I, for one, can say that I am not jealous of her. I'm fat, yes, but not jealous. There are some people that are thin that look healthy, and there are others that don't. Those with ribs showing and without any muscle tone, etc. are not the kind of thin that I'd want to be. Pass her photo around a group of women who ARE normal sized/fit, and I bet a lot of them would agree with us "jealous" fatter women.
My point is, that it's judgmental for anyone to say "You're just jealous because you WISH you could look like that." It always reminds me of when they're making fun of some person on TV because they're a 40 year old man who's unemployed and lives with his mother and walks around with cheetos under his fingernails, and he replies with "You're just jealous!!" lol.
Last edited by LindseyLouWho; 04-01-2007 at 03:00 AM.
Reason: syntax clarification
My point is, that it's judgmental for anyone to say "You're just jealous because you WISH you could look like that."
Yes it probably was judgemental of me but no more so than the tens of posters who jumped on here to have a go at her. I know she's a "celebrity" and therefore allegedly fair game but it doesn't seem right to me that we're always criticizing other people's bodies - too fat, too thin, whatever. This site is generally a supportive place and bodies are the focus of it. If this were a goal picture of someone on the site she never would have been attacked in that way.
Whoever said beauty is in the eye of the beholder is right. I personlly think Love looks great but can see a lot of you do not and we all have the right to that opinion. Nigella Lawson - beautiful face but she's overweight. I'm not saying she doesn't look great, she does, but at a UK size 16 (where our outsize clothing shops start) she is overweight. There is nothing particularly wrong or right with this but I would rather have Love's body that Lawson's. That is my opinion and I am entitled to it too. Having said that I'm ashamed that I've even posted that comparison at all because I really do feel that this constant microscopic examination and comparisons of women's bodies has led to millions of women leading miserable lives obsessed with food.
Sorry Nemesisclaw - didn't mean to ruin your thread.
Now if you want to accuse me of being jealous of another woman's body - Holy cow, have you seen Nigella Lawson? Hips and all. Why can't more women desire to have that kind of body?
I'm just reading this thread now. As for Courtney Love, Nicole Richie, Jennifer Anniston and all the rest of Hollywood I really don't care what the heck they do to themselves. I don't think it's up to them to set an example to young women. What they do is their own business. They have no importance in my life. I'm really not sure why women think they have to be like people they don't even know or care about. If I was going to want to be like them, gosh I'd rather have their MONEY. And the truth of the matter is I stand a lot better chance of being wealthy then I ever do of looking like them.
Why can't more women desire to make the best of their OWN bodies?
There are definitely some stunning "bigger" girls out there. And for sure Nigella is one of them as is Laila Ali on Dancing with the Stars, man she's GORGEOUS, and Queen Latifiah just to name a few. They are gorgeous and sexy, but you know what - I'm never gonna look like them either. I just want to be the best *Robin* that I can be. That's all. No use wishing I looked like anyone else, what would be the point - it's just not going to happen.
Last edited by rockinrobin; 04-01-2007 at 10:09 AM.
When one of my coworkers went through "empty nest" and went back to college to finish her teaching degree she started to exercise and diet to lose weight. At first she looked really good. She is about 5'7' and started out in the 140's. She started getting toned and had a really great healthy glow to her, but she still thought she needed to lose a little more, before she quit her job at the place I work she started looking dangerously thin, she was around 120 and her bones were really started to show and she still was not happy with where she was weight wise. I saw her the other day and it was kind of scary, she probably weighs around 100 pounds and has a gray palor. She's going to be a grandmother and I hope it will make her see that she needs to be healthier if she wants to be around for the baby.
I am going to say that I believe beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder...but I think the problem with the media, is that they are influencing young girls into thinking that beauty is 90 pounds, 5 foot 10, spray tanned, airbrushed, and bleached blonde highlighted with porcelain veneered teeth and acrylic nails.
I am in a profession that is very pro-WOMAN. In belly dancing apparel, most companies don't even call larger costumes plus sized, they call them goddess sized instead.
The most beautiful thing that I could possibly ever, ever hear was in class a few weeks ago. There is a mother and her teen daughter in one of my classes, and I was teaching belly rolls. I overheard the daughter (who has a perfect figure) telling her mother that she couldn't do it because she "didn't have enough belly" to show the roll.
Another woman approached me in class Wednesday night, asking me after class if she was doing okay, because her movements don't show as much on her as they do on some of the larger women in class. (This woman is about a size 4.)
I am all for fitness and weight loss, obviously-but I am very proud to be in a profession that supports REAL sizes and healthy weights-and not everyone trying to be a size 0, 2, or 4-when those sizes and weights are not attainable for every woman. Some women are fit and healthy at a size 8, or a size 12, depending on their bodies-but if they were celebrities, every tabloid in the world would be saying that they were morbidly obese-just like they are doing to Tyra Banks.
~I think Angelica Houston, with her strong bone structure and graceful aging is 10,000 times more beautiful than Joan Rivers-who looks hideous with all her plastic surgery because she is obviously afraid of aging.
~I think Catherine Bach was a much better Daisy Duke than Jessica Simpson.
~I think Drew Barrymore, with her curves, is much more beautiful than Nicole Richie, the stick figure.
I am all about promoting fitness and a healthy lifestyle-but not promoting stick skinny, veneered, bleached and tanned "media perfection". What Hollywood sees as desireable and perfect, to me, just seems gross and unhealthy.
OMG! Names I recognize! Jennifer Anniston, Drew Barrymore and Catherine Bach. But who the heck are all these other people??? I've HEARD of Courney Love, of course, but wouldn't have known her by any picture. But these others? Man, I need to start watching more TV.
Does the OP picture look good? Hmmm...her figure is "OK", stress that. Nothing to write home about. The legs are rail thin, and her tummy ripply. A tummy tuck might solve the ripples, put a little meat on the thighs. I think she's just a wee too skinny, but not the dangerous skinny of anorexia.
But I don't think any of that is what makes her not look too good to me. TO ME, she looks sickly white and haggard and drawn. Like she's been on a 6 month drug binge instead of a 6 month diet. I got a cousin 10 to 1 smaller than her and yet she doesn't give me this sickly image. She's naturally thin and can't gain weight. 113 was her highest and that was at 9 months pregnant! Yikes! But she doesn't have ripples. And like my own tummy, I guess that comes with the having the weight to lose territory. We've stretched. And now we may shrink, but sadly, our skin didn't. Yet even if we remove the ripples, I still see her face in that pic and she just LOOKS sick to me. Oh well, now I think I'm rambling.
I'm all for healthy weight loss, and thin can look great, but I gonna have to come down on the side here that thinks Courtney looks haggard in this photo.
Then again, I'm not exactly in a place to throw stones, heh!
Of course, my ideal is more along the lines of Salma Hayek (previously mentioned), Lucy Lawless as Xena, or basically any woman that looks like she could have stepped off the cover of some cheesy fantasy novel So I have my biases.
i agree she looks more like she's been doing more drugs than dieting. i am definately not jealous of her because being me, even obese, has GOT to be easier than being her any day.
1. I agree that we, as a society, need to stop criticizing each other for ANYTHING. Too fat, too skinny, too short, TOO whatever. Who is our measuring stick here?? We're all totally different people with different tastes/bodies/thoughts...how can I dare say anyone is "too..." anything, when they have the understandable right to say I'm "not enough..."?
We just end up talking in circles.
2. Courtney Love isnt the best person to be discussing in regards to weight loss, either. If anyone is even a bit familiar with her story, life, and history, you'll know this recent loss probably has little to do with true health. She's always been a somewhat normal weight, and assumingly has had no major health problems. I dont realistically see a doctor informing her she NEEDS to lose weight. But sure, getting healthy and getting toned can do good for ANYbody. But I dont see her out running marathons or swimming laps now either. I've read plenty of articles on Ms. Love and seen her in recent and older interviews...she's still struggling with her drug addiction - and as an outsider looking in, going on this picture alone, I think drugs are playing a role here.
3. I believe society needs to turn more away from "accept bigger bodies" to "Accept ALL Bodies". I'm sure some of you have seen the new Dove campaign about beauty for everyone. They are featuring models old and young, "big" and "little", all colors and shades of colors - all smiling. I LOVE that idea and hope other corporations and companies join in with Dove's idea. Once we all start looking at each others as individuals on our own paths and accept that for exactly what it is, the world will be a much better place.
1. I agree that we, as a society, need to stop criticizing each other for ANYTHING. Too fat, too skinny, too short, TOO whatever. Who is our measuring stick here?? We're all totally different people with different tastes/bodies/thoughts...how can I dare say anyone is "too..." anything, when they have the understandable right to say I'm "not enough..."?
We just end up talking in circles.
2. Courtney Love isnt the best person to be discussing in regards to weight loss, either. If anyone is even a bit familiar with her story, life, and history, you'll know this recent loss probably has little to do with true health. She's always been a somewhat normal weight, and assumingly has had no major health problems. I dont realistically see a doctor informing her she NEEDS to lose weight. But sure, getting healthy and getting toned can do good for ANYbody. But I dont see her out running marathons or swimming laps now either. I've read plenty of articles on Ms. Love and seen her in recent and older interviews...she's still struggling with her drug addiction - and as an outsider looking in, going on this picture alone, I think drugs are playing a role here.
3. I believe society needs to turn more away from "accept bigger bodies" to "Accept ALL Bodies". I'm sure some of you have seen the new Dove campaign about beauty for everyone. They are featuring models old and young, "big" and "little", all colors and shades of colors - all smiling. I LOVE that idea and hope other corporations and companies join in with Dove's idea. Once we all start looking at each others as individuals on our own paths and accept that for exactly what it is, the world will be a much better place.
I know this is a controversial topic, but I too have to say I saw the photo and thought the poster was saying she is anorexic and is going into rehab or something for it. When I came back and saw it was meant as a congratulatory post, I was surprised. If I had a daughter, I'd definitely not want this to be her role model for how to look.
In general, I think we should strive for healthfulness, no matter the weight. Personally, I'm not jealous of super skinny girls because that isn't where I even plan to be at my goal weight. I would like to lose another 60 lbs but I'm not sure what I'd want to do beyond that and that may be it. One of the hardest things I have to struggle with in my weight loss is I'm happy with my weight and body right now. I'm thrilled to have lost 100 lbs and to be the skinniest I've ever been in my life. My struggle to lose more weight deals with the fact that if I never lost another lb, I'd be happy.
I think, also, besides the physical appearance of Courtney Love, is that we all have a preconceived notion about her general "health". If it was someone else, we may not have all so quickly jumped aboard the unhealthy weight loss train. For years now, when we've seen Courtney Love in magazines and tabloids, it's been for tons of drug use and other negative things. So I think it's natural for us to assume this is no different, even if this is just a natural occurrence of her eating a macrobiotic diet.
I agree with Queen Latifah and Laila Ali being great inspirations though. Queen Latifah, even if she is larger, never looks "out of shape" to me (I think I remember hearing that she does work out A LOT), and Laila Ali is a boxer AND a graceful dancer (at least this season on TV). I've never aspired to be stick thin, just regular sized. I've never known what that's like, at least not since being a very young child, and so I don't think my brain can even fathom wanting to be a stick. But yeah, that may change once I get closer to goal. Maybe the difference between a size 4 and a size 6 will actually MEAN something to me later on.
I agree with the consensus. Courtney Love looks emaciated. Laila Ali...wow. Strength, muscles, yet still very feminine looking. I've even heard a few comments about Cheryl Burke being fat. GMAB! Just because the woman has curves and isn't a stick figure. I'll take her body and the talent she has any day! As a woman, I love watching her dance, because I think she's amazingly talented and doesn't look like a barbie doll.
Joan Rivers...don't get me started. I can't believe this woman is hocking beauty products. Every time I see her I want to scream, get this phony off my tv. You want to see ageless beauty? Look at Sophia Loren.
As for youthful beauty, I think Ugly Betty's America Ferrera is gorgeous. She glows.
Last edited by trekkiegirl; 04-01-2007 at 03:51 PM.
There isn't a doubt in my mind that Courtney Love lost her weight in an unhealthy way. From the look of this picture, that poundage went away FAR too quickly for her skin to catch up (and no, she wasn't originally big enough to have lots of excess skin):
I think the way celebrities treat weight is disgusting. They resort to drastic measures to lose, and then say it was natural-- which sends the message to us normal folk that we can be skinny quickly and naturally as well, and when we can't we get discouraged. Hello, eating disorders.
People may disagree with this, but I actually do think that the media is getting (a little) better. America Ferrera and Jennifer Hudson are both media darlings right now, and I've yet to see one negative word about their weight.
Marilyn Monroe is another one who comes to mind. She wasn't a stick either. And she was what, only the biggest sex symbol around. Ever. Still to this day. Wasn't she a size 10 or 12?
Hips and all. Why can't more women desire to have that kind of body?
(This woman is about a size 4.) 
