Is it irresponsible of fashion magazines to promote obesity?

Question

Passinggas · Accepted Answer

They certainly are condoning it and the associated diabetes, heart-disease, embolisms, hormonal-imbalance, and etc. But, it is what sells and if that woman on the cover is a popular representation of the women of society, this species is lost. “irresponsible”? I don’t think that word exists in obesity circles or media.

Lliam · Accepted Answer

Yes, just as it was irresponsible for them to promote anorexia.

cinderelli · Accepted Answer

yes it is, and I know I might get a lot of backlash for this but merp.
Just like we had a problem with magazines promoting highly skinny women, who look malnourished, we should also have a problem with them promoting obese women who look like they'd eat their kids.

mistixs · Accepted Answer

Yes BUT it's also irresponsible of fashion magazines to promote being underweight. I say this as someone who has always been very underweight.

leahcar79 · Answer

They're not promoting it. It exists, therefore it just.. is. Why can't people be beautiful as well as fat, or beautiful as well as stick thin? Why do people have to wait to lose weight to feel good about themselves? If you take that as promotion, meaning that you swallow every image as advertising as it comes your way, then that's a shame. I think by just using the same sized models all the time it's not a realistic depiction of real life. It's not promotion, it just... Is. Tess Holliday is a wonderful example of celebrating oneself however she is, and I think that's a good thing. Also I wouldn't blame fat people for promoting obesity. Are they supposed to hide whilst fat? Are they not aware they're fat? They don't need reminding. I'd blame the lack of affordable healthy food and all those systems behind it that don't support people to make healthy choices. Many people these days are overweight and it's very easy to say that it's their fault and they should try harder, but the truth is that there needs to be better education and positivity surrounding this subject for any decent change or progress to be made.

Craftsman · Answer

I think it's irresponsible to promote the extremes. We know there are health hazards in obesity. Obesity is part of what caused the death of Mama Cass, of the Mamas and the Papas, way back when. Anorexia has killed quite a few. Karen Carpenter's pure voice was silenced because she could not break the spell anorexia had on her. Those are only two examples. There are many more.
Magazines feed on the insecurities of young people. Magazines are where so many people, especially girls, seem to get the ideals they strive for. What is not recognized is that the magazines will publish almost anything as long as it sells magazines. That's why fashion changes so often. That's why there's always a new diet. A new advice on how to get the boy, the slim waist, the long legs, the thigh gap, the smooth skin, the bright smile and shiny hair.
The thing is, magazines sell to make money, not to promote health. For health, you'd need to talk with healthy people such as parents, teachers, doctors, nurses, and nutritionists. The best use for a magazine in my opinion is to roll it up and use it to swat that pesky spider in the corner, or to whack the dingbat that is telling you the newest magazine article is the absolute perfect thing.
OK. I get off my soapbox now. Turning off the megaphone.

Lauren-green · Answer

Here's a MyTake I posted on the "big is beautiful" movement that got a lot of attention on g@g. But I can definitely say nearly every single person agreed that promoting obsesity in this from is not a good thing.

Izumiblu · Answer

That’s a level of obesity that as a society we shouldn’t work at accept as ok. Her health has little to do with it.

I would t want my family members having that level of obesity. Quality of life is just not good. If you’ve ever been around someone if this size they have difficulty navigating and doing things people of typical weight have no issues with.

Then things like... who wants to sit next to that on an airplane.. no one that’s who. Maneuvering around people like this in crowds or crowded spaces. They walk insufferably slowly and they seem not to understand just how much space they take up.

Shouldn’t be a society wide effort to accept obesity that just doesn’t have to be.

aa180 · Answer

Depends how they're promoting it. If they're promoting it as a healthy physical state and way of life, then yes. But if they're promoting it as a unique, if slightly unconventional, form of beauty or sex appeal (which is more likely to be the focus in a fashion magazine), in an attempt to subvert the stereotype and social stigma that big is objectively hideous, then I think it's perfectly valid.

Whether you agree with it or not, BBW is actually one of the biggest male fetishes that exist, so it's quite clear that overweight women are just as sexualized and occur as a male preference to a notable degree just as more healthy-weighted women are.

liburnia · Answer

It makes me sick how all is twisted and deliberately making confusion among people. Nobody asked to promote obesity as something normal, just not promoting 0 size as only accepted in women's fashion. I know it's easier to sew for women with no hips, tits and butt, but women have all this and that is all that should be promoted. Also, the fact is that fashion industry proclaimed fat all that didn't fit into their pespective of women's body, meaning, all that had hips, tits and butt. Let women be women with all their natural curves, with some natural body fat that is biologicaly meant to be on woman's body.

MajesticTwelve · Answer

YES, oh my god YES.
Forget the way you look (no one likes it, lets be honest)
It's not healthy, at all. Your life was a gift, and it's not right to squander that gift because you're too lazy, or don't have any discipline to not eat a pack of donuts.
Anyone who says they're fine with the way they are, is a damned liar. You can try to convince yourself that you're "beautiful no matter what" but thats just insanity. I gained 12 lbs in University and hit 121 lbs total. I felt like a slug, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING I did was different, slower, harder... just no, girls. NO. Stop. I cannot imagine being 200. I'd seriously starve myself until all that weight went away or I died. Both would be better options than life at that size.

Trolloween · Answer

There are a lot of comments saying it's as promoting annrexic girls. It's funny to me though because when most people see an obese woman like her the response is 'I don't want to look like her'. We don't have teenage girls eating like crazy because they want to be obese. My point is, people should be trusted to make their own decisions, people diet and stay thin because they believe that's more attractive and healthy. If someone wants to be obese then fine, they should know the consequences. If they are on magazines then fine, but they'll probably stop as the market decides they don't like it.

Flamdring · Answer

Neither anorexia nor obesity should ever be promoted as neither of them is healthy. Around the world there were countless girls and women, including my own mother, who starved themselves for years while fashion industry and media were promoting anorexic models. Now we have another extreme where horrendously obese women are portrayed as "normal and healthy". What the heck?

I would also disagree if suddenly we started promoting hyperfit women you constantly see on Instagram doing some yoga positions in their super tight clothes, or very athletic men showing off their chiseled bodies. The vast majority of people in the world do not have the luxury of spending hours at the gym with professional trainers, dietologists, and Photoshop grandmasters.

naijagurl · Answer

If they are truly promoting obesity then yes, it is irresponsible. I will say though, I’ve never understood why showcasing overweight or obese people in the media has caused so much uproar. Why is it more acceptable to showcase women that are clearly very underweight? From what I’ve noticed, showing more overweight people just makes people more comfortable in their own bodies. I have seen few cases where people go out of their way to become overweight or remain overweight just because they saw more overweight models. I do however remember seeing many many stories of girls going out of their way to starve themselves and develop eating disorders all for the sake of mimicking the underweight models they saw everywhere constantly. An unhealthy lifestyle is an unhealthy lifestyle, period but let’s not make one end of the spectrum more acceptable than the other.

Anonymous · Answer

Is it wrong for fashion magazines to promote women who have had boob jobs and other plastic surgery? That's what most fashion magazines do, promote women with a small waist but huge boobs which is almost impossible for all women.

This is actually way more realistic than what they normally post. They almost never post a woman with a natural healthy body to begin with. I'm not judging anyone who has had plastic surgery, or anyone who is overweight.

I'm just asking you, is it ok to promote unrealistic expectations that can't be met without plastic surgery?

ThatDudette · Answer

I don't think they are promoting it. They are making overweight people visible agin, gaining their self-esteem. Not many of you (i suppose) can imagine being in the fat people's position. They are ignored on the streets like they don't exist. If anything, magazines are making good to their mental health. WTF is obesity promotion? No one wants to be fat willingly, fat people included.

oneleggedwonder · Answer

I think it depends on how they promote obesity? If the magazine is accepting of large women, that within itself is not promoting it. If they are suggesting or hinting that women should be obese, especially with the health problems that can occur by being obese, then its irresponsible.

CubsterShura · Answer

Unless there focus is plus-size fashion and not necessarily promoting something like you should be getting away with not taking care of your health, it's problematic. However, it is just as problematic as using extremely underweight models that are having eating disorders or talking drugs and are sometimes even underage... Things that happen all the time yet no one bothers about it.

Daisy007 · Answer

YES!! They are making it seem like it is "okay" to be "unfit / overweight" which is NOT okay!! They're obviously doing it for more attention, publicity, money, views etc. BUT people are quick to accept the image they already have to not have todoany work to fix it which will effect them (if not already is) you don't need to do it for anyone BUT YOURSELF being overweight is irresponsible since it's something you have the power to change (:

nerms123 · Answer

Everything fashion magazines promote is irresponsible. Sweatshop clothing. Toxic makeup products. Excessive consumerism. Anorexia. Obesity. Mindless infinite advertising printed on dead trees using ink that pollutes the water. Outrageously expensive items consumed by the oligarchs to indicate their money and power while children starve. I mean I could go on...

jgokgotit · Answer

Yes because being obese is unhealthy. If you do not stand against something that means you permit and support it. I get what they are trying to do. They want to make overweight people feel confident, and that is ok. However, give them confidence in their ability to get healthy instead of enabling them to hurt themselves further.

straightshooger · Answer

It really just depends on what the company is advertising. If you are trying to make women feel more confident and sexy it’s good. But to an extent, you need to keep in touch with your health and lead a healthier lifestyle if you aren’t leading one already. I’m all about creating confidence but not if it comes at risk with the health of women/men.

rjroy3 · Answer

Snake Oil Salesmen.

I'd go a step further and say it's not even irresponsible so much as it's immoral. It's like a salesman trying to sell someone a refrigerator who tells them if they buy that fridge they can't afford their medicine for the month. Then the salesman continues to push to make the sale anyways. That's not irresponsible. That's immoral. That said the only way to really resolve this matter is making health knowledge widely available and completely removed of dogma.

LenaMunter · Answer

Yes, it is. But I don't think there is any danger in that cover because everyone with eyes can see that she looks hideous. No-one in their right mind would aspire to that.

sarahbear1750 · Answer

I’m all for promoting different body types in fashion magazines... to a certain extent of course! Magazines should never promote people who are morbidly obese, or people who are in borderline anorexic. It glorifies something that is not natural and can be very detrimental to a person’s health. Promotion a persons’s body that is curvy or slim is one thing-promoting a person’s figure that is obese or boney is another.

Bandit74 · Answer

I don't know if it really matters. I feel like the girls who are fat and feel inspired when lloking at that magazine probably weren't goi g to do anything about their weight sven if they didn't see the magazine. I also think most people deep down know that the magazine featuring hsr is more of a political move and does not actually represent what society as a whole considers attractive.

SirRexington · Answer

Irresponsible? I don't know. They aren't responsible for anything other than the models they employ and their full time employees. They champion women to look a certain way as it is, usually a way that isn't realistic with lots of photo editing. Is that responsible?

loveslongnails · Answer

"Obesity" is a serious condition that only leads to health hazards. Promoting it is just as irresponsible as when they promoted "Twiggy" and the ultra thin bony look that gave girls the idea they needed to look famished to be attractive. Being a little overweight and not being "ashamed" of that is totally different than being obese and accepting or defending it.

markscott · Answer

Promoting the too thin and the too heavy, is irresponsible. We should be promoting the healthy, without shaming others.

Smiley_face101 · Answer

There is a diffrance between very obese and a few extra pounds, you can not put Tess and Iskra on the same label, its unfair.
Also they premote anorexia all the time, most of the "regular" models are underweight...

Anonymous · Answer

Yes it is. I think body positivity should be promoted not obesity

AilsaGourly · Answer

I meant to put yes in the poll but it is plain stupid to promote obesity

bklynbadboy1 · Answer

I dont get it what the fixation on weight if it's a skinny girl she's to skinny if it's a big girl she's to fat if it's a average size girl she gets body shamed like she's a fat girl. WHO CARES WHAT SIZE SOMEBODY IS? What matter is what you are on the inside how you treat you fellow man how we relate to one another. Some people are gonna be fat and some skinny we're not all gonna look the same but that's what make this world so great different colors shapes and sizes. Just except it

BeMuse · Answer

They’re in the marketing business. They try to sell shit. If fat girls are buy products then they will market to them. It’s irresponsible for women to follow fads and look to advertising for guidance rather than leading their own damn life.

PurpleMatty · Answer

Its good for them to show off larger sized women and males, not make the world all about that one perfect body size but their is a big difference between healthy weight and unhealthy obesity, when it gets unhealthy they shouldn't promote it

johnieohm · Answer

this maybe a bleek perspective but i say that everyone needs and deserves the same love regardless of who they or how they look. yes i understand the health problems but i also understand problems where your bodynis always in "fat storing" mode which makes people obese. and some peoples understanding of obese has even stated that people who are tall and skinny are obese which then puts me resisting this nice box where we can exclude people because we label them a specific way.

UncleJessieRabbit · Answer

As for the woman on the Cosmopolitan cover posted, I'm actually only on the fence of whether she is personally attractive to me or not, now she is a little too big.

Otherwise I agree that it's not good for people or society to encourage obesity or unhealthiness, and there is the social element of hypocrisy there too.

Kurαȷ · Answer

It's pretty much equal to promoting suicide. So, yeah.

Anonymous · Answer

The girl on the picture is wayy to obese, other "plus size models" I came across aren't that fat so I think it's not so big of a deal But chick on that cover is really too fat it's unhealhty...

Supermosh1990 · Answer

Yes it’s very irresponsible for them to promote obesity. Maybe promote chubby girls just not obesity girls

BoyUFine · Answer

Anything in extreme is bad. Not saying you can't be a certain size since there's people who can't actually lose weight or gain. But if you are able to stay healthy why not honestly? I'll be better for you

LoU_Hades · Answer

I mean that girl on the cover doesn't look really healthy. It's not thick that some guys find attractive, but it's severe obesity.
While smoking cigarettes is very bad, should be encouragement to obesity bad as well?

BattleKitten77 · Answer

Almost everything they do is. Promoting cuckculd. Open relationships bisexual open and asexual experiences. Feminism liberalism anal sex and sex with anyone everywhere. It is sad

MellowDee · Answer

They're not promoting obesity. They are giving representation to more realistic body types. To say they're promoting obesity is assuming every obese person is obese by choice and/or not trying to live a healthy lifestyle which is definitely not the case.

MollyTheOriginal · Answer

Is it irresponsible for them to promote anorexia? It's the same question, only targeting a group that is more or less socially acceptable. Personally, I don't care either way, both are unhealthy, but I'd take notice of the bias.

MrGreen315 · Answer

You're talking about a trashy magazine. They are in the business of selling their product, be it offensive of not, all that matters is that it sells. The image you posted and what you're talking about are two completely different things. If this was a newspaper, then you may have had a point here.

Paris13 · Answer

Plus Size Models Only. Appropriate for a Model, Aside from the Skinny Minny. This One, Hun, Looks out of Place. Don';t know soo much about "promoting," But this Master is Demoting it. xx

bruhskrrrt · Answer

I think there's a different between promoting obesity and just healthy body types. The woman on the cover may be curvy but we don't know if sges healthy but that can all be said for the thin models who probably are starving themselves to look fit. Can't say for sure, but they should just put people who are fit and not "perfect perfect." You rarely ever see an average woman on the cover.

Walrus_au · Answer

Fashion magazines and industry gets slammed for only having skinny/small models.

Then when they bring on some larger models they get accused of promoting unhealthy things

I call bullshit. Representation is not promotion of one over another.

YvanKarma · Answer

Listen, the only reason why they do this is cos of MONEY. these magazines or model agencies or making money out of it.

AngelLily · Answer

It's dumb for fashion to promote obesity and anorexia.

WTFever · Answer

Anyone who promotes an unhealthy lifestyle is a fucking moron.

TripleAce · Answer

Churvy models are fine like Ashley But thats just way off the mark. She needs help

BigGazz69 · Answer

Yes it is irresponsible. I have nothing against bigger people, but it's not healthy and telling everyone that it is, is wrong. Might as well promote smoking on the cover as both can kill you

Drumlin2001 · Answer

Is it any more irresponsible then most of the industry advocating the models who starve themselves to keep thin? There ought to be a healthy compromise.

QuestionsOSex · Answer

If their just promoting that obesity doesn't make you bad, that's good. If their saying you should be obese, that's bad. It can go both ways based on the magazine.

andreasderjuengere · Answer

To support an idea or concept is a basic right of a free (global) society. If others are dumb enough to be influenced (or manipulated) by the 'wrong' ideas is one other thing.

Just_someone23 · Answer

How is it promoting it. Maybe they are just giving space for all types. I think your over thinking it.

Poppykate · Answer

There is a HUGE range of women between the size 2 model and the obese woman. Why can’t magazines just choose from one of these...

hellacray · Answer

If you're dumb enough to buy into whatever a fashion magazine has to say. Then I honestly don't care.  Do your own research and form your own opinion.

AcidT0y · Answer

Obviously the picture you included is ridiculous. Anyone who can't see that is kidding themselves.

I'm just about past caring though. Let them eat their way to oblivion. We're overpopulated anyway so fuck em.

Celtero · Answer

They're selling a product, if their customers are dumb enough to buy into that shit, that's their fault.

Justbeyouandbehappy_ · Answer

I don’t have a perfect body myself (not saying that i’m chubby) but i think that it is very wrong to promote that and whether they promote that or not girls will continue to be insecure

megaman242 · Answer

It's just as bad as promoting drugs, alcohol and smoke.

Is it irresponsible of fashion magazines to promote obesity?

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