Is it a bad message?

[jackfaire]

Young girls that aren't graced with "your body will never hold a lick of fat" are shown by Hollywood that being curvy means they are fat and ugly. Doesn't matter that they are healthy and look damn good that is what they are shown.

Now I noticed something that bothers me. The show Friends did it and now Baby Daddy is doing it too. They both had characters that "Used to be fat" in the show but are cast with actresses who have not only clearly never been fat a day in their lives but are physically incapable of being fat. At least to the extent the show is referring to.

A woman whose body has the potential to put on more weight, some people are naturally skinny, will never look as skinny as these girls and I feel that may create this unhealthy image in these girls minds like that is how a woman is supposed to look after getting the weight off. Am I being crazy?


EDIT: Thinking about it they do it with guys too. They will play a guy as "I used to be fat" but now shows no signs of having a frame capable of supporting that.

[crashhelmet]

I thought that celebrities like the Kardashians, Beyonce, and others were showing that curvy was beautiful again?

I've never watched Baby Daddy, but if I remember right, Monica's "used to be fat" in Friends was morbidly obese and not "curvy." Her character was someone with an eating disorder that got help and got better. I see nothing wrong with showcasing that.

I know MTV once had a show that glamorized plastic surgery, promoting boobs jobs and liposuction to look like celebrities. Now that shit, I'll get on the soapbox with you. But we need to remember that while the media and advertisers may be contributing to making people insecure about their bodies, it's still up to the individual to set their own self-worth.

[Aethian]

I had a ex who used to be well over 100lbs overweight. He moved in with the other parent and with help lost all that weight. Since he lost the majority of the weight and some of it got switched in muscle while still growing his build doesn't look like he was once quite overweight.

[siead_lietrathua]

stuff like "concepts of beauty in media" effecting children is what parenting is for. it doesn't matter what the media shows if the parent writes it off a bullshit from a young age to the kid. then the kid grows up knowing to write that stuff off as bullshit.

[powerboy]

It is a bad message that Hollywood is sending. Yeah there is some shows that shows curvy women. I would actually have a woman that has curves and not a woman that is all bone.

[Hyena Dandy]

Parenting can minimize it, but you can't just say parenting and take out the influence of culture around you.

[crashhelmet]

True. Parenting is still just another influence, but again it's up to the individual whether or not they choose to let other people dictate how they see themselves.

[gremcint]

I remember watcing interviews about shallow hal about how the leading lady went out in the fatsuit in public and how horribly people acted towards her.

[Jester]

They both had characters that "Used to be fat" in the show but are cast with actresses who have not only clearly never been fat a day in their lives but are physically incapable of being fat. At least to the extent the show is referring to.

EDIT: Thinking about it they do it with guys too. They will play a guy as "I used to be fat" but now shows no signs of having a frame capable of supporting that.

I am going to disagree with you here on the basis that is hard to say who is and who is not "capable of having been fat."

Two great real-life examples, from "The Biggest Loser," are trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels. They don't look like they've ever been fat a day in their lives, but both have talked on the show on multiple occasions how they used to be "the fat kid," etc. I have no doubt that there are more examples, but these two just leapt to mind.

My point is not that Hollywood is or isn't sending a bad message. Hell, when have Hollywood OR Madison Avenue EVER sent a positive message to American kids about physical beauty, sex, body type, etc.?

My point is that you just can't tell by looking at someone if they are capable of having ever been fat, or ever getting fat, or even if they ever WERE fat. And while I am not familiar with the show "Baby Daddy," I have seen the female cast of "Friends," and I'm sorry, all three of them definitely have the potential to be fat or to have been fat. At least, that's the way I see it.

[tropicsgoddess]

I remember watcing interviews about shallow hal about how the leading lady went out in the fatsuit in public and how horribly people acted towards her.

I remember that. It's sad people would be so mean just because she was "fat". There was an episode on Rob and Big where Big was telling Rob how it's not easy being a big guy and Rob saw that when he went out in public in a fat suit and was called Big Bob. He commented on how people stared at him and all the other negative reactions he got from people while he was Big Bob and other hardships being a big guy.

[jackfaire]

There was a reality dating show once. This one episode the male suitors were introduced to the girl's "fat friend" which was really the girl they were trying to woo in a fat suit so she could see what they were really like and not just what they were like around a pretty girl.

[violiav]

But what is considered "fat"? Are we talking morbidly obese (well over 250lbs)? Or are we talking 150-200, which can appear fat or not based on a persons body type.

[Lace Neil Singer]

To some people, anyone over a size 10 is fat. Like this for example: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar...s-catwalk.html The modeling industry movers and speakers consider those girls to be "plus size", while I personally wouldn't consider a size 14-16 as being plus size at all, just a nice healthy size.

[Greenday]

Looks like some of the clothes they used were too tight. I thought clothes were supposed to fit comfortably. Clothes so tight that they leave nothing to the imagination don't fit that category (Which is what I'm seeing in those pictures).

[TheHuckster]

To some people, anyone over a size 10 is fat. Like this for example: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar...s-catwalk.html

I'm confused. Did they purposely dress them in size 6 clothing to make a statement or something? Size 10 is not fat by any means, but regardless of your size if you don't know which clothing looks good on you, you're going to still look like hell like, frankly, these models do. A lot of it is the color choices. In the last photo, the woman on the left is very attractive, but the color totally washes her out. Hell, if I take my glasses off I'd swear she was naked. I bet she'd actually look much better in a black or some other color.

There are also some dresses that size 0's look good in which don't look good on "regular" sizes, and visa versa.

Dress size is a very tricky concept, too. A curvy, tall woman is going to look just right as a size 14, but a shorter stout woman as a size 14 will look overweight. So much of it is a matter of perspective.