Disclaimer: I use BMI as the unit of measure as an approximation since approximations are all that is required for me to make my point here. I know BMI is a flawed measurement system, but there isn’t a better quantifiable way for me to demonstrate my point that I have any experience using. I will also be focusing on women’s bodies because that’s what I am familiar with and have witnessed first hand, however I am aware that this problem exists for men as well. The pictures I include of celebrities below were taken the same year that the sources where their BMIs were recorded, AND the same year that the popular articles describing them as fat, skinny, sexy, whatever were written.
Even with all the articles and statistics surrounding issues of weight, attractiveness, and body image, most of us still don’t understand it as well as we think we do.
The fat acceptance movement and the representation of more body types have collided in media. The representation of overweight people, particularly women, being portrayed as beautiful is extremely divisive, and there is a reason for this: Western culture likes extremes. Because media has chosen this approach in attempt to correct our misconceptions about weight and body image, it has divided society, and we spend more time arguing with each other than working to solve the real problem.
One side of the argument is that being overweight is unhealthy and should not be glorified or presented as beautiful because it is a detriment to the health of overweight people and the fat acceptance movement just lets overweight or obese people live in denial instead of trying to get healthy. It also could lead to healthy people letting themselves go and giving into the temptation to binge eat rather than working to stay healthy and attractive, adding to the obesity problem.
The other side of the argument is that fat people are discriminated against in society and the workplace and are an oppressed group of people that society decided it’s OK to bash, judge, and shame. The rest of a fat person’s personality and identity is all masked to the general public and people will make assumptions about them based solely on their appearance and everyone else has trouble seeing this because of “thin privilege”.
A middle argument used in varying degrees by both sides is that there is only one body type portrayed as beautiful and the rest are under represented causing a mass problem with self esteem and eating disorders in young women.
The problem with this is simple. We are all actually on the same side. Most of us want to be healthy and happy with our bodies and do not like being discriminated against by something like appearance, and we don't like it when society decides that this is ok. It’s simply the methods that media and society uses to “correct” this problem are pandering to the extremes of each side rather than the majority. This is what causes the divide.
The 1st side at its worst leans towards fat shaming and discrimination, while the 2nd side at its worst leans towards a dangerous level of denial and thin shaming. Being fat IS unhealthy and if you care about your health you should try and stay at a healthy body weight, however someone being unhealthy is not a reason to judge their character. You (hopefully) don’t discriminate against people with bald heads from chemotherapy, or people with psoriasis, or any other injury or disease that leaves a very visible mark on their body, so you also shouldn’t discriminate against fat people.
True, being fat is something fixable, and controllable, but it takes time and a whole lot of effort, especially if you're considerably overweight. You don’t know if the fat person you’ve been talking to has changed their life around and has already lost 50lbs and is continuing to do so, so don't assuming they're lazy or impulsive. You don’t know that they don’t have a thyroid disorder, or a medication that makes them gain weight. A lot of overweight and obese people have binge eating disorder which is just as hard to control as anorexia, bulimia, or addiction.
On that note, food addiction, or addiction to the chemicals in processed or fast foods is usually the reason people become fat. Often times they were forced to eat unhealthy as children and were addicted by the time they were adults. If someone’s parents gave them alcohol all the time from a very young age, you wouldn’t blame them for becoming alcoholics would you? When you’re a child, you eat what your parents give you, and if what they give you is addictive processed fast food, you never really had a chance.
Even if it is “their fault”, you don’t know that by looking at them. If you see someone in a wheelchair, you don’t know if they have a genetic condition, were injured serving their country, or were just idiots repeatedly pulling dangerous stunts, and their injuries were their own fault, so we don’t judge their character for it the way we immediately judge fat people. The discrimination against different body shapes and sizes needs to end, but the obesity epidemic needs to be solved, not ignored or accepted.
We as a society still do not understand body weight, body image, or the media’s effect on either. Because of this the vast majority of people are unhappy with their appearance, often to the detriment of their health and emotional wellbeing. You have all read articles that state this, but they often overcorrect and wind up with another explanation that is still wrong. This is the fat acceptance movement, and it is still wrong.
Media, fashion, and advertising are now catering more and more to the average woman, who is overweight, and heavier because they want to sell their products to as many people as possible. They aren’t trying to help us overcome low self-esteem, they are trying to get us to buy things. A more pessimistic (but not necessarily wrong) way to look at this is that major food corporations WANT people to be overweight and the fat acceptance movement helps them by convincing overweight people that they don’t have to change and can eat what they want and it’s society’s problem for not accepting them the way that they are.
Because of this mass adoption of the fat acceptance movement by large corporations, overweight people are being played and scammed to the detriment of their health, while people who are against it tend to go too far to the other extreme of fat shaming, and the people in the middle get ignored almost entirely.
Now let’s look at BMI. While healthy is 18.5-24.9, that is not the range that is widely considered attractive or ideal.
Candice Swanepoel has a BMI of ~17.7, Adriana Lima has a BMI of ~17.6, and Alessandra Ambrosio has a BMI of ~16.3. They aren’t just thin, they are all underweight. In fact, they are AS underweight as the average American women (~26-28) is overweight. Even plus sized Victoria’s Secret Model Kate Upton, who is often either praised for representing curvy women or condemned for being too fat or flabby has a BMI of 20. She is completely healthy, even on the thin side, but is supposed to be the representation of “curvy”. Now I realize that these are Victoria’s Secret models and not a representation of all famous women or ad campaigns, so let’s look at other women who live in the spotlight who represent curvier body types.
Alessandra Ambrosio
Described: Sexy, healthy skinny, ideal
Reality: BMI 17.6, ~6lbs underweight
Kate Upton
Described: Curvy, sexy, sometimes chubby or even fat
Reality: BMI 20, thin side of healthy, would have to gain 35lbs to be even slightly overweight
Beyonce has as estimated BMI of 21. Kim Kardashian also has a BMI of 21. Drew Barrymore and Kate Winslet, both of whom were famously criticized for being "too fat", also have BMIs of 20-22. Demi Lovato, who is both praised for promoting positive body image, and also fairly constantly criticized for her weight, and recovered from an eating disorder has a BMI of 22. Christina Aguilera when everyone started calling her fat had a BMI of 24. Still healthy. She is also 37. Demi Lovato with a BMI of 22 is the largest BMI I can find out of popular celebrities presented as beautiful who is currently under the age of 30. This an important distinction because teenagers and young adults are hit the hardest by beauty expectations, and people naturally gain weight as they age.
Demi Lovato
Described: Curvy, chubby, even fat
Reality: BMI 22, perfectly healthy
Christina Aguilera
Described: Gained weight, chubby, fat
Reality: BMI 24, healthy
Based on these and several other attractive celebrity BMI’s I can infer that the ideal range for BMI is actually ~16-22, but even so, celebrities with BMI’s as low as 21 and 22 are fat shamed. While celebrities like Twiggy Lawson, Paris Hilton, and Nicole Richie are often considered “scary thin” and “unhealthy”, the underweight Victoria’s Models listed above might be considered thin or skinny, but are generally thought to be the low end of “healthy” regardless, when in reality they are just as unhealthy as an overweight woman.
This isn't to say that skinny is always underweight or unattractive, just that there are a lot of underweight celebrities that are viewed as anything from skinny but still healthy, to the ideal. However Selena Gomez is an excellent example of healthy-skinny with a BMI of 19 who has frequently been wrongly criticized for being too thin, so it works both ways. Emma Watson has also been described as too thin, but actually has a BMI of 19.5. Another interesting example of healthy skinny is Blake Lively who had been criticized for being too thin just as often as criticized for being too fat, has a BMI of 19.9.
Selena Gomez
Described: Too thin
Reality: BMI 19, healthy
Blake Lively
Described: Too thin, perfect body, too fat
Reality: BMI 19.9, healthy
The average BMI for American women is ~26-28 depending where you look, which is slightly overweight. The celebrity example of this size that I could find is Lauren Goodger who is ironically, not American. However, this is the average for a country that is 35.5% are obese, not overweight, obese. This shifts the average higher than what most women are. It also includes adult women of all ages, when it’s normal to gain weight in your 30’s. While ~26-28 is the average, most women in their 20’s have BMI’s of 23-25. Celebrity examples of this size are Christina Aguilera (mentioned earlier) and Jessica Simpson, however both were significantly thinner when they rose to fame. Because the average is overweight, and "average" and "majority" are often wrongly considered to be synonymous, healthy women are treated as though they are overweight and unattractive. Even with fat acceptance, healthy at every size, and increased variety of body types getting attention in the media, the most populous weight group from young women is STILL under and misrepresented, and that is the real problem.
Lauren Goodger
Description: Fat, obese
Reality: BMI 26, ~6lbs overweight, representation of average female, as overweight as Adriana Lima is underweight therefore just as "unhealthy"
Jessica Simpson
Described: Overweight, chubby, fat
Reality: BMI 24, healthy, same BMI as the majority of American women in their 20's
TL;DR: The ideal BMI for women is ~16-22 even though the healthy BMI range is ~18-25. The average American woman is slightly overweight with a BMI of 26-28, however most young American women have BMIs of 23-25. While overweight models are becoming more commonplace, young women with BMIs of 23-28, aka MOST YOUNG WOMEN are still grossly under or misrepresented, which has lead to an epidemic of low self esteem, depression, and eating disorders. It is not just overweight women who are misrepresented and believe that they are fat, it's the vast majority of women, and you don't have to excuse obesity for this to change.
Most Helpful Opinions