), but when you said ""Real" womanhood must NOT be defined by having or not having ’curves’", you reminded me of a quote from the movie “Dogma” (which is vile both in the language and topics, but also in some of the ideas they provide, but on the other hand, some of the things they say are oh-so true, in my opinion). Salma Hayek, pointing at her bust, says to a woman (who happens to be a doctor from an abortion clinic) something about those not being what makes a woman a woman! :-) And that’s what the whole point is that people forget!!! :-)
Jan 20, 2010, 04.36 PMby jennifer-anne
Don’t get me wrong, it is nice to be able to shop at sample sales and I kind of wish I still could (crazy wonderful deals on nice thiiiiings!) But being skinny doesn’t mean people automatically treat you better. They often lash out, seeing you as the embodied symbol for the thin-obsessive culture that makes them insecure about themselves. And that pattern just undermines all women.
I remember watching a documentary about body image or something, and they interviewed a model who told a story about walking around downtown new york with her dad when she was 17, just minding her own business one afternoon when a middle aged man stormed towards her and told her she was disgusting, that she should be ashamed of herself, and that real women had boobs, and on and on. Well obviously, she was pretty upset and hurt by the incident. She has the body she has, and isn’t responsible for the culture that idealizes her shape while undermining others. And she was 17! Somehow some people have taken “feminism” as an excuse to assault certain types of women. That’s insane.
Let’s not forget that while some models probably do have pretty unhealthy eating habits, they are mostly 18,19 years old and that is exactly the age when a girl is most likely to be that thin naturally. I was. People tend to fill out with age, after they’ve finished growing in height. Even wispy ladies pack in on as they pass through their 20’s.
Jan 20, 2010, 07.09 AMby rhianna78
I hate that “normal sized” is not equated to obese or morbidly obese because heroine thin is the thing that’s being hawked as ‘normal’. It is not normal by any healthy standard to see & count rib bones on anyone. To see cheekbones poking and think that’s healthy or ‘normal’. Starvation & drugs have been sold for so long as being ‘normal’ that normal is now “fat”, “ugly”, “squishy”, “obese”, “overweight”, etc. Women come in lots of sizes & the tag in your pants does not make you more of a woman the smaller it gets. I am perpetually saddened, horrified, & sickened by the western obsession with bones & sharp hollow to bodies, to calling a woman who wears a size 3 as FATTTTTTTT. At selling a woman in a size 2 with her pants falling down from lack of any muscle mass, any feminine curves as being ‘plus sized’.
I have an 11 year-old pre-pubescent child who wears a size 2. Is she obese because Hollywood or some sick, stupid male designer says so? Should she starve herself to a 00 to make herself desirable? It is sick & disgusting that a normal, healthy weight is pushed as being fat, gross, & ugly & that is what pretty much every magazine showing “plus sided” on the cover is doing. That if you have boobs, a butt, hips, thighs, a stomach, calves, etc you’re undesirable because you can’t see through to your backbone.
Most models remind me of Auschwitz survivors, those in areas of the world with famine for decades, or walking corpses. I ban all fashion magazines from my home & strictly monitor what my children (all girls) are exposed to because of the horrible ideals that are pushed on them from society. It is my job as a parent, as a mother, as a woman, to raise them to love themselves, love their bodies both good & bad. Women come in all shapes, but a magazine screaming “plus sized” or even “normal women” only serves to reinforce that those aren’t the accepted standard, they aren’t good enough for the runway, they aren’t good enough to look at, to sit near, to aspire to, to eat with, to live with or to love.
Countering sick thin with claims of obesity epidemics (like its contagious!) only serves to reinforce the desire to remain sickly thin. It only goes to show that so many women are so horribly twisted and disgusted by their own bodies. By having the bodies of women, of real beauty & power. I fear for the future of mankind at times from what society pushes on the weak willed among us.
Jan 20, 2010, 03.07 AMby jennifer-anne
Oh yeah, but having said all that I have to say: I was shocked to find that as I gained weight I was getting close to the largest available sizes at many stores, even though I’m still barely even approaching a mid-range size compared to other women. I started looking at other women a lot more closely as I was getting bigger, and wondering where the hell most of them bought clothes. If I’m fitting into “large” sizes at stores, does anyone even make clothes for women who are actually large?
The way the fashion market constructs ideas about women’s bodies is so problematic…
1 Reply
Jan 20, 2010, 04.45 AMby ncn6
I guess for me this is why I opted to start sewing my own, even though I haven’t fully figured out how to fit things around my boobs!
I’m really glad you shared this (although obviously not really glad you experienced it). I think sometimes I do fall into the trap of thinking that life must be at least a little easier when you can shop at sample sales and come close to fitting the magazine image, and your story is a good reminder that beauty stereotypes can be just as toxic to those who fit the ideal as those of us who are reasonably far away from it.
Jan 20, 2010, 02.56 AMby jennifer-anne
As a woman who was once so waifishly thin that people accused me of being anorexic (even though I never was) and has in recent years put on about 30 extra pounds and become fairly curvy, I want to say that I think it’s a huge problem that we react to the issue of fat phobia by rejecting thin women as somehow less “real” than a woman with more shapely breasts and hips. Thin women are women, just as fully as those with curves, and this kind of reaction is really damaging to young girls who happen to be petite. Ultimately, it reinforces the same problem that we started with. Skinny girls are rejected as being less than true women, as being weak and sick, which drives them right back to popular media to feel validated in their bodies. They are rejected from the category of ‘true’ women, which places them either below or elevates them to a fantasy beyond the status of womanhood. But they don’t get to be “real” because of the body they happen to have. “Real” womanhood must NOT be defined by having or not having ‘curves.’ Every woman is a real woman.
When I was a waif, people put me down constantly, and envied me all the same. I was told both directly and implicitly that I was weak and sick almost every day, and occasionally that I should be a model. People would frequently grab my wrists or upper arms and scoff condescendingly, or make jokes about how I’d never hold my own in a fight. They would say things they wouldn’t dare say to a bigger girl, knowing how rude it is. But because my small body was somehow idealized it made it ok to denigrate me. Since I gained weight and got some breasts and hips, people give me honest, down to earth compliments and treat me with the respect I never got before. I’m curvy now, which means I’m “real.” I get to be treated like a woman, not a “sickly little girl.”
I like my new curves, I really do! It’s been fun to figure out what flatters my new shape and to develop new ways of relating to my body. But I would have also really liked it if when I was skinny, people didn’t feel the need to cut me down constantly.
Jan 19, 2010, 11.42 PMby flowergirl22
hello there, 75% of all the worlds wemon are over a size 16, so why not make clothes for them instead of fighting them,, immagine you would have something that ffits you and looks great,,
well we can all dream,
Jan 19, 2010, 10.42 PMby alden
Hey all!
This is a fascinating conversation and one that always comes up on BurdaStyle. I think #1 we can all agree that beautiful women come in all shapes and sizes. Beauty is being healthy, having confidence in yourself being happy.
I think that most of us agree, due to the severe epidemic of anorexia and the obesity crisis, that there is something incredibly off in the “ideal” body portrayed throughout the fashion world. Almost every woman out there is dissatisfied with something about their body, it has been reinforced that we should look for flaws. I am personally very curvy (as you know) I’m between 5’ 10" and 5’ 11" with a large bust and i wear a size 10. I am totally fine with my body, in fact i love it, still when I look at myself in the mirror or see myself in a swimsuit I cringe a little, my hips/thighs are weird, they go out and in and out again, there is buldging and saging in places there weren’t 6 years ago, we can always find flaws. But these flaws are based on what we believe to be an unobtainable ideal, one that has been airbrushed and retouched.
Women have always (and I mean always) had unrelistic ideals to live up to, figuring out ways to shape themselves into these forms, from the corseted women of the 1900s to the Rubenesque beauties or the 1600s. The other day my feminist side (didn’t know i had one that big) reared its head when i was playing with my niece. We were playing with her Little Mermaid doll and it’s head was larger than both her waist and pelvis, it reminded me of the ralph lauren ads that were out earlier this year. I for the first time was scared for the messages that (whether we realize it or not) are thrown at her, she is only 3 and is being taught that the ideal form (the one that will win over the prince at the end) is something that is completely unobtainable.
I totally agree with Almatinka in saying that as long as people are healthy, any size can beautiful.
1 Reply
Jan 21, 2010, 07.05 AMby victors
I spent the better part of my 20’s agonising over my flaws, at 23 I was a UK 22 by the time I hit 29 I could fit into teenage girls clothes. Now at 36 I am a 16 and have stuck two fingers up at all those magazine articles telling me how I could drop a dress size. Diverse model sizing would be great, some inspiration for everyone whatever your shape.
Jan 17, 2010, 05.48 PMby almatinka
I myself am not “skinny” (by far! :-)), yet I understand the necessity to have more “standardized” figure shapes for fashion industry (as in that of fashion shows, not the industry mass-producing garments for stores) – it would be difficult for the designers to create their garments for each particular model if they were all different shapes and sizes. For example, not now, but in a very close past I was a Misses size 14-16 in ready-made clothing, but I could only wear tops and dresses in “plus” sizes, because of my bust size. So, yes, I understand that the fashion industry cannot accomodate every single type of a woman’s body.
But I do think that the industry has taken that point a little too far. It’s not a good thing to have all models be skinny, simply to make it even easier – turning them into “hangers” (since if there are no curves at all, one doesn’t need to think much about shaping a garment to a body).
It’s not the fault of the thinner models, either – and it’s definitely wrong to consider them not “real” or not “normal”. The main point people seem to forget is that it’s not the presence of those models that is wrong! It’s the absolute majority (if not reign) of them on the podium – that’s what makes girls around the world want to look like them and not all of us are created to be able to do that in a healthy way. Even if I drop completely all extra tissue off my body, my bones alone would be wider than the current “standard”. I realize that and I also realize that no one forces me to look like that and be a model. But that’s me – how many people don’t realize that? How many girls think that there’s only one kind of beauty due to the force-feeding of that “standard” by the fashion industry?
Like in many other spheres, the solution is not to decide who is better and who is worse, or who is healthier – skinny or fuller women. The solution is diversity that can be achieved even on the podium – if they start bringing in models of different sizes, but more or less similar proportions, it would already be better than the “one-and-only” standard used now.
Jan 17, 2010, 05.11 AMby minkeymonkey
by Ichigogirl
""I’m all for models of DIFFERENT sizes. But. I have to add that (even very thin) models are both: 1. “real women” and 2. of “normal”-size. Just not normal size for all women (but there is no such thing as ONE normal size). "" * Well said! I think we all hold our own ideals of what is the ‘real’ size or shape or weight a real woman is and I’ll bet that, at the same time, we all know that each one of us is real. I know a real woman who was a man before and she could not be any less real or any less woman. I was a size 0 most of my life and have never been skinny, I’m just petite. I am more real than you can imagine! Of course, I’ll be forty this year and now range between a size 2 and 4. I like my shape and size and I know thinner people who are very real, healthy and not obsessed with their size.
What I don’t like the most is that the fashion industry sells a look that not everyone fits in to. This can affect young girls as well as just about everyone else in a negative way, even if we don’t realize it. The scary thing about these size zero models is that they are not my height!! I am 5’ 2.75" and most models are 5’8"!! A size zero gall who is quite tall is possibly an unhealthy gal who is trying to fit in because it keeps her on the runway. That is just a terrible image to sell and yet so many are buying it.
Does anyone remember that magazine article on Jaime Lee Curtis? She wanted to pose as herself, with her real figure, posture and all that. I loved those photos and her ‘bravery’ because that is exactly what it was. It should not have to be considered bravery to just be yourself but for an actress who was no longer ‘young’, she took a very big chance and I was glad she did.
I know a lovely young mother who is remarkably thin. She eats well, has a healthy and fit body and has no body image issues. She is just that way; that is how her body is.
I’m not sure what I’m trying to say, I’m just glad this is here so we can all be aware of what is going on in the fashion industry
I know I’m not seeing this as clearly as I could. I saw an ad for some larger-sized fashion and the first thought that came to my mind was “oh, she looks great” and the second, yes, I’m embarrassed by my own thoughts, was “that sweater makes her look larger.” Yikes!! The third thought was “so, what does it matter if she looks larger?” I know where that kind of thinking comes from. It comes from my mother who is even shorter than I. She was so very thin naturally. After child birth, she became quite heavy. She always wanted me to wear clothing that accentuated my slender figure and made me look taller. I’m not sure I care as far as I’m concerned but that second thought that popped into my head lets me know that old ways of thinking about women’s bodies are just that, old.
I enjoyed reading what others have posted. It is an insight to who we are, how world views and western views have affected us and how we can ‘listen’ to each other, young, old, man, woman, and those of just about every size there is. We may not all agree, but I think we know that the runway gals are being stretched too thin.
Did anyone look up the name of the model, Ana Carolina? I looked her up online and was startled by the images. Her earlier photos were of a beautiful girl, healthy and alive. The later photos, just a few years later, were gruesome, at least, to me they were. I saw an old woman depleted of energy and vibrancy. She looked skeletal and unreal. I looked up a few more models who died of complications due to anorexia and was amazed at a skeletal figure having makeup applied. For all I know, it could have been photo-shopped but it looked real to me. Why would someone think that girl should be working? Why wouldn’t someone take action? Who knows.
Strange how we are ruled by magazines and fashion designers! I don’t buy fashion magazines because they make me mad. They say things like “black and white is out this year” and then they’ll run an article with a socialite making a horrible faux pas in black and white. They just want to sell us what they think will sell. They have models who are against fur but the next year, they’ll all be in furs and, of course, black and white. You know what I mean. I guess that is my teeny, tiny boycott; I won’t buy the fashion papers or the fashion clothes. Hey, why should I when I can make my own?!
Jan 17, 2010, 04.57 AMby buddingnaturalist
I agree with Ichigogirl everyone should just be their own healthy bmi-normal weight. Wrt the photo spread at the top the girl in the lower right is good looking all the rest look plain wierd. I don’t think being ‘fat’ is something to be celebrated or considered normal just because so many people fall into the fat category nowadays (‘fat’ to me represents a person that is above their healthy bmi due to actual fat and not altheticism induced muscle). How can anyone possibly feel beautiful in a body they don’t respect enough to look after? That being said, it is easier (cheaper-less fabric, don’t need adjustements for curves etc) to sew clothes for sticks so its not surprising that the clothing industry really goes for that sort of body type.
Jan 17, 2010, 04.29 AMby shela
Yes, I definitely would like to see women with real curves! Being a full size woman in a family of full size women we have a hard time. Clothing is either cut high or to low, if the correct size can be found. I would like to see classic garments that can be worn by mature women with dangerous curves. lol
I would like to see healthy women. I work in the health field and according to the BMI chart just about everyone who comes into the office is morbidly obese.
There are people who have never been and will never be a size 2. They exercise and according to genetics they are healthy at a size 12. Some of the young ladies feel that they can not get to the correct small size so they eat. They are emotional, and comfort eaters.
Yes, there is a problem with being over weight in States. But as you discuss the issue remember that you don’t know what personal or health issues the person has that can contribute to the weight, the people that are asthmatics, that have allergies and mental issues, who take medicines that cause weight gain no matter how they exercise. Please, when discussing this issue realize that it is not all black and white.
The females in my family are full figured. My 12yr. old daughter was ashamed when her body started to grow out of what was acceptable in the eyes of her peers. It took me years to convince her that she is beautiful. When she said, fat, I said statuesque or Goddess like. I’ll get off my soap box now. I hope I made sense to someone.
1 Reply
Jan 19, 2010, 07.33 PMby ncn6
I’m glad your daughter has a mom who helps her appreciate her body as it is… lord knows I’d like to hear some of that from my mother sometimes!
Jan 17, 2010, 03.18 AMby calicocouture
I get sooo frustrated when they say “real women” and show someone in a size 14/16 range. I wear a size 6, and am very healthy, and very normal, and very much a “real women”
just like the skinny women are “real” and the heavier women is “real” to say anyone below a fuller size isn’t a real women annoys me to no end. I want to see healthy people on the runway. Some people are natural thin, others on a fuller figure side…I’d just like to see a model who doesn’t look like she’s on deaths door.
5 Replies
Jan 19, 2010, 09.04 AMby ichigogirl
Rephrased (I don’t want to insult anyone): Women who are a size 2 and below are just as real as women above a size 4. In fact, there are plenty of real women below a size 4.
Jan 20, 2010, 04.31 AMby ncn6
I’m sorry, but this comment bothers me. Ichigogirl, think it’s totally fine for you to call us out on non-inclusive language that suggests that women in the smaller sizes aren’t “real” women — point taken. But I actually don’t read Laurie1962’s comments that way, and even if that’s what she meant I think it’s still inappropriate for you to make guesses about who she is and what size she wears.
Jan 20, 2010, 05.51 PMby ichigogirl
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to call anyone fat. I would never make any remark at all about other people’s body shape unless it’s a compliment, since it’s a super-sensitive subject and people have hang ups about things other people would never even think of.
Just please please, please don’t make limits in what size a woman has to be to be a woman.
I think big women AND small women are real women and beautiful in their own way. Please don’t feel that I exclude bigger women, I never would. I’m sorry you read my comment as an insinuation of obesity or overweight, I didn’t mean it that way, there are many sizes above 0 or 2 that are not very big at all, and I’m avare that for most people who are bigger than a couple sizes bigger than 2 it must sound like 0 and 2 are unnaturally small, but for some women they are not.
I think it’s amazing (=good) that humanity is so diverse.
But it annoys me a bit (actually, a lot) that it’s politically correct to call thin women ugly, not female, sick-looking and loads of other insulting things, when you have to tip-toe around chubbiness and obesity.
I would prefer it if all women, big or small, would just keep from calling other women ugly or too anything.
We have enough hurdles in life anyway, we don’t need to give each other body-issues, be it that we’re too short, too thin, to tall or too big.
Why does this engage me so much?
Partly because I don’t like bullying or calling names.
Partly because there is a very strong movement going on to ban small clothing-sizes because they “promote eating disorders”. I’m not exceptionally small, but I can only shop in some shops, in other shops the smallest size is too big for me, and there are many women who are even smaller than me.
I understand that for bigger women (nb, I don’t mean among fat women, I mean among women bigger than the really small women) the smaller sizes are abstract, and may look childlike. But promoting a ban on small clothing-sizes, or on thin models will neither help bigger women to feel proud about themseves of to find nice clothes in the shops, it will only create problems for more women (ie for more small women).
Which, I admit will lead to more women who take up sewing their own clothes, which is a good thing…
Jan 22, 2010, 04.17 PMby barbaraagatha
Well, state that thinner should not be discriminated against and you get a flame.
I want to just say that maybe all of our touchiness is due to the fact that we have issues with our body to begin with.
And we are threading on a dangerous slope: the “normality” issue.
“Normal” is a shitty word to define.
I recently went to the US with my mother (far thinner than me) and we got into this huge argument with some Americans when I provocatively said “just because here the average person is obese, it’s not an excuse to be unfit or unhealthy. I have never seen so many unhealthy people in my life”. I was called names and called “skinny ass bitch” (EU36?!). I was the voice out of the crowd.
I then went to a clothing shop in Bulgaria and asked to try on a miniskirt in EUsize 36. I was looked down by the model-like shop assistant who smirked and said “they don’t make them in those big sizes, we only have normal sizes”.
And I just laughed and walked away, since I do not have body-related issues.
SO who’s right? Both: normal is one thing in the US and another in Bulgaria.
I’m happy with myself and I’m as healthy as a horse so I have nothing to worry about.
But to those people that got mad at me in the US I ask: sure it’s not yourself you’re mad at? Or your cholesterol level?
Jan 25, 2010, 11.29 AMby barbaraagatha
Hahaha, Laurie1962, maybe mye english failed to express my USvsItalyvsBulgaria argument!!
I didn’t stand up on a chair in a US Mall and scream “you’re all a bunch of fatties” :D
We were with a few people at dinner and the conversation moved to health, fitness and country-specific habits. I live in Italy and was telling how my grandfather recently passed away at 98 for an accident and had been in perfect health up to his last day, thanks to sparce healthy eating, red wine and an outdoorsy life.
I was being cornered into the issue when the people that disagreed with me started justifying their lack of fitness by claiming it was “normal” and I was “abnormal”. it was pretty irritating to see unfit people claiming that me, a marathon runner, was “abnormal” just because 90% of their sample looked like them…
So I sort of blurted out “my” truth.
And yes, I was offensive, but I felt the other people were too,