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The phrase 'Real women'

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    #32
    kittenkiller
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,433 ✭✭✭kittenkiller


    I always classed "real women" as women who carried whatever weight they had well and with confidence.

    That said, if you strive to have the figure of a 8 year old because of fashion, then it can hardly be refered to as a very womanly figure.

    If you see the magazines out there, most pics without comments about wieght are of size 6 - 10's but anything over that (unless it's a very nice, fully clothed pic) are slating women for piling on the pounds!
    There have been so many features about so-and-so from eastenders in her swimsuit on a holiday with their kids, with the normal amount of overspill that mothers of 3 usually have claiming that the actress is depressed or pregnant or just simply let herself go.
    Not all pics of people who hold extra weight are classed as "real women showing off their curves".

    It's coming from all angles and it's just something used by marketing people to make you spend your money.


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    #33
    rainbow kirby
    Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 26,928 Mod ✭✭✭✭rainbow kirby


    kittenkiller wrote: »
    I always classed "real women" as women who carried whatever weight they had well and with confidence.
    +1

    If you are happy, confident and healthy at whatever weight you are, where is the problem?


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    #34
    Malari
    Registered Users Posts: 18,150 ✭✭✭✭Malari


    shivvyban wrote: »
    Why does it look better?

    Pardon my language but bullsh*t!

    Go back throughout history and society and views on weight and what makes a 'real woman' has changed. Back throughout history it was not seen to be attractive to be slim. It was seen to be poor as you couldn't eat. If they had magazines back then people like Cameron Diaz would never have gotten a look in. The slim thing is a very recent occurance.

    And chances are it'll have changed in the next 20 years.

    Well, thats the whole point. It DOES look better - for the fashion today - to look slim. As you point out, it sells magazines and clothes. It's the attractive way to be at the moment because that is how the majority of people in society view it.

    Sure, it might change again in a few decades, but right now, slim is attractive.


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    #35
    ztoical
    Registered Users Posts: 4,788 ✭✭✭ztoical


    Malari wrote: »
    Well, thats the whole point. It DOES look better - for the fashion today - to look slim. As you point out, it sells magazines and clothes. It's the attractive way to be at the moment because that is how the majority of people in society view it.

    Do the majority of people view it that way? Or is it rather the people who read those magazines? Let not confuse the two, the % of the population who [a] read those magazines and give sh!t about whats in them is hardly a good repersentation of the majority of people in our society.


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    #36
    jam_mac_jam
    Registered Users Posts: 4,723 ✭✭✭jam_mac_jam


    shivvyban wrote: »
    Why does it look better?

    Pardon my language but bullsh*t!

    Go back throughout history and society and views on weight and what makes a 'real woman' has changed. Back throughout history it was not seen to be attractive to be slim. It was seen to be poor as you couldn't eat. If they had magazines back then people like Cameron Diaz would never have gotten a look in. The slim thing is a very recent occurance.

    And chances are it'll have changed in the next 20 years.

    Society changes all the time. Even look at Marilyn Monroe, not exactly a Keira Knightly size.

    The models from Evans are plus size and personally I that they look good. They sell clothes and they are beautiful women.

    People have it ingrained in their heads (I won't lie, I would LOVE to be slimmer) that to be skinny is attractive and its the only way to be attractive (I think this way but I do know its wrong).

    I am not anti-skinny or anti-fat or anything like that. It should be all about health and I as a person, not as a fat person, took offence to your comment.

    fair enough sorry for offending you, I am not anti fat myself I just dont see why slim or skinny women should be made to feel bad about themselves. I agree that there are very attractive larger women, however in general slimer women look better, sorry that is just my opinion.

    And the idea that its only recently that slim women have been seen as ideal is also not accurate, why did women wear corsets if they didnt want to be skinny.


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    #37
    Dudess
    Closed Accounts Posts: 37,214 ✭✭✭✭Dudess


    shivvyban wrote: »
    Why does it look better?

    Pardon my language but bullsh*t!

    Go back throughout history and society and views on weight and what makes a 'real woman' has changed. Back throughout history it was not seen to be attractive to be slim. It was seen to be poor as you couldn't eat. If they had magazines back then people like Cameron Diaz would never have gotten a look in. The slim thing is a very recent occurance.

    And chances are it'll have changed in the next 20 years.

    Society changes all the time. Even look at Marilyn Monroe, not exactly a Keira Knightly size.

    The models from Evans are plus size and personally I that they look good. They sell clothes and they are beautiful women.

    People have it ingrained in their heads (I won't lie, I would LOVE to be slimmer) that to be skinny is attractive and its the only way to be attractive (I think this way but I do know its wrong).

    I am not anti-skinny or anti-fat or anything like that. It should be all about health and I as a person, not as a fat person, took offence to your comment.
    I would be very surprised if the majority of people weren't of the view that slim looks a lot better than very overweight - it's healthier for one. And when I say "slim" I'm not talking about scrawny, and when I say "very overweight" I'm talking about far bigger than just a bit of flab on the ass, stomach, hips and thighs.
    Your example of Marilyn Monroe is still a slim woman, even if curvy (the size 16 dress story is inaccurate http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/mmdress.asp - Liz Hurley's comment is vile by the way, and Rosanne Barr is talking bollocks).


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    #38
    SeekUp
    Registered Users Posts: 1,072 ✭✭✭SeekUp


    lizzyvera wrote: »
    My boyfriend would pull at my flab and rub my belly saying "what do piggies say?!".

    F-A-L-S-E.


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    #39
    ztoical
    Registered Users Posts: 4,788 ✭✭✭ztoical


    jam_mac_jam wrote: »
    And the idea that its only recently that slim women have been seen as ideal is also not accurate, why did women wear corsets if they didnt want to be skinny.

    A corest doesn't make you skinny or look skinny, it brings the persons waist in all right but exaggerates the bust and hips giving curvy hourglass figure. Don't confuse the true corest with the modern corests and corest tops that we see around today. They are also used for medical reasons for people with scoliosis.

    But it is a good example of someone creating something fake [ie tiny waist big ass and tits] for the sake of fashion. This thread has been focused on the weight issue when it comes to term "real women" but it's much wider issue then that. Hate to break it to all the slim ladies but simply being thin doesn't make you attractive, otherwise every skinny girl I know would be off modeling for Vogue. The women you see in fashion magazine are fake in every sense of the word and you could never ever look like that, it's simply not possible. It's not just weight thats been taken away with the magic of photoshop fliters but bones are removed, rounded, and altered. Skin is made flawless, teeth are prefectly straight and unnaturally white. Every strand of hair is in place, whites of eyes are touched up and eyes moved further apart or closer together depending on face space, lips and nose also moved around and ears tucked in. That is what the term real women is on about, pretty much any women reading/looking is a real women cus you could never look like that no matter how fat or skinny you may be - you all have something wrong with you be it a wonky eye, stuck out ears, uneven skin tone, big head, fuzzy hair, nobly knees or scares from various misadventure. Just embrace the wrongness and be happy FFS.


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    #40
    metaoblivia
    Registered Users Posts: 2,256 ✭✭✭metaoblivia


    Usually when I hear the phrase "real women" it's being used defensively by overweight women who feel marginalized by society's obsession with slim. I personally don't associate it with what appears in magazines or other forms of media because those are images, not people.

    I don't use the phrase myself because I believe that every woman - celebrity or not - is real, even if they have fake body parts. I think that there's a large range of attractive sizes when it comes to women. I tend to buy into the waist to hip ratio idea - i.e., it's more about the proportions and the actual curves of the body than about the dress size or weight. But I've noticed in years that some women are putting on so much weight that they're losing their "shape," and I think that is where it becomes unattractive.


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    #41
    Malari
    Registered Users Posts: 18,150 ✭✭✭✭Malari


    ztoical wrote: »
    Do the majority of people view it that way? Or is it rather the people who read those magazines? Let not confuse the two, the % of the population who [a] read those magazines and give sh!t about whats in them is hardly a good repersentation of the majority of people in our society.

    Yes, I think most people - whether they read the magazines or not - find a slim person on average more attractive than a heavy one. Magazines and the fashion industry are only a reflection, or an indicator of what people at large (no pun intended) think. Otherwise you would see a trend towards fatter people to sell clothes.


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    #42
    WillieCocker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 747 ✭✭✭WillieCocker


    Would you believe there are a lot of "unreal" women out there.:rolleyes:


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    #43
    seahorse
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,164 ✭✭✭seahorse


    I don’t like the term myself but I think it's come about, in part, as a backlash against the prevalence of anorexia in our society. Let's face it: there is something deeply distasteful in looking at mentally ill women who are prepared to make themselves physically ill also by living on lettuce leaves in pursuit of a bony arse. Personally I find that much more offensive than a term like 'real women'.


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    #44
    SeekUp
    Registered Users Posts: 1,072 ✭✭✭SeekUp


    Funny this -- I never took the term "real woman" to mean a woman who weighs more than average/isn't waifish. I always understood it to mean a confident woman who knows who she is and what she's about, who isn't afraid to go out and get what she wants, who isn't afraid to get her hands dirty and do whatever needs to be done -- and in terms of her body, isn't afraid to work with what she's got, curvy, straight, tall, short, etc.

    *shrug*


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