On one hand, some newssites allowed readers to comment on these news items, and the sheer hatred was worrying. As was the line of reasoning —
They shouldn't make [women] conform to these unhealthy standards, besides, it's not attractive, anyway!
Like, duh — if it's not attractive, then do what is, and beat the models? Seriously, it's not rocket science. As for protecting the models and those who use them as
role-models or
thinspiration — it's
their body, let
them decide. Seriously, what's next? Body-mods? Can I still have my ears pierced? Can I smoke or drink? How about knife-play? If BDSM is outlawed, only outlaws will etc. No, really — if I started messing with everything I think is not a wise idea, from being severely underweight to being severely overweight, from co-dependent relationships to not getting a decent education, where will it end? The number of people I know who don't obviously deviate in
some way — OCPD, PTSD, anorexia, body dismorphic disorder, histrionic PD, hikikomori etc. etc. — is
severely limited. Will we mess with all of them? I'm sorry, but this just seems to change the situation from a so-called elite setting a silly norm to the masses setting a silly norm. I'd give you a soppy
how about more tolerance
line, but seriously — in the end, this is all just so much bullshit. Physical attraction exists. It's not everything. Maybe, some factors are cultural, tied to wealth (paleness when it meant you didn't have to work in the fields, a healthy tan now that it implies vacation, a little extra weight when it meant you're well-to-do, thinness now that extra weight just implies junk food) — but then some are arguably hard-wired, like
WHR or healthy-looking
hair, and in that case, some bleeding-heart political campaign won't explain them away any time soon. So, your genes make it impossible for you to conform to that standard? (I'm assuming genes here, if you just don't
want to, then that's your decision — live with it. Own it.) Some of us were born stupid <raises hand>. Some of us were born with no legs, or a propensity for certain diseases. Some of us were born different from that cookie cutter beauty ideal. So friggin' what, you didn't expect there to be some sort of equality in genes, did you? Life's not fair. Then you die. Get over it. Or if you must, believe that in the end, equality will come — you'll lose your smarts, the models might lose their shape — by the time we're sixty. But, see, the guy with no legs … he still won't have any.