Friday, 20 November 2009

  • Supermodels are Biologically Unhealthy

    Supermodels are Biologically Unhealthy

    Supermodels are said to be the epitome of beauty.

    Notes: Potentially controversial entry. You have been warned. And for the purposes of this discussion, this entry is about heterosexuals.

    Adrianna Lima (above): 5'10, 112lbs, BMI of 16.1 (13% under the lowest possible healthy body weight)


    Gisele Bundchen: 5'11, 115lbs, BMI of 16 (13.5% under the lowest possible healthy body weight)


    Kate Moss: 5'7, 105lbs, BMI of 16.4 (11% under the lowest possible healthy body weight)


    Supermodels are Freaks of Nature


    Naomi Campbell: 5'10, 110lbs, BMI of 15.8 (14.7% under the lowest possible healthy body weight)

    According to the US Department of Health, a healthy BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9, and an a BMI of 18.4 or less is considered underweight. According to the Mayo Clinic, low body weight can cause amenorrhea (not having menstrual periods). From the Mayo Clinic: "Excessively low body weight interrupts many hormonal functions in your body, potentially halting ovulation. Women who have an eating disorder, such as anorexia or bulimia, often stop having periods because of these abnormal hormonal changes."

    Looking at these models and their BMIs, it is clear that they are severely underweight, as are many models who run the runway. However, these women (and other models) are considered to be some of the most beautiful women in the world- and they set a standard for beauty.

    My question to you is this: What does it mean when "beauty" is surreptitiously synonymous with "infertility"? Is it against our evolutionary instincts to have thinness to the point of infertility as an ideal beauty trait? What do you think is attractive about a woman who makes a conscious effort to become this thin?

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Comments (182)

  • ninoathrun@xanga

    but they're still hot.
  • Meowmeowkimmaee@xanga

    In evolutionary terms, that's quite a good point. And I don't have an answer to that.
  • carydeeluxe@xanga

    ugh, i really dislike this entry. a lot of models are just TALL and THIN and they can't bloody help it.
  • chipshmunk@xanga

    Thinness will be the end of our species.. way to go media.. but regardless I have birthing hips. I was 110 lbs and still couldn't fit in a size 5.. o well.
  • anonymous

    Maybe those girls dont want kids. I know I dont. 
  • fairyfloss2004@xanga

    BMI is subjective i think
  • kimtendo@xanga

    The evolution point was actually really interesting.
    Otherwise, what's pretty is pretty. No one can deny what's aesthetically pleasing...
  • msnatalie27@xanga

    Well, we just talked about something similar in psych. First of all it's mostly GIRLS who want the crazy, boxy, thinness of the supermodel... when most guys answered in surverys, it can consistently been found that it is not necessarily overall weight, but waist-to-hip ratio... the larger waist-to-hip ratio, the typically considered to be more attractice by males... that's because large hips are ideal of birthing (evolution!) and so a thin waist can eccentuate that.

    In fact, when given sketches of women, men prefer the body of a slightly overweight model with a high waist-to-hip ratio as compared to an underweight or average woman who has a low waist-to-hip ratio.

    My opinion is that most men are not the one's pushing the supermodel thinness upon us, its ourselves! (I mean look at most supermodel types, very little weight even in terms of breasts and butt... not necessarily a easy male attractor) Furthermore, I don't think evolution comes into this then, since its often women analyzing women or themselves, not men... so its not really mate selection or anything or the sort
  • sheflourishes@xanga

    We are trained from birth to believe that fat = evil. It's screwed up.
  • BellaGlam

    A ton of Victoria's Secret models have been having children lately actually. Kate Moss has children as well.
    & they are some of the most beautiful women in the world, it's all about aesthetics.
    That just the way it is...
  • BellaGlam

    @chipshmunk@xanga - I HIGHLY disagree, obesity is a vastly greater problem.
  • FreeeVerse@xanga

    @sheflourishes@xanga - I hear ya.
  • joy_willcome@xanga

    adrinna looks alot more than 112 lbs.

  • mepistocat

    @msnatalie27@xanga - I couldn't agree more~! Well said (erm...written?)! :)
  • xsPoNgEs_go_SQUISHx13@xanga

    well, excluding the fact that i would LOVE to stop having my period, unless we're all ready to boycott our fab-mags and runway shows, none of this 'awareness' stuff matters. the supermodels are still going to get paid for being skinny.


    anyway, BMI is a very loose measurement of health. my mother is at least 10% under the lowest healthy BMI weight, and she's just fine, physically.
  • chipshmunk@xanga

    @BellaGlam - well, thinness in the way of.. you're not ovulating. That is kind of a problem and would cause a species to die out. But with half of us being disgustingly obese and too lazy to do anything about it yeah, it is a vastly greater problem because we'll all die because of high blood pressure and clogged arteries before all of us stop being fertile from being too thin. 

    Then again being fat can cause you to have irregular periods.. so we should all just be healthy. I mean look at all the people on the "I didn't know I was pregnant" shows.  Most of them are whales and talk about how they rarely have periods anyway. Then the doctor talks about obese women not having periods. 

    sorry,

    really

    bored
  • S_K_O_T@xanga

    Most supermodels, in fact most models, do look radically unhealthy!


    Why put Adriana Lima first though? Of all of them, she's the one who has NEVER seemed unhealthy!


    Most of the fashion world is run by slimebucket male "homo-sexuals", and is geared towards vain girls....so most supermodels are NOT the epitome of beauty or desirability!


    If want to see what men really like....most of the girls in porn look like anything but the anorexically thin waifs of the fashion scene.


    There are a lot of very silly, very vain, girls going "lesbian" now...and they're often starving themselves thin...often to look like a prepubescent boy!....but that whole scene is a WHOLE 'NOTHER world of insanity!
  • yukarimayhem@xanga

    my BMI is 14-15 ? and its natural, i dont think that makes me unhealthy, its just genes i cant control it it has nothing to do with my diet or lifestyle
    x
  • cutesycharm@xanga

    They are ridiculously underweight - yet on a previous VS model entry we all thought they were healthy and toned looking, just thin. I think everyone's perception is really distorted.

    The evolution point is good, but maybe these things are taking place to stop people from breeding. :p

    No idea.

  • cutesycharm@xanga

    @yukarimayhem@xanga - Maybe not you, but I'm sure the above women have starved themselves. Kate Moss is a big supporter of being thin no matter what for that matter. 
  • tsunami_kid@xanga

    its just the trend we've fallen into in the US. Lots of other countries are the other way around: chunky is better, fat means you're well off, you can feed yourself. Here, we have so much, fattness becomes a problem because of gluttony. and then gluttony gets asscoiated with wastefullness, ungratefullness, negative things. so fatness tends to have a negative connotation, while being extremely thin becomes something almost sacred. soemthing so elegant and free. so, yah. theres my goddamn rant.
  • Deliver_Me_123@xanga

    I don't believe those weights at all.  I have 3 friends who are about 5'8" and I'm positive that they are between 107-112 and they ALL look skinnier than adriana lima.  Those quesstimate stats are just wrong.  I think the VS models are typically heavier.
  • yukarimayhem@xanga

    @cutesycharm@xanga - yeh i know that other girls go to extremes to be thin, and it does disgust me. At the same time though its frustrating being told that someone my size is unhealthy when actually all the overeating that we're pressured into is even more unhealthy sometimes. :) still i see where you're coming from ^^ 
  • hmm_ishi@xanga

    I think these models are normal, they arent extremely skinny. or aneroxic or bulmic. there is nothing wrong with being underweight and below the avg bmi. 


    i'm sorry, but these girls are fit. Fit girls have lower bmi. i'm 5'2'' 102 lbs and my  bmi is lower than avg. and i'm completely healthy. I work out, i eat three meals a day and snack inbetween, 
    They have a body because they achieved it. 
  • Danigi@xanga

    BMI is not an end all be all of healthiness.  According to the BMI I am on the verge of being overweight, with a BMI of about 24.8.  I have about 4% body fat, being mostly composed of muscle.  A calculated ratio of height to weight is not always the best way of determining healthiness.

    I'm not saying that it's great that we have a lot of ridiculously thing models and stuff, but classifying them just by their BMI is retarded.  I have a lot of girl friends who are completely healthy and eat about as much as I do and still probably have a lower BMI than those girls you've listed.  You can't just rattle off numbers and classify people's health by that.

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