Comments on: Ugly Betty Open Thread

By: Moe

Moe — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 19:08:34 +0000

I saw this episode and had mixed feelings about it. Does anyone else think America is getting smaller?

By: Suzy Smith

Suzy Smith — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 07:02:11 +0000

I don’t know if anyone remembers but there was a real Mode magazine that was a fashion magazine for plus size women. Unfortunately, it didn’t last that long due to low reader numbers.

By: kitten_kat

kitten_kat — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:01:30 +0000

I saw the episode and enjoyed it very much, especially when one of the ‘cool’ girls came back and expressed her gratitude to Betty. It shows that it can change some people’s minds. Although it is sad that pluas size fashion shows are far and few between.

By: Sophie

Sophie — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:08:01 +0000

I did see the episode and in the end they did en up using a couple of plus size models for what it’s worth….

By: withoutscene

withoutscene — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:07:29 +0000

Oh yeah, and the whole skeleton’s thing really bothers me and creeps me out. How do people totally miss the misogyny in those images? Not okay.

By: withoutscene

withoutscene — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:06:10 +0000

I caught the last part of that ep. I think the whole “healthy look” thing is so very anti-thin disguised in PR (though it does mean that the rhetoric of body pride activists are becoming relevant). I agree with proposing a more diverse size range in models, but I don’t agree with excluding anyone based on their size or the health status people assume they have because of their size. Stereotyping thin women as anorexic and calling them “deathy” isn’t helping. It’s the same thing. Period.
I take the good with the bad, but I wish people in the media could talk about and propose broadening acceptable body types and loving one’s body without disparaging other bodies.

By: K

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:41:22 +0000

Yeah! At my school medical when I was nine, I was told my projected height was 5’10.

But although I was a tall child, I was already starting my growth spurt then. I’m actually 5’5, which is perfectly average (and taller than most of the women in my family). But I feel, well, short.

My brother got caught the same way. They shouldn’t TELL kids what their projected height is; it’s such an inexact science!

By: Beth

Beth — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 15:17:12 +0000

Ha. The height thing is so true and it is the main way that Barbie dolls fucked up my head — I never really expected to be wasp-waisted with huge boobs, but damn it, I wanted to be six feet tall. I still don’t quite feel like a grown-up because I’m not as proportionately tall as Barbie.

(My mom is also taller than I am, which is probably the real reason why I feel like I haven’t quite achieved an adult body yet, but I’d rather blame Barbie.)

By: MarqueeMoon

MarqueeMoon — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:00:03 +0000

Exactly…I’m barely over 100 lbs, but I’m also only 5’3. I’m skinny as fuck and my weight doesn’t worry me- it’s my height I obsess over. I feel unattractive most of the time because I am not 5’11 and leggy like a model.

By: Arlene

Arlene — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 09:19:00 +0000

You know, everyone is always going on and on and on about how models are so impossibly skinny and set an impossible standard for the rest of us women and shouldn’t all models weigh the same as normal people and stop warping our minds in terms of what we feel we’re supposed to look like to be considered attractive?

But nobody ever mentions anything about height. Yeah, I’m never going to be 102 pounds, but I’m also never going to be 5’10″

Why is one model-typical physical attribute supposed to make me feel bad about myself, but not the other–considering they’re both supposed to be possessed by the ‘ideal’ female physical speciman?