Too-Thin models banned from Madrid fashion show

[SteveShaw]

For a long time now I've thought that fashion designers want bone thin models because they can't actually design for any other shape. They can only do straight lines.

Er, Barter....is this because you applied to be a model and is this just sour grapes?

"Steve the sylph" and no, you are not seeing that topless barbecue photo of me.

[Loren]

I've been checking. Studies are certainly more recent
than the 50s, however in 2005 the CDC acknowledged
that it had mistakenly inflated the mortality risks
associated with obesity, which needed to be
very significantly downgraded.

Down graded how much? What is very significantly, exactly? If you're going to quote studies, please be specific, otherwise it's not useful.

Being overweight
may be less dangerous than being underweight.

Your opinion or from these studies? Define underweight and overweight with regards to your comment please.

there have been advances in treating
many of the conditions associated with
obesity--e.g. diabetes, cardio-vascular disease,
high cholesterol, high blood pressure.

Does that make being obese somehow healthier, the fact that some of the diseases it causes are now more treatable?

there are questions about the definition of
'obesity.' As things now stand it seems the obesity question
is in flux. Enormous controversy right now.

You state this as if it were a fact, a medical fact.


Loren

[peeplj]

Loren, didn't mean to step on any toes, dude.

But yeah, the studies Jim and I are referring to, we didn't make 'em up.

--James

[susnfx]

This thread is going to be locked any minute. Obesity has serious health implications and that's a fact. Whether you can get better treatment for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, etc. is completely beside the point. I certainly wouldn't accept having cancer with a light heart just because there are better treatments out there.

Susan

[peeplj]

I see no reason to lock the thread, and if I've upset you, please accept my apologies.

--James

[Wanderer]

Down graded how much? What is very significantly, exactly? If you're going to quote studies, please be specific, otherwise it's not useful.

This downgrading thing was all in the news a few months ago. Here' s a typical article:

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_det ... dline=2691

"A widely quoted federal study that concluded obesity is poised to overtake tobacco as the leading cause of preventable death inflated the impact of obesity on the annual death toll by tens of thousands due to statistical errors."

I don't think anyone's claiming that being morbidly obese is healthy...however, I'm sure it doesn't quite deserve the hysteria that has surrounded it since the Atkin's diet craze took off.

[peeplj]

don't think anyone's claiming that being morbidly obese is healthy...however, I'm sure it doesn't quite deserve the hysteria that has surrounded it since the Atkin's diet craze took off.

Exactly.

Well spoken.

Also I think at some point as part of growing up (or old, maybe?) we all have to start to accept ourselves and our bodies as we really are, not as we (or others) might wish them to be.

--James

[Loren]

Loren, didn't mean to step on any toes, dude.

But yeah, the studies Jim and I are referring to, we didn't make 'em up.

--James

Not a matter of stepping on toes, but as you say, it is a serious issue - life or death in many cases, and as such one should quote and link to specific studies, rather than employing one's own interpretation, unless one is a qualified medical professional. And in the case of the latter, it would still be out of bounds as medical advice I suspect.


Loren

[peeplj]

I don't see this as a medical advice issue...I'm neither giving advice, nor requesting any. (Nor accepting any that might be offered unsolicited.)

I see this as a discussion of a social issue.

It is good to have rational discussion and dissenting opinions, don't you think?

It's also good to be able to discuss in a calm and level-headed fashion that which tends to inspire strong feelings and emotional responses.

--James

[susnfx]

But you have a tendency to apologize rather than discuss, James. Instead of responding to my post above about the health problems associated with obesity, you apologized and ignored the post itself. You will admit there are serious health problems associated with obesity?

Susan

[peeplj]

There are serious health issues associated with obesity.

There is also a strong association between laying down and dying, and yet we can lay down and not die.

It is the nature of the relationship between the health issues and the obesity which is at the heart of the controversy, and how that relationship may best be addressed.

As for my tendancy to apologize if I believe I have upset someone, that is merely a part of the culture in which I was raised and in which I live.

--James

[Tyler]

Let's not let this one go into la-la land, ok folks?
Being too fat=health risks
being too thin=health risks
being alive=health risks
solution=Fugghedaboutit!

[Cynth]

Down graded how much? What is very significantly, exactly? If you're going to quote studies, please be specific, otherwise it's not useful.

This downgrading thing was all in the news a few months ago. Here' s a typical article:

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_det ... dline=2691

"A widely quoted federal study that concluded obesity is poised to overtake tobacco as the leading cause of preventable death inflated the impact of obesity on the annual death toll by tens of thousands due to statistical errors."

I don't think anyone's claiming that being morbidly obese is healthy...however, I'm sure it doesn't quite deserve the hysteria that has surrounded it since the Atkin's diet craze took off.

Wanderer, that article was interesting and I may at least be able to follow up on the story from there. However, the website that wrote the story describes itself this way:

What is The Center for Consumer Freedom?The Center for Consumer Freedom is a nonprofit coalition of restaurants, food companies, and consumers working together to promote personal responsibility and protect consumer choices.

The growing cabal of "food cops," health care enforcers, militant activists, meddling bureaucrats, and violent radicals who think they know "what's best for you" are pushing against our basic freedoms. We're here to push back.

So what exactly is "consumer freedom"?
Consumer freedom is the right of adults and parents to choose what they eat, drink, and how they enjoy themselves. Defending enjoyment is what we're all about!

In my opinion, this group's analysis of the CDC study would not be an analysis I could rely on, because they obviously are coming from a certain point of view----"defending enjoyment". Their analysis may be correct, but because of their stated purpose, I cannot accept that article as evidence that the dangers of obesity are over-rated. I realize you may have just been intending the article to be a sampling of what the argument was about, not an authoritative article.

[dow]

In what's probably an ill-fated attempt to draw this back on topic and away from the precipitous brink of being locked, I have a question.

What do you think should be done to rehabilitate the ultra-skinny model subculture? After all, if something isn't done, then all of those soon-to-be out of work models will lose another pound due to not having any marketable skills and will be caught up by the next stiff wind and swept out to sea, or up into trees or worse… They could get caught in an updraft and be lifted thousands of feet up in the air, where they would pose a threat to commercial aircraft. I guess that if it gets bad enough, someone could develop a super-sized flypaper type thing and catch them as they blew by. Yeah, that's the ticket. I wonder if Ronco has thought of this. Maybe I should call them to see if they'd like to buy the idea.

[djm]

I wouldn't worry too much about the supermodels. If they are truly good looking they will be either supported for the rest of their lives by sugar daddies, or married to either a film star or sports star, and supported for the rest of their lives. Some of them even have brains and go into business. But a good looking woman never has to worry about being alone. This is something I know about.

djm