Do you feel that skinny models and actresses should have any responsibilty to women's health?

I think they have a responsibilty not to share how they got so skinny with the public for example the amble thighed beyonce told everyone about her slices of cucumber she has for her lunch (we all know shes lying - have you seen the size of her muscly thighs shes not exactly a rake and with all that dancing she does she probably needs feeding more than the average woman.) Some people cant help being skinny though so i suppose we cant judge them in too harsh a way although agents and casting directors are probably more to blame for creating a world where someone whos fat stands out like a sore thumb.

Some of the models are that skinny cos the agencies won't take them on otherwise! I know it's not quite the same but the daughter of a friend of mine was trying to get a recording contract and was told by her management that she had to lose at least a stone. She was already quite slim anyway!
So are the models responsible or the people they work for?

Originally posted by Lou
Some of the models are that skinny cos the agencies won't take them on otherwise! I know it's not quite the same but the daughter of a friend of mine was trying to get a recording contract and was told by her management that she had to lose at least a stone. She was already quite slim anyway!
So are the models responsible or the people they work for?

This winds me up. I listen to and occasionally buy music to listen to, not gawp at the singer. Surely it is the voice that matters and nothing else.

I remember Alison Moyet in a TV interview about six months ago. She was saying how she had loads of new material but no company was willing to take her on because she didn't fit their 'profile' of being a 16 year old glorified karaoke singer. The fact she has sold millions of singles in the past and had successful group and solo career meant nothing.

I think the media are more responsible, since it's the magazines, television, news papers, and so on, who dictate that people should look a certain way, and if they don't then they're somehow inferior. We're constantly bombarded with images of the "ideal look" - disturbingly skinny, shapeless women, and men with perfect muscle definition.

Whenever I flick though a magazine (some of my female friends read those "fashion" magazines), or see an advert - whether it be on TV, in a paper, on a bill board - they all revolve around that "perfect look". People have it drilled into them that they should all look like that, and product x will help them on the way to perfection.

We seem to think that brand x food will give us the (media's interpretation) perfect body, brand y shampoo the perfect hair, brand z soap and makeup the perfect skin, brand l clothes will make us stylish (again, in the eyes of the media, which has a disturbing amount of influence on the way we look). We have it drilled into us that this is the way we should look, and if we do look this way, we'll all be really popular, and everyone will love us.

I say B*ll***s. People are people are people - we are so diverse as a species, and that, I think, is the most beautiful thing about us. We have the ability to be individuals, be ourselves, create our own style, do what we want, look the way we want, and so on, but that isn't good enough for the media. They insist we all look the same - all slim (females), all well built (males), and all following the same, latest fashion, whatever it may be this week.

Many people may think that this is the way they want to look, but I think it's all down to the media's (and fashion etc. industry's) twisted mentality forcing us to buy products to look the way they dictate.

Sod it - just be who you want to be. To me, it's what's inside that counts. I personally think that the way you look does not define you character.

So, erm, the original point - I think the media, fashion industry etc. have a lot of responsibility. But then, responsibility doesn’t increase profits.

Or is that too cynical?