The other week I was reading The Daily Mail website (I know it's full of trash and I hate those kinds of press but I can't help myself!) and came across an article on Katie Waissel, if you don't know who she is, she was a contestant on the UK xfactor a few years ago! The article was titled "Abs-olutely tiny! Former X Factor star Katie Waissel shows off her super-toned figure as she gets to grips with LA lifestyle" I clicked on it as I was curious. When she was on the xfactor there was a lot of controversy going on as to why she was picked to go through to live shows. I did watch xfactor at the time and I personally didn't care that she got through but so many people HATED her and still hate her! I was reading through the article and got down to the comments section and was shocked to see comments like:
"Yuck too thin!!"
"Ew! She's disgusting!"
"Oh my gosh eat a hamburger!"
"She's clearly starving herself!"
I was actually shocked! I asked myself (and my instagram followers) this question.
Why is is unacceptable to write negative comments about overweight/bigger people (I agree this is wrong) however it is fine to leave downright disgusting comments about thinner people?
I was having a discussion on twitter with a few people about this and I still don't understand why people think it's okay! Yes, in our culture the thinner you are, the more "beautiful" you seem to be considered so people tend to feel like it's okay to say negative things, but surely you wouldn't write "oh my gosh, she's so fat! She needs to lose weight!" or "gosh, she needs to stop eating those hamburgers!" Because that is deemed "wrong" and "offensive." However surely it is the same thing, you are judging someone and criticizing them because of the way they look.
Another issue I have is when people use the term "real women have curves!" Umm, no. Are women who are size 4, 6, 8 suddenly invisible? I'm pretty sure they still count as "real women." I've always found that term really odd and I feel like although people focus on the negative comments bigger people get, they ignore the fact that so many people are downright horrible to slimmer people. I have known people get shouted at in the street and called an "anorexic bitch." I've had friends tell me I need to gain weight, (Although I'm not saying I am "skinny" or anything close to that!) I personally don't feel like my weight or anyone else's for that matter should be judged by anyone other than themselves! One of my friends had a comment on her facebook photos just saying "gain some weight!" I think it was one of her friends but it just angered me because I thought "why are you telling her that she needs to change herself?" I think people should focus on their own lives and let others get on with what they are doing! People really like to give their opinion these days on what others should do and because of the amount of magazines we have judging celebrities it happens so frequently. I personally never read "trashy mags" as I feel like they just emit negativity, although I read the daily mail website occasionally I read that for the real news stories and try to avoid celebrity ones.
Although it's hard to miss the front covers of magazine with cover lines like "*name of celebrity* has BALLOONED to a SIZE 12!!" Ballooned? Size 12? I have always been under the impression that a size 12 was small, my Mum is a size 12 and is skinny but she's just quite tall. Everyone wonders why five year olds (yes FIVE year olds!) feel like they are too fat because the media is saying that size 12 is massive when the average size for a woman in the UK is a 14!
Although it's hard to miss the front covers of magazine with cover lines like "*name of celebrity* has BALLOONED to a SIZE 12!!" Ballooned? Size 12? I have always been under the impression that a size 12 was small, my Mum is a size 12 and is skinny but she's just quite tall. Everyone wonders why five year olds (yes FIVE year olds!) feel like they are too fat because the media is saying that size 12 is massive when the average size for a woman in the UK is a 14!
I feel like there is so much negativity everywhere surrounding weight and there are always articles and adverts telling women they need to lose weight.
Please don't feel like I am only sticking up for "thinner" people as I know I went on a bit of a rant at the beginning, the comments I read on the article just annoyed me!
What is your view on this debate? Even if you disagree with anything I have said, please leave a comment as I love knowing other peoples opinions!
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