Skinny People

After the Oscars last night there has been a lot on the internet about how thin Angelina Jolie appears to be. There have been speculations that she is starving herself to raise awareness for poor countries where children don't eat. There have been speculations that she is suffering from some horrible illness. There have been speculations that she is anorexic/bulimic. There are people saying the dress just wasn't flattering and she is the same as she usually is.

I was just going to leave it alone entirely and ignore the whole thing. Then I saw a thread on an online message board about a person that saw someone they deemed "anorexic" at the gym, doing cardio for hours. He wanted to know how to say something to her (or if he should). Responses varied but of course hitting on her and getting her banned from the gym (really?) came up.

Okay, fine. That is normal-ish for that site anyway. I was just going to ignore that too. Then I was reading facebook, as I do all too often, and something popped up from Old Navy advertising their jeans. It was their jeans made for "pear-shaped" women and the first comment on this ad? It was of course a woman asking for a plus sized model for these pants so she could see what they "actually" looked like, implying of course that the model was too thin to be showing pants made for pear-shaped. There were various other comments but most of them centered around this model being a "stick" or "too thin" or not the proper body for this type of pant.

I admit, that was my breaking point. As a size 4 (US) that model was roughly my size, maybe even a size 6. She had hips and thighs. She was an "average" size person. I know full well someone can be pear-shaped without being a size 16 or 18 or 46 or whatever.

The reason this all gets to me is because of the new trend of "skinny-bashing". Why is it okay to talk about Angelina as being too skinny/unhealthy/sickly/creepy/etc because she is thin? Maybe she DOES have an eating disorder. Maybe she IS suffering from an illness. Why should she have to explain what is going on with HER body? Why is it okay for all these people to hate on her just because she is thin? If her acting was crappy, sure, whatever, her acting is a matter of opinion. Her body shape is a matter of fact.

With the person that saw the "anorexic" at the gym, why should he feel compelled to say ANYTHING to her? Why does it affect him that she likes her cardio? Maybe she is ill as well, or suffering from an ED. Maybe she is just naturally thin. Maybe she is training for a marathon or something of that nature. The point is, how does it affect a stranger at the gym? If I went to McDs every day and every day I saw a 600 pound woman with everything from the dollar menu in front of me, would it be okay for me to confront her on that? Would it be okay for me to call her fat or to berate her? Would it be acceptable for me to go up to the manager at the restaurant and get her banned from McDs for eating too much? No, of course it wouldn't be okay. I can't even imagine the reaction I would get if I did that, but I know it wouldn't go well.

What I can't understand is why so many people feel so entitled to care about another person's appearance? You have your own body. Do with it as you please. If you want to run for 10 hours a day and are prepared to handle the consequences, by all means, go for it. If you want to eat 15 cheeseburgers a day and are prepared to handle those consequences, by all means, order up. Why does it matter to *YOU* how *ANOTHER PERSON* looks or what they choose to do to his/her body?

Now I have heard that it matters because there are too many thin people in the media. That is causing teens to become anorexic or have issues with body-image. Okay, fine, I have heard that too. I haven't seen any data on it or done any research so I can't speak to that or how to fix it. I *CAN* tell you that the way to fix it isn't to bash thin people just like I don't advocate bashing overweight people as a manner to handle the obesity crisis the US is dealing with.

Mind your words people. Calling someone "skinny" or a "stick" isn't a compliment, in some cases it is downright hurtful. Better choices are "looking well" or "gee you look great!" if you feel like you REALLY need to comment on appearance.