Althouse: "People use me as a figurehead, and to me that misses the point and is blatantly offensive to thin women."

November 6, 2013

"People use me as a figurehead, and to me that misses the point and is blatantly offensive to thin women."

"Curves don't epitomize a woman."

21 comments:

Gabriel Hanna said...: This model is not "plus size" as plus size women use the term--as a euphemism for "obese".

She's tall and broad. She's not fat. She's not going to help anyone's self esteem problems.; 11/6/13, 9:49 AM
Jim said...: Robyn is an example of a thought I had while on the treadmill at the gym. That is, the young women are most attractive in that period of time when they start to get fat and when they actually are fat. I'm sure there is some Darwinian/ reproductive fitness explanation for this but it has to be true.

Also, anyone who knows models knows she is HUGE. A girl in my family couldn't model and play volleyball because she would end up putting on too much muscle to be a high fashion model. She picked volleyball. Good choice.; 11/6/13, 9:51 AM
Known Unknown said...: She's not Dress Barn material.; 11/6/13, 9:53 AM
Wince said...: It's also about proportion and perception.

Maybe it was media conditioning as a child, but it was a bit of a revelation to me when I realized that women with more meat on their bones can still fit a size small.

Marilyn Monroe was a perfect example. She looked meaty, but did you ever see in real life a blouse she wore? Tiny!; 11/6/13, 9:59 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "She looked meaty…"

She was pregnant in "Some Like It Hot," her best movie. That's what people remember.; 11/6/13, 10:03 AM
Unknown said...: Maybe women should rise up and confront the fraud that is fashion magazines, fashion reportage, and the fashion industry. Good grief , for all of the noise women, in general, make about wanting to be taken seriously, and then turn around and obsess about meeting some bullshit image portrayed in a photo shopped bogus publication or an image driven by some anorexic waif ; well it certainly calls into question the seriousness about wanting to be taken so. If women didn't participate in promoting the propaganda it wouldn't last.
Enhancing your look, your figure does not and should not require blind obedience to some impossible to match body image.; 11/6/13, 10:08 AM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: What Gabriel Hanna said. She's not fat. She's big. She isn't "plus-size" in the sense the term is ordinarily used.; 11/6/13, 10:15 AM
Deirdre Mundy said...: She's a size 16UK... which makes her like a size 8 USA..... Not even on the same planet as fat.; 11/6/13, 10:16 AM
Strelnikov said...: This is supposed to be a heavy woman? These people have never been to Wal-Mart. Maybe they don't have them in AUS.; 11/6/13, 10:21 AM
Strelnikov said...: '"Some Like It Hot," her best movie.'

Sad statement on her career.; 11/6/13, 10:22 AM
Jaq said...: Cripes, a model kvetching about being judged on her looks is like a quarterback complaining about being judged on his arm.; 11/6/13, 10:25 AM
Smilin' Jack said...: "Curves don't epitomize a woman."

Umm...what does, then?

A girl in my family couldn't model and play volleyball because she would end up putting on too much muscle to be a high fashion model. She picked volleyball. Good choice.

Yes, because being able to hit a volleyball well is so much more important in life than being attractive and rich.; 11/6/13, 10:28 AM
Hagar said...: OTOH, some "scientists" claim that women look the way they do because men like them that way, and men look the way they do because that is the way women like them.

What would we do without "scientists," eh?; 11/6/13, 10:37 AM
Jim said...: Smilin Jack. Seriously you don't know about the modeling industry. Rich is for the 1% of the 1%. The rest of the girls are exploited for living expenses, comp cards, etc. Volleyball was fun and healthy.; 11/6/13, 10:38 AM
lgv said...: I noticed the mention of size "0" in the article. I remember fitting a girl in a wetsuit and asking her what her dress size was. She said, "Zero". It through me for a loop as I hadn't heard that before.

I thought to myself, what kind of crazy system has a size zero on it's scale? What's that mean? Invisible?
My size 34 jeans are 34". My size 44 coat is 44". There is a method to the sizing. How can there be a size 0? If she lost weight would she be a size negative 3?; 11/6/13, 10:57 AM
mccullough said...: Women use her as a figurehead. Men just want to use her.; 11/6/13, 11:55 AM
Sam L. said...: MM was pregnant then? I never heard that before.; 11/6/13, 12:00 PM
RonF said...: Love this quote from the asrticle:

"But the most important thing to remember about Lawley? Her body does not define her."

Say what? She's a model! Her body is the the only reason that anyone past her immediate family and friends know about her. It's the only reason this article was written! Of course her body defines her.; 11/6/13, 12:36 PM
ALP said...: This is why an intensive Photoshop course must be taken by ALL young women in high school - or even before. Maybe at age 13? It should be part of general sex ed and can illustrate what primal "cues" each gender looks for in a mate - and how advertisers use that to sell products.

Part of the course would involve exercises in which young women would take a photos of average looking guys...and be instructed to turn them into action movie heroes using the various editing tools.

With solid knowledge of Photoshop - young women can then go forth and view images of women with a more critical eye to the digital enhancement done...rather than how they measure up.; 11/6/13, 2:59 PM
Tari said...: A UK 16 is a US 14, so there's not a lot of difference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothing_sizes#Women

It's really nice to see someone modeling who doesn't look like a half-starved 10 year old boy. She looks... human. No, she's not a poster girl for fat women, but she's normal. You can imagine she might eat a cheeseburger once in a while. I like it.; 11/6/13, 3:27 PM
hamcentral said...: She is still fit and beautiful. These are qualities most "plus size" women don't have. Most "normal" women don't have these features either. Average looks are average for a reason.; 11/7/13, 1:16 PM