[Valarie250]

I have got to vent! I was flipping through channels and came across a show called “The Insider.” It’s some sort of late night news/gossip show. One of the stories I saw dealt with Bob Barker (The Price is Right) and a former showcase show-girl…

She claims she was forced to resign because of her weight, he claims she was always overweight and so it couldn’t have been that.

Basically, she fluctuated between sizes 8 and 14!!! She now weighs 185 and consideres herself so big people don’t see her! She was acting as though she barely fit in the door! Barker mirrored these thoughts- he felt 8-14 made her a “big” girl!!!!!

I feel so angry inside! I weight 250, size 22 and I know I am not treated as badly as some people who are larger than I… I think most of us would smile and say thank you if someone made us a size 14/185!!

Has anyone else seen this sort of thing?

Anyway, I just had to vent to people who would understand my indignation

Valarie

[lucky]

I saw this story too but I don't think it was the same show. It annoyed me but didn't bother me. Hollywood has a whole different set of standards than the rest of us. Heck, I remember Cindy Crawford being called a "big" girl. And remember when Drew Barrymore was "fat"? I saw an interview with her stylist who claimed at her heaviest she was only a size 6. I have no doubt that the Price Is Right model felt huge at 185. After all she is comparing herself (and being compared) to people who are much younger and barely top 100 pounds.

I agree that it is crazy and I hate that people, especially young girls, have a difficult time realizing that special lighting and airbrushing make celebrities appear to be something that they are not - perfect. But, I think it is important to remember that their standards don't apply to us (unless it is in our own minds).

I remember thinking, "If I could just get to 175." But when I got there it wasn't good enough and it became 150, then 130, and now (possibly) 120. So, our perspectives of what constitutes big changes as we lose weight. People that I used to think were so tiny I can now see are average to chunky. I still think they look great - just not as little as I perceived them to be when I was at my heaviest.

The good news is that it is absolutely within your power to become a 185 pound size 14 if that is what you want to be. And, you can change your mind once you get there or any time in between. Just remember that this is YOUR journey not anyone else's and any frustration caused by other people's weight issues only serves to make it longer and harder for you. So, by all means, concentrate on you and you alone because you are definately worth the attention!

[TBJ333]

Blargh, what a horrible attitude about "big girls." Such an unrealistic standard -- size 8 is big? Hah!

I grew up in the upper midwest, and then went out east to college. Among young women there, a size 8 was the biggest that they wanted to be. Sometimes I imagine a few of those women visiting my childhood home in northern Wisconsin. I inwardly chuckle at what their reactions would be...

[Suzanne 3FC]

A few weeks ago, I watched an old move staring Jack Lemmon and Juliet Mills, called Avanti! It was set in Italy, where Lemmon and Mills met. She kept referring to herself as fat, she had to diet all the time, and went on and on about her weight. Even he agreed that she had a weight problem. Yet when she said how much she weighed, it was something like 136 pounds!!!! I was shocked. In fact, part of the story was that she overate because she was unhappy. But the funny bit was that she, as an English woman, commented that she wished she were more like the Americans because we don't have weight problems

The movie was made in 1972.

[Tani]

Suzanne, my husband and I were watching a Night Stalker marathon on TV a few weeks ago (The original 70's series) I gasped out loud when a character was referred to (many times) as being fat. (As in, "did you see a fat lady run by here?") She was probably about 5'4" and a size 8 I would estimate.

[mandy71480]

That reminds me of Grease- the movie. Remember how Jan was considered fat and they picked on her? She was NOT fat at all!

Hollywood needs to wake up and smell the reality here.

[alteaon]

Someone mentioned living in the midwest, I live in Northern Wisconsin ( Rhinelander) , but am considering moving to Colorado. I am worried about being "huge" there. I was reading on another bulliten board about a girl who was five nine and 120 lbs...and a guy said " I like thick girls like you"! That just tears it with me. If she's thick, what am I? I'm five seven and 160, I wear a size 8-10..It's true that the midwest has different standards, but even that is being effected by the attitudes of the rest of the country and western culture in general. I doubt I could ever weigh 120 or wear a size 4...I just don't feel that my body is built that way to support that. Doesn't heredity and bone structure mean anything any more? There was an article about a woman in Las Vegas who got fired from her job as a hostess/dealer because she gained weight. She ended up at something like 90 lbs and she was five five or taller..her employers told her to keep it up!

I know that this whole thing isn't going to really change, but it's still so infuratiating, and I do think it causes many people ( at least me) to be less satisfied with what we have done, and instead disregard that and concentrate on what we have to do.

[gbo]

People are varied on the weight issue no matter where you are. At 250 I saw a woman practically crawl up the back of her seat at the sight of me in obvious horror and another woman just a few steps away remarking on how lovely I was. Weird but true.
Hollywood does have different standards for sure. The camera puts on ten lbs you know. LOL their problem not a thing I can do about it. Which is fine as with all my health issues, weight issues and so on I have never wanted to be anyone else but myself. They have problems too.
Pam

[iwasskinnyonce]

I think Hollyweird looks sickly, the Olsen Twins look like huge headed bobble dolls with Alien eyes, and Nicole Richie she is obviously smoking crack and starving, most men polled preferred Lynsa Lohan with curves! And now we know that Jessica Simpson got so tiny bc her marriage was in the gutter! I love Oprah and Kirstie Ally (who looks great!) they represent REAL women, and I actually thought Anna Nicole was prettier fat! She looks high all the time now, one thing I have learned is NEVER use anyone in Hollyweird as a reference for comparison, they all STARVE....

[Loreebee]

Well, one thing is for sure. With today's vanity sizing, size 8 is not what it used to be. Realistically, an 8 is what 12 was years ago.

The small, small sizes are 000, 00, 0 and 2. When it used to start at 0 or 2, now it starts at 000.

I'm a size 14, sometimes 16, but I know that that is really the 18-20 of yesteryear, so I won't go by sizes.

I go by weight.

185 for a shorter person is not small. Smaller than others trying to lose, maybe, but not small.

Hollywoods standards ARE different, that is for sure.

[GonnaLooseitagain]

Loreebee, I agree with your post. I grew up in Southern California in the 70's & 80's and at 13 weighed 185, I was FAT, and I was teased and tortured for being fat. I am now in the upper mid west and I am still the same height 5'6" and at 179 (my current weight) my husband is thinking I am getting too thin...(granted it makes me feel better) but I know I can "be healthier, at a lower weight" I did have to promise not to become a stick person for him to get off my back about wanting to loose another 20-25lbs.

Standards are different in different parts of the world and in different regions of the USA.

[LLV]

Originally Posted by mandy71480

That reminds me of Grease- the movie. Remember how Jan was considered fat and they picked on her? She was NOT fat at all!

Jan? Who was Jan?

[shrinkingchica]

Yeah, and in the promotions for the Bridget Diary films, people were praising how that even a real-sized woman could find love. Bridget Jones was constantly going on about how fat she was and how she needed to lose 20 lbs......... Anyway, Bridget Jones only weighed 135 lbs!!! That is by no means fat. Just makes me angry!

[Star]

Well the people in Hollywood are not gonna change. There will always be those who treat heavier people with disrespect and the extreme - hate. It is up to each of us to find a place where we love and respect ourselves. From there we can feel sorry for the jerks who are blinded by some silly standard set by superficial idiots.
I am a size 12 and very happy.........

[aphil]

Okay...thought I would reply here.

~Bridget Jones (at least the portrayal of her in the film) wasn't "fat", as in heavy pound-wise or in plus sizes, but she was "unfit". In the film, she did have a chubby face, and some thickness around the middle and in her arms. There can be two women that both weigh 135, and one may be muscular and fit with a perfect body (because they eat right and exercise regularly) and the other can easily be a size or two larger, and have a rounded belly, or saddlebags. Just because someone is under 150 pounds, doesn't automatically mean they look great or don't have figure flaws.

~The Price Is Right thing doesn't bother me in the least. If you get a job as a "model"...and you know that when you fill out the application that you are going to be showcasing cruises to the Bahamas in a bathing suit...or handing Bob Barker the microphone in a short little mini-skirt...then I believe that it is part of your job requirement to stay "picture perfect". That is what model IS. They are supposed to be beautiful, and look perfect. That is the job description.

I don't think that is being discriminatory at all. I am a belly dancer. I don't think it would go over well if I went to a performance with no makeup, wearing my sweatpants. (Which is my preferred attire at home! )
If you are a secretary, an engineer, a veterinary assistant-or are employed in a place where your appearance should not matter-THEN it would bother me to see someone get fired because of their weight.
A model knows full well going into it that she is being hired for her LOOKS-and knows that staying fit is part of her job security.

Also, I don't believe for a second that Drew Barrymore was at her largest a size 6. I personally think that a size 6 is her on the smaller end. Her weight varies quite a bit...and from all of the photos and films that I have seen, she looks to be anywhere from a 5/6 to a 9/10 even at times. (Especially in one of the Charlie's Angels films.) Definitely a "normal" shaped woman. I just don't believe that she is a 6 at her largest.