In prosperous times, and in prosperous societies, people who are thin are considered attractive. Remaining slender in the face of prosperity shows that you have discipline and self control.

On the other hand, in cultures and during times of financial hardship, a fuller figure is considered attractive. Being plus-sized in austere times shows that you can succeed no matter what your obstacles.

Size -1

Just today while discussing issues that really just are not important at all I mentioned anorexia as one and in my first draft actually said this would probably be a story very soon and less than 12 hours later bam here it is.

On a tour of the Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin onetime, the tour guide was telling us about the portrait of Queen Charlotte that was hanging in one of the rooms. He said not to call her "fat"; what they used to call that was having a "baroque figure." The wealthy were expected to have meat on their bones, as opposed to the poor who couldn't afford it.

Let's hope we can find a happy medium between poverty and excess in both our fiscal and our physical health.

Entire industries that Sell the Feminine should be totally revamped to line up with average standards of natural attractiveness.

Excessive beauty and perfect ratios are so damn boring.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227125.500-men-prefer-averagely-shaped-women.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Men would be happier (not that many hardcorista femini care) and average women would certainly be under far less pressure to conform to the unconformable.

There are too many archaic assholes in the fashion/sex business who view their humans as mere plastic.

So, first guys want skinny women, so women starve. Now, they want slightly more padding, so we eat?

How about we simply work toward a healthy weight, and you guys can take it or leave it?

Or, by contrast, let's see you guys doing some advanced grooming and body sculpting.

The word is -feminist-. A sensible human who thinks women are people.

Emaciated models have gone out of fashion during this economic drought, says Vogue.

Size zero does not equal "emaciated."

Super skinny models are far LESS than a size zero.

I weigh 135 pounds at 5' 4"; which is NOT that tiny, and I still wear a size zero in some items of some clothing brands. Ridiculous, but true.

The entire sizing system needs to be re-calibrated to make sense, because it does not make sense that I'm a size zero, when many women are much more petite and still normal. But stop stop stop vilifying size zero women as emaciated, unrealistic, and definitionally unhealthy. Because in current sizing in several brands, a woman who wears size zero could be completely average-weight for her height. Stop using "size zero" as shorthand for "starving model."

They're talking about haute couture size 0, which is definitely emaciated - not middle class vanity sizing.

Oh get real, Agile

Based on your genius suggestion I decided for THIS particular post to spill binarily (yes, faux word) from this plastic prison of whirring disks and over-clocked madness and possess the first human body available. So, I am NOW quite real, thank you.

God, this fucker is beautiful. I want to stay.

So, first guys want skinny women, so women starve. Now, they want slightly more padding, so we eat?

No, just do this:

How about we simply work toward a healthy weight

and you guys can take it or leave it?

Oh, don't worry, I'll leave it if I can't take it.

How 'bout you get off your shrieking high horse for 12 seconds. If I pay to view naked women do really nasty stuff I prefer attractive but normal proportioning. OR, if I wander the various social dens I prefer my visual feast include well-proportioned females- not tits on stilts.

If this hurts your computer, so be it.

Or, by contrast, let's see you guys doing some advanced grooming and body sculpting.

Ah, couldn't agree more. Advanced grooming is high on my list and I often think about increasing my muscle mass. Seriously, though, I do agree with your assertion.

The word is -feminist-. A sensible human who thinks women are people.-- Greeneyedkzin

The word could be 'fuzzy caterpillar' for all I care- just don't stand there emaciated expecting plaudits.

Industries promoting this female form should be decked about the head and temples.

Bet not--in fact any number of women's clothing lines--Liz Claiborne among them--are relegating larger-size wear to online...or have quit making them altogether. This "no bony models" thing will last as long as the economy is in the tank, then it will be back to business as usual. :P

Greeneyedkzin- So, first guys want skinny women, so women starve. Now, they want slightly more padding, so we eat?

Such bullshit. What most men (not all because there is always exceptions) find and have found attractive is women with measurements mid 30's mid 20's mid 30's and a BMI 20 to 25 range women like Monroe, Olivia Munn, Beyonce, Joahnson (sp), Jessica Alba etc. Basically healthy body types. It was not Kate Moss posters on the bedrooms of teenage boys but Cindy Crawford.

Or, by contrast, let's see you guys doing some advanced grooming and body sculpting.

Was it not just last week broadsheet was insulting men as suckers for body grooming and many men do work out and try to take care of themselves just as many women do the same.

Firefly- Great reply. I have had a couple of girlfriends that where smaller than a size 0 because they where on the short end 5 ft and 5'2" but one was 110 and the other maybe 115. Both had full features and a little bit of meat and neither were emaciated hell one would make fun of the little gut she has.

Size zero sure as hell is emaciated when it's a model. You're size 0 at 5'4" Most models in magazines are a LOT taller than you, but wear size 0 or 1.

Also, can I say, as a guy...WTF does that mean? Why can't woman's clothes be in sizes that are actual units of measurement? No guy wears size 0 jeans unless his waist is a geometric point.

But, to the point at hand. It's depressing that fashion embrassed whippets, coat-racks and floor lamps as a desirable body type. And the fact that such traits have gone out of style simply because of fashion being a ephemeral rather than people coming to their senses is even more depressing.