Too big or too small? (nsfw)

[Aliantha]

What do you think?



Here's the story if you want to know it, but basically it's simply a comparison between runway models and normal to larger sized women.

[BigV]

I like women. I like normal women. The pictures of women in media are often pretty, but when I see a woman of the same size in real life, they look ... bony or fragile. I have an image of healthy that includes CURVES. Flesh, padding, softness, these are womanly characteristics and they are attractive.

Now, having said all that, the physical appearance is secondary to what really constitutes genuine beauty, and that is attitude. There are all kinds, of course, but no amount of physical anything can overcome an incompatible attitude. As Hallmark as it sounds, inner beauty shines through anything, clothes and flesh included. Physical appearance is easier to see from a distance, quicker to notice. And attention counts. If my attention is not caught, I can not learn anything about what's more important inside. I try to withhold judgement about appearance until I can learn more, important things first after all.

Originally Posted by Lazarus Long

A man does not insist on physical beauty in a woman who builds up his morale. After a while he realizes that she is beautiful--he just hadn’t noticed it at first.

I agree completely.

[glatt]

People come in different shapes and sizes.

My daughter looks skinnier than the woman on the left, but that's just the way her body is. She has absolutely no self image hangups and she eats as much as I do. Usually, anyway. Last night, when I pigged out on 6 tacos she only had 3. But normally she packs the food in there just like I do.

We are a tall skinny family. I don't know why. We may be a little more active than most, but my wife is the only one who actually goes out and exercises on purpose. We eat healthy foods, for the most part, but aren't nazis about it.

Anyway, my point is that in the rush to try to accept plus sized models as being normal, sometimes people will criticize skinny models. And that's just as bad as criticizing the ones with curves. I don't want my daughter to ever hear that being skinny is ugly. She is skinny and will probably always be skinny. She doesn't need to hear that.

[ZenGum]

I'd do either of them.

Heck, I'd do both of them.

I think the thin one is a bit too thin, but I'm not going to say no to her for it. I'll cook her a nice dinner first.

[regular.joe]

Just talking about physical attributes here. Once past the initial physical thing, women become more beautiful or more ugly the more I get to know them depending on who they are.

I've always like women with curves. Just my preference. You've seen Mrs. Joe, I have to tell her all the time that the most painted women in history are the voluptuous ones. I have never really got the cultural thing that sexxy women are all stick and thin. Bone is for the dog, MEAT is for the man!

[regular.joe]

Oh, by the way....the chick on the right in that picture...man...wow..way more hot then that little thing on the left.

[it]

what are ya talking about? so many man like larger women, why are woman so obsessed about this? its totally irational b.. wait a minute.
*research*

Hot or not? Men agree on the answer. Women don't.

There is much more consensus among men about whom they find attractive than there is among women, according to a new study by Wake Forest University psychologist Dustin Wood.

The study, co-authored by Claudia Brumbaugh of Queens College, appears in the June issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

"Men agree a lot more about who they find attractive and unattractive than women agree about who they find attractive and unattractive," says Wood, assistant professor of psychology. "This study shows we can quantify the extent to which men agree about which women are attractive and vice versa."
- source

...that's why.

women are obsessed about this because it is actually completely rational, given that society favors attractiveness (in all people), but the standards of what counts as attractive in women are a lot more unanimous.

sure both me and Ali can have large fat bellies (i am guessing), but the price she pays for loosing the globally admired guitar shape is a lot bigger then the price i am paying for not having a six pack... because for every man whose going to put that aside and think she's hot for having large breasts (that usually acompany big women) or any other trait, a lot more women are going to look past my belly and think i'm hot for being tall or because of any other trait.

and that... has to suck. i know i sound like an asshole most of the time, but you really have my compassion there - i imagine its like being the only suspect whose a minority member in a police investigation - it might not be your fault but you know your screwed... except that there's someone going over the suspects whenever a man's head turns to another women rather then you.


and i know it can be a genetic nightmare to change: i can tell you that in the boot camp i remember doing the exact same runs other guys are doing, eating the exact same meals with the exact same portions, and while some of them came in with a beer belly that disapeared, and others develop six packs, i barely lost anything, even in an environment where my bad habits have no room of expression. frustrating as hell.

but it ain't no skin color you can raise as a flag, because while in reality different people have to make an extremely different level of affort to achieve the same results, it its not impossible; i did loose the larger portion of my weight eventually (and gained it back since), and i know people who where more overweight then me that became bony little sticks. and that's what makes it all the more both better and worst - it gives you hope, but it also makes it your own fault.

now you can do what i saw sundae do in another thread and tell yourself there's something wrong with those man - small dicks, stupid, bad breath, whatever. you can tell yourself that there's something wrong with those other women. stuff like that would probably make you feel better, but the reality is its neither, and its not something wrong with society either - that's just a bunch of people attracted to a bunch of people.

its something that society deemed unattractive - because of your gender almost unanimously - that you have, that is technically your fault, and a fucking nightmare to change.

and all the expectations of fairness in the world aren't going to make that fair.

p.s.
yea i just sort of jumped to the point where this sort of threads usually lead. just imagine people staring talking about why society thinks this or that are important and me answering them with this post.

[bluecuracao]

'Plus size' models are between sizes 6 and 14?

Weird. Size 14 is borderline, but I don't see how they could consider anything size 12 or under 'plus.'

'50% of women wear a size 14 or larger, but most standard clothing outlets cater to sizes 14 or smaller.'

I don't understand why...most of the clothes I always see sitting on clearance sale racks are size 8 or smaller.

[Pico and ME]

Yeah and that sucks.

Being short and small these days means my clothing choices are slim. Petite departments in my town have really cut back on what they offer, and usually only cater to the geriatric crowd.

It used to be that I could get way with wearing just normal smalls, but now they are too big. I haven't changed, the way they size clothing has.

[Sheldonrs]

So long as their cocks stick out past their stomaches, I don't care.

:-)

[bluecuracao]

You should come shopping in Philly, Pico. You'd have vast amounts of sale outfits to choose from!

[Pico and ME]

And I LOVE clearance shopping the best too!

I can drive to the Macy's in Indy - the selection does improve there somewhat, Im just bemoaning the change around here. I used to find a lot at Kohls, but no more.

[infinite monkey]

It's women who make other women feel inferior. It's women who believe that super skinny (and I'm not talking about naturally thin, I'm talking unhealthy super skinny) is best. It's women who fall prey to that type of marketing.

Why? I have no idea. Yes, be in good shape. Yes, be thin or not thin or somewhere in between. What makes you happy in your own skin?

Eating disorders are very real and very destructive, but I know few women who have a completely healthy and positive attitude about their body. There is just so much pressure. Not from men.

And that's all I have to say about that.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Sheldonrs

So long as their cocks stick out past their stomaches, I don't care.

:-)

what? Like... to my sternum?

[Clodfobble]

It's women who make other women feel inferior. It's women who believe that super skinny (and I'm not talking about naturally thin, I'm talking unhealthy super skinny) is best. It's women who fall prey to that type of marketing.
...
There is just so much pressure. Not from men.

I don't buy it. Scroll through the Men's Health "Hottest Women of 2011" results and let me know when you get to one above a size 6... It's true that when shown a naked chick who is a size 14-18, yes, all men will jump in about how they find her plenty attractive, or even more attractive than the skinny girl with no face. But in the grand scheme of things, the vast majority would choose the one who is a size 4-6, because they're biologically programmed for that ideal hip-to-waist ratio.

Who are the majority of fashion designers, who choose the models for their clothes? Men. (Gay men--who, incidentally, often prefer a more androgynous body shape. This past season on project runway, there was a challenge to design for real women, and one of the men didn't even know what DD meant, and after he was informed he was completely flustered at the impossibility of sewing such a curvy garment.) Who are the majority of digital visual designers, who use photoshop to make that model a little skinnier, sometimes without realizing they've made a farcical picture of a human? Men.

Women don't pressure themselves to be the skinny chick--they hate the skinny chick. Believe me, I know. I can't tell you how many times I've been told to my face by other women, "Ugh, you're so thin!" with complete disgust. On the one hand, yes, they're covering up for their own dislike of their own body, but on the other hand what they really want is not to be magically skinny, because then on some level they know they'd be hated like I am. What they really want is for me to gain weight and be like them. Misery loves company.