Anorexic Mannequins?

skylight

:mad:

I have seen it all. Not only are the magazine stuffing ultra skinny, boned, sad pathetic models down our throats and our kids, but today, as I passed a "fashion" shop - West One in Slough to be precise - I saw it all.

The mannequins in the windows had their ribs sticking out! A small crop top and skirt - looked nice - but the doll was anorexic and I couldn't believe what I was seeing!

I know that these things are just there to hang clothes from, but I think that this was going to far.

I have a 14yr old who is constantly on a diet (like she needs it) an 11yr old who is being teased at school for being overweight (shes v. tall and filled out all over, no way is she fat) and I was not impressed with the image that this was portraying at all. :mad:

Rant over. Wont shop there again.

Al_Mac

Being a bloke, I don't like skinny women, and I believe the female shape is getting larger. Why do they pamper to the few?

IvanOpinion

I agree with with Al Mac ... I prefer a woman with something covering the bones. Showing all these ribs etc. is a total put-off ... the Ethiopian look is so 1980's .. unfortunately there are far too many gullible people out there that are so shallow that they base everything on looks.

On the other hand however I think it is equally disgusting to see girls wearing crop-tops with rolls of fat hanging over their low slung jeans. Does nobody actually look in the mirror before they go out?

The other night I was watching that show 'You are what you eat' and to be honest I thought that the presenter (Gillian McKieth?) was the worst looking thing on the show. She looks so haggard, gaunt and far older than she actually is ... the woman needs a decent meal. In my view she is a very poor role model for the show. And remember that is AFTER the makeup artists have got at her.

Ivan

Faith_2

IvanOpinion, sadly the gullible people are usually young teenage girl. My daughter is a little over 12 yo and already so conscious of her body shape (and has been for more than a year). She is not fat, but she is not a walking skeletton either and that is the problem. If she has an argument with her friends at school, the insults will be about her shape because she is not skinny. I keep telling her it's because she is a nice person and they can't insult her on anything about her personnality but it doesn't help her. Peer pressure is so strong. In her class last year, at the age of 11, there was an girl who was anorexic, who spent part of the school year in hospital. "Advice" was exchange around the playground on how to lose weight: don't eat, don't have breakfast, stick two fingers down your throat". Now where do they get this info?? I look at the magazines offered to both teenage girls and women and they are full of very slim women/ young girls with flawless skins. How do you make a 12 year old understand that what they see is not exactly true, that the pictures are often altered to make the model look better.

Interestingly I look at photos of myself when I was a teenager, when I thought I was fat, and I know I wasn't. I was slim. At least 30 years ago there wasn't this input from the media to make me feel even worse than i did!

I think we also have to look at parents - mothers. Not all mothers teach their children that what is important is what you are like on the inside. That you are a nice person. We live in a society where looks and appearances are all important. We are quick to judge people on first sight. Our bodies must be perfect. Our skin flawless. Our clothes fashionable. Even our homes have got to reach a certain standard, hence all those diy programmes on tv.

And if men don't like these skinny women (I have my doubts) - and (presumably) women don't either - why are they so popular???

IvanOpinion

There is very little sense in any pre-teen worrying about their weight too much (assuming they are not obviously obese or overly skinny) since their whole body chemistry will change throughout their teens. It is important for everybody to take pride in the way they look but to take it to extremes is stupid.

Many moons ago DW used to do a bit of modelling. She is 5'4" (and a few ticks - acorrding to her) and at the time she weighed less than 7 stone. I have seen pictures of her and, no harm, but she looked awful (she is now a much more healthy weight with a much better figure). She would tell me about some of the 'shoots' that make the clothes look perfect on her ... first off they might have used clingfilm to improve her waistline (and other bits), then they might cellotape bits of her body into the right place, then they would put the clothes on her ... finally the clothers were all pinned and 'tacked' at the back to make sure they hung properly. The final picture was exactly as you would expect but you did not see all the clingfilm, sellotape, safety pins and bits of thread holding everything in place.

Not only that but in the pictures DW looks like she is 6' tall and has 40" inside legs - because they 'stretched' the pictures to make her look even thinner (you see the same tricks used in the 'club books' these days).

The biggest lie I have ever heard is the phrase 'the camera never lies'.

Ivan

Trow

Ivan - first you say:

IvanOpinion wrote:

unfortunately there are far too many gullible people out there that are so shallow that they base everything on looks.

You go on to say:

On the other hand however I think it is equally disgusting to see girls wearing crop-tops with rolls of fat hanging over their low slung jeans. Does nobody actually look in the mirror before they go out?

And:

I thought that the presenter (Gillian McKieth?) was the worst looking thing on the show. She looks so haggard, gaunt and far older than she actually is ... the woman needs a decent meal. In my view she is a very poor role model for the show.

Double standards?

Murtle

As a very thin person, my clothes range from a size 4 to a size 8....I wish girls would just appreciate their body shape. Scarily enough, I have heard that it is also starting to affect boys with their body shape, so the same applies to them too.

Children shouldn't be allowed to become excessively overweight, and by that I mean, any child shouldn't have an overt need to become obese if they are being fed right and get a good amount of exercise. Unless it's a medical condition then there is no excuse to allow a child to become so overweight that they can't walk or play with their friends properly. It's not fair on them and can lead to all sorts of other issues, both health and personality. This is the parents responsibility, not the schools although I am sure they can help educate.

On the other side, I wish the media and people didn't continue the thought of *thin* is good. Thin isn't necessarily good but thin isn't necessarily bad, if it's the right size for a person. I might look very thin at times but I do my utmost to keep my weight up and my ribs covered...and it is not down to bulimia or anorexia. I just seem to burn food off as fast as I eat it!!

There should be more media coverage of different sizes, not *normal* sizes as with a wide and varied population, every size is normal.

I like the Dove advert at the moment, for it's portrayl of different shaped people, and hopefully showing that it is fine.

I wish pride was taken in what people wear, so that if they are on a larger size, then they don't feel compelled to wear clothes that don't enhance them...and the same for smaller sizes. There is no reason that rolls of fat need be on display, just like there is no reason for ribs to be on display. Parents take pride on dressing your kids, adults take pride in what you wear...and remember your kids clothes are for them, not you to wear to show your mid-rif!!!!!

As for thin models, display is important to sell clothes, I'm not sure a model with rolls of fat would really catch on, but I agree that anything with ribs should be in a butchers not a clothes shop and that they should come in all clothes size so you can get an idea of how it would look!!!

IvanOpinion

Trow wrote:

Ivan - first you say:
unfortunately there are far too many gullible people out there that are so shallow that they base everything on looks.

You go on to say:
On the other hand however I think it is equally disgusting to see girls wearing crop-tops with rolls of fat hanging over their low slung jeans. Does nobody actually look in the mirror before they go out?

And:
I thought that the presenter (Gillian McKieth?) was the worst looking thing on the show. She looks so haggard, gaunt and far older than she actually is ... the woman needs a decent meal. In my view she is a very poor role model for the show.

Double standards?

I was following you the whole way up to the 'double standards' bit ... Not sure what you mean? What I am trying to say is that there is a happy medium (and I am not talking about tickling a fortune-teller). While everybody strives to do the best with what they have been given there are those that can not see past the 'looks' concept to the person beyond ... they are that busy preening themselves ready for the 'pose' that they they forget about the overall package (I have met far too many self-absorbed bimbos/himbos in my time). I know I am not explaining this well but it is hard to put this into words.

Having said that there are definitely some people who should not be allowed out in public ... women who decide to sunbathe topless long after gravity has set in or if anyone is interested I have picture somewhere of a man of about 20 stone (not me before you ask) in a fluorescent orange thong ... I don't think anybody was able to eat that day ... he was a nice fellow (I talked to him a couple of times) but by gawd his wife ashould not have allowed him out in that thong ... I still have nightmares ... remember the big silvery shiney thing hanging on the wall is a mirror .. check it before you leave the house ... I do ... and everything is fine as long as I have my brown paper bag on.

Ivan

Trow

"Having said that there are definitely some people who should not be allowed out in public ... "

Says it all really.

There is a big disparity between what you say you think about appearance and what you actually think.

Not my problem, but maybe you need to figure out your actual viewpoint in order to avoid giving out mixed messages.

IvanOpinion

There is a big disparity between what you say you think about appearance and what you actually think.

Not my problem, but maybe you need to figure out your actual viewpoint in order to avoid giving out mixed messages.

Unfortunately it is not what I am saying it is what you THINK I am saying. You are either not getting my point or you are deliberately misunderstanding it (possibly just for discussion purposes). So just for you I will try to explain it a bit more ...

There ARE some people who should not be allowed out in public for various reasons including they are incapable of socialising or generally behaving their age. However in this instance we are talking about peer and media pressure realted to APPEARANCE and in particular the inane stupidity of what I will describe as 'underage weight control'.

When you see young girls (possibly not even into their teens) wearing knee length boots, fish-nets, a skirt that can only be described as a belt, a cropped top (another belt that they have nothing to put into) and plastered with makeup, you think does the mother not care about her child. When you see someone of 20 plus stone wearing a thong (that you can hardly see due to the folds of flesh) you wonder 'does that person know what a mirror is?'. You see a pregnant woman (or sometimes just a fat woman) parading with her belly hanging out over a pair of hipsters (I just wish some of them had the decency to shave their naval) and you think 'big deal you are pregnant don't shove it in my face' ... how would you feel if I paraded around with my beer belly hanging out (recently my mother asked a woman when her baby was due only to find out she was not pregnant ... I didn't stop laughing for about 3 days).

That does not mean you judge the person entirely by their appearance but anybody with half-a-brain would probably have similar thoughts. Anyhows I diverge ... back to the point....

What we have now is groups of pre-pubescent girls (and chaps) comparing notes on diets ... often they do not eat properly, they are missing vital elements in their diet and why ... because they have become so self-conscious about their image, about fitting in, about being like their mates, about not being teased, that they forget they have their own personality. They scour various magazines to see what their 'idols' are doing and then they try to copy them ... remember the stupidity of all those silly little girls that got their lipped pierced because Posh Spice apparantly did it (at least Posh had the inteligence of using a clip-on). This is the shallowness of character that I am talking about ... they are part of the mass produced 'in-crowd' with absolutely no individuality thereby allowing their own individuality to be erased until they act and behave 'as expected by their peers'.

The lids through the media and peer-pressure think that to get on they must behave in a particular manner (although in this PC age that is sometimes the way to get on) and are so devoid of self-confidence that they easily brain washed into doing so. Their peers (and in particular their parents) are too scared to be honest with them for fear of 'hurting their feelings' that they allow this to continue and germinate unabaited .. until serious damage is done. This damage could be illness from lack of eating or teasing because they wear clothes that are obviously two sizes too small. Why is it that many people are only interested in surrounding themselves with 'yes' people? Some people need friends that are a bit more honest (and less two-faced); they need to look in the mirror and see what is ACTUALLY there (not what the media tells them is there); they need enough faith to be themselves (not what others want them to be).

Unfortunately in this overly PC day and age I feel that we are mass producing a nation of clones that feel they should not question 'the norm' ... more concerned about being popular and conforming to the 'mass market' than about having individuality ... nad unfortunately the mass market continually strives to reach new lows to incorporate the lowest common denominators in society.

Ivan

Smiley_Mum

I've seen mannequins in Debenhams recently that are very curvy.

I think it is ashame that girls nowadays feel they have to be stick thin to be accepted. I think it is better to eat well and have a little of what you fancy, if you are a little over what you consider your "ideal" weight, what about it. I used to cycle a lot when I was younger but now since having the children, I don't have the time to get out, on my own, on a bike, although I do walk everywhere. Once they are both riding bikes, then I'll be looking forward to the summers when we can go cycling together as I really loved galivanting all over the place.

If you are able to dress so that the clothes you wear compliment your body shape rather than draw attention to bits you would rather not show off then all the better. Unfortunately, unless you are size 4/6 then even the slimmest of women would have "muffin rolls" when wearing cropped tops/low waisted jeans etc. I would and my weight is spot on for my height so you just can't win.

I've also noticed that there are a lot more clothing/underwear catalogues for curvy women and I think the average size in this country now is 14/16, whereas it used to be 10/12. The average height of women is getting taller too, I regularly see quite tall women in town, without heels etc so dress size is going to follow.