Model: 'Overweight girls are hypocrites'

[summer]

shine.yahoo.com/fashion/australian-model-defends-skinniness--declares-she-loves-her--bones-195438967.html



Model Cassi Van Den Dungen — known for her turn on "Australia’s Next Top Model" and for her coveted spot on the Calvin Klein runway last year during New York Fashion Week — is now making headlines for a different reason: responding to critics of her slight frame.

“I think a lot of Overweight girls are hypocrites. I’m naturally tall and skinny, I eat what I want, I don’t starve myself, and I am beautiful,” Van Den Dungen posted, along with a rib-revealing photo of herself, to Instagram on Wednesday. “So why are you allowed to love your ‘curves’ but It’s wrong for me to love my ‘Bones’? Why is it okay for you to call me anorexic, but horrible for me to call you fat?”

The model’s frustrated response comes after Sydney Fashion Week, which took place earlier this month. That’s when her gaunt appearance on the runway for designer Alex Perry drew a stream of public concerns from those in the industry — including Marie Claire editor Jackie Frank, who was reportedly horrified. “When I saw those legs I nearly died,” Frank said. “I rang the model agent and said ‘Why is that girl walking down the runway when she’s clearly not healthy?'” In response to the public criticism, Perry apologized for having a lapse in judgment.

“I look at that footage and recoil from it,” Perry told Nine Network’s "Today" in Australia. “I don’t like it …. that was the wrong image to present but I think there are a lot of people complicit in that and that’s from media to designers to everybody, we’ve all got a hand in that.”



That’s a notion that has been pointed out before — which, in turn, has led to a smattering of measures being adopted within the industry. Israel, for example, banned too-skinny models in 2013, and the Madrid Fashion Show, Milan Fashion Week, and even Vogue magazine have done the same. Still, Sara Ziff of the Model Alliance, a New York-based not-for-profit giving voice to the modeling industry, doesn’t think that’s helpful. “Some models are naturally thin, whereas others are naturally curvier,” she tells Yahoo Shine. “Of course, we want to see healthy models on the runway, but body-shaming and banning thin models is not the answer.”

Body image expert Claire Mysko agrees. “If you care about promoting body acceptance, here's a general rule of thumb: Don't make disparaging comments about other people's bodies. Period,” she tells Yahoo Shine. “The goal is a healthy body image for all .… At the end of the day, sizing people up won't tell you about their health. The real problem lies with the industries that set such narrow and unrealistic standards of beauty.”



This is far from the first time a model has been criticized for looking skeletal on the catwalk. In September, for example, Dutch model Bette Franke was called out during New York Fashion Week for her skinniness on the catwalk. But Van Den Dungen’s candid response — whether or not she is in fact a healthy weight — is rare, particularly when compared to similar controversies surrounding the body shaming of plus-size women.



“If you can tell me to ‘gain weight,’ why can’t I tell you to lose weight?” van den Dungen continued in her Wednesday Instagram post. “If you can feel beautiful for being big, I can feel beautiful for being small. Get over it.” Earlier this month, she posted an Instagram photo of herself with fellow model Ruby Rose, captioned in part with the hashtags “#BullyingIsWrongNoMatterWhoYouAre,” and “#IDontTolerateBullying.” That post launched a back-and-forth stream of attacks on and defenses of the model, with some noting that they could relate to her.

[gpw]

Oh, FFS. I think I'm too tired to do this today.

[Wrath0fKuus]

"If there is a Black Entertainment Television, then why isn't there a White Entertainment Television?" van den Dungen muses to herself while flipping through the channels.

[Deleted]

And

[pixy0stix]

[gpw]

Look, I'm not saying it's ok to call her anorexic or other derogatory skinny terms, but... FFS, lady. "I can eat whatever I want"....NO. Hush.

[gpw]

I want one of those drinks right now, pixy. Although, I'd venture to say those might not be real drinks, I'm hoping for Amy and Tina they are. More fun that way.

God, I want a drink. I'd like to be buzzed, really. I am so fucking old I can't even drink anymore. ::kicks rocks::

[ttt]

Apr 25, 2014 15:55:10 GMT -5 gpw said:

Look, I'm not saying it's ok to call her anorexic or other derogatory skinny terms, but... FFS, lady. "I can eat whatever I want"....NO. Hush.

I can eat whatever I want, if what I want is bottled water. 

[pixy0stix]

Apr 25, 2014 15:56:27 GMT -5 gpw said:

I want one of those drinks right now, pixy. Although, I'd venture to say those might not be real drinks, I'm hoping for Amy and Tina they are. More fun that way.

God, I want a drink. I'd like to be buzzed, really. I am so fucking old I can't even drink anymore. ::kicks rocks::

Let's eat cake instead.

[gpw]

Apr 25, 2014 16:00:57 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Apr 25, 2014 15:56:27 GMT -5 gpw said:

I want one of those drinks right now, pixy. Although, I'd venture to say those might not be real drinks, I'm hoping for Amy and Tina they are. More fun that way.

God, I want a drink. I'd like to be buzzed, really. I am so fucking old I can't even drink anymore. ::kicks rocks::

Let's eat cake instead.

Do you even know how hungry I am?  Now, in addition to Thai fried rice, fried chicken, and burritos, I want cake.  

[sushi]

I'm hoping she's really young. I can understand her being sick of her thinness being accompanied by words like "disgusting" and taking that and lashing out in a less than eloquent way.

Or she could just be a privileged bitch.

[notsocreepylurker]

[Velar Fricative]

OK, look. It's wrong to call any thin woman "anorexic" or some other derogatory term because there are plenty of naturally thin women. However, if executives in the fashion industry were gasping at the show because you're too thin, presumably they've seen enough very thin women to know that something isn't right with this particular model.

[mcsangel2]

Apr 25, 2014 16:37:27 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

OK, look. It's wrong to call any thin woman "anorexic" or some other derogatory term because there are plenty of naturally thin women. However, if executives in the fashion industry were gasping at the show because you're too thin, presumably they've seen enough very thin women to know that something isn't right with this particular model.

:Y: :Y: :Y:

[summer]

tI'm sorry, but she does look like skin and bones. I don't want to ever say that is a good, healthy look. I simply do not believe she is THAT skinny and eats.

[mominatrix]

Apr 25, 2014 16:37:27 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

OK, look. It's wrong to call any thin woman "anorexic" or some other derogatory term because there are plenty of naturally thin women. However, if executives in the fashion industry were gasping at the show because you're too thin, presumably they've seen enough very thin women to know that something isn't right with this particular model.

thank you.


the issue with her started because the editor of Austrailan Vogue was expressing concern with how thin she was compared with how she had looked in the past.  When this whole bruhaha started, she was just back in Aus from Paris, and the concern was that the "Paris thin" people had messed up an Aussie-type.

and her face, especially, looks extremely... gaunt... compared with older photos of her:








her teeth are kind of a mess, and I'm wondering if she's going through a bunch of dental work that's impacting her face

[omgzombies]

I've been on both ends of the scale. For years I was a literally a size 5'7 and a size 0, and then around 19, I finally developed curves, and started to gain some weight. 11 years later, I'm now a size 12. I have to say people were far more derogatory to my face when I was a size 0. People were down right mean, criticized my lack of butt, lack of chest, that I must be sick, starving myself, and those comments were on a weekly sort of basis. I certainly didn't feel beautiful then. My experience now that I'm a little overweight is that the discrimination is much more muted and subtle, no one says anything directly, but you can feel the judgement. I've dropped a couple pounds from where I was previously, and the comments I get about how it's great that I'm losing weight or how I look good now that I've lost some are tough. It's an insidious sort of thing. At least that's been my experience. I don't blame her for speaking up and saying that she's fine the way she is, and she's beautiful. Though admittedly, I think that sort of thing is less effective coming from a model whose looks are already touted as being closer to the ideal, than some random girl on the street, and in a profession were ones looks are what you are judged upon.

Anyway, I guess my anecdote/point is that while this woman position that it's the "overweight" girls who are the problem is ridiculous, the general theme that women with thin bodies are just as beautiful and worthy of praise is a valid position, and shouldn't be mocked.

[cherryvalance]

Apr 25, 2014 16:00:31 GMT -5 ttt said:

Apr 25, 2014 15:55:10 GMT -5 gpw said:

Look, I'm not saying it's ok to call her anorexic or other derogatory skinny terms, but... FFS, lady. "I can eat whatever I want"....NO. Hush.

I can eat whatever I want, if what I want is bottled water. 

And cotton balls. 

[KateAggie]

Apr 25, 2014 17:03:41 GMT -5 omgzombies said:

I've been on both ends of the scale. For years I was a literally a size 5'7 and a size 0, and then around 19, I finally developed curves, and started to gain some weight. 11 years later, I'm now a size 12. I have to say people were far more derogatory to my face when I was a size 0. People were down right mean, criticized my lack of butt, lack of chest, that I must be sick, starving myself, and those comments were on a weekly sort of basis. I certainly didn't feel beautiful then. My experience now that I'm a little overweight is that the discrimination is much more muted and subtle, no one says anything directly, but you can feel the judgement. I've dropped a couple pounds from where I was previously, and the comments I get about how it's great that I'm losing weight or how I look good now that I've lost some are tough. It's an insidious sort of thing. At least that's been my experience. I don't blame her for speaking up and saying that she's fine the way she is, and she's beautiful. Though admittedly, I think that sort of thing is less effective coming from a model whose looks are already touted as being closer to the ideal, than some random girl on the street, and in a profession were ones looks are what you are judged upon.

Anyway, I guess my anecdote/point is that while this woman position that it's the "overweight" girls who are the problem is ridiculous, the general theme that women with thin bodies are just as beautiful and worthy of praise is a valid position, and shouldn't be mocked.

And my girl crush on you just grows.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[omgzombies]

Apr 25, 2014 18:04:40 GMT -5 KateAggie said:

Apr 25, 2014 17:03:41 GMT -5 omgzombies said:

I've been on both ends of the scale. For years I was a literally a size 5'7 and a size 0, and then around 19, I finally developed curves, and started to gain some weight. 11 years later, I'm now a size 12. I have to say people were far more derogatory to my face when I was a size 0. People were down right mean, criticized my lack of butt, lack of chest, that I must be sick, starving myself, and those comments were on a weekly sort of basis. I certainly didn't feel beautiful then. My experience now that I'm a little overweight is that the discrimination is much more muted and subtle, no one says anything directly, but you can feel the judgement. I've dropped a couple pounds from where I was previously, and the comments I get about how it's great that I'm losing weight or how I look good now that I've lost some are tough. It's an insidious sort of thing. At least that's been my experience. I don't blame her for speaking up and saying that she's fine the way she is, and she's beautiful. Though admittedly, I think that sort of thing is less effective coming from a model whose looks are already touted as being closer to the ideal, than some random girl on the street, and in a profession were ones looks are what you are judged upon.

Anyway, I guess my anecdote/point is that while this woman position that it's the "overweight" girls who are the problem is ridiculous, the general theme that women with thin bodies are just as beautiful and worthy of praise is a valid position, and shouldn't be mocked.

And my girl crush on you just grows.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[mominatrix]

Apr 25, 2014 17:03:41 GMT -5 omgzombies said:

Anyway, I guess my anecdote/point is that while this woman position that it's the "overweight" girls who are the problem is ridiculous, the general theme that women with thin bodies are just as beautiful and worthy of praise is a valid position, and shouldn't be mocked.

How do you go there?

How can you say that women with thin bodies aren't considered "beautiful and worthy of praise"?  The entirety of the mainstream beauty / entertainment industry is built on women with thin bodies being "beautiful and worthy of praise"... it's the women who are OVER size 12 who are never told that their bodies are beautiful and worthy of praise.


You don't see an issue here? When somebody who started off "naturally thin"

(here she is on Austraila's Next Top Model 2011:


has become significantly thinner? 
thinner enough that a VOGUE editor is freaked?

look at the change in her face, in her legs.


this isn't "omigod, she's thin, she's ugly!!!"

this is genuine concern over some serious weight loss in somebody who didn't have any weight to lose, concern that Australian fashion industry insiders believed to be caused by (notoriously effed up) Parisian standards.

[omgzombies]

I'm not saying that thin women aren't lauded over in fashion magazines, movies and media. Nor am I saying that anyone who is over a size 8 doesn't deserve to be on the cover of a fashion or beauty magazine (though I have my own issue with those), or why can't we have skinny people catalogs because there are plus size catalogs.

But what I am saying is that there seems to be a general consensus that it's ok to tell those same women right to their face that there is something wrong with them. That somehow it is ok to admire a thin body from afar, but if that girl lives next door to you, it's totally ok to tell her she needs to eat a sandwich, and man is she flat as a pancake, and real women have curves. Bodies are what they are, and trying to "fix" those women is just as bad for a girls self-esteem as saying we need to fix women who are a size 12 with a size G rack. We need to stop pigeonholing women into only being a specific size and or having a specific BMI. Quit giving a damn about what other people look like, it's just not relevant to any conversation, unless you're their doctor.

[omgzombies]

Apr 25, 2014 18:41:17 GMT -5 @soudesafinado said:

Sigh. Industry people express concern about hew tiny she is and she rails back that fat people are hypocritical. How did fat people in this argument?!! Are the industry folks who raise this hue and cry swole? I'm confused. So I'm gonna eat until it be comes more clear to me.

I suggest having some wine with that, or tequila.  It won't make everything clear, but it'll make everything else equally fuzzy.

[PinkSquirrel]

Apr 25, 2014 17:03:41 GMT -5 omgzombies said:

I've been on both ends of the scale. For years I was a literally a size 5'7 and a size 0, and then around 19, I finally developed curves, and started to gain some weight. 11 years later, I'm now a size 12. I have to say people were far more derogatory to my face when I was a size 0. People were down right mean, criticized my lack of butt, lack of chest, that I must be sick, starving myself, and those comments were on a weekly sort of basis. I certainly didn't feel beautiful then. My experience now that I'm a little overweight is that the discrimination is much more muted and subtle, no one says anything directly, but you can feel the judgement. I've dropped a couple pounds from where I was previously, and the comments I get about how it's great that I'm losing weight or how I look good now that I've lost some are tough. It's an insidious sort of thing. At least that's been my experience. I don't blame her for speaking up and saying that she's fine the way she is, and she's beautiful. Though admittedly, I think that sort of thing is less effective coming from a model whose looks are already touted as being closer to the ideal, than some random girl on the street, and in a profession were ones looks are what you are judged upon.

Anyway, I guess my anecdote/point is that while this woman position that it's the "overweight" girls who are the problem is ridiculous, the general theme that women with thin bodies are just as beautiful and worthy of praise is a valid position, and shouldn't be mocked.

No.   Someone who is 5'7" and a size 12 is not on the other end of the scale.   You're still solidly in the area of average even if it is still considered overweight on a doctor's chart.    

[gpw]

Apr 25, 2014 18:41:17 GMT -5 @soudesafinado said:

Sigh. Industry people express concern about hew tiny she is and she rails back that fat people are hypocritical. How did fat people get in this argument?!! Are the industry folks who raised this hue and cry swole? I'm confused. So I'm gonna eat until it becomes more clear to me.

I have mashed potatoes.

[gpw]

Apr 25, 2014 18:47:19 GMT -5 PinkSquirrel said:

Apr 25, 2014 17:03:41 GMT -5 omgzombies said:

I've been on both ends of the scale. For years I was a literally a size 5'7 and a size 0, and then around 19, I finally developed curves, and started to gain some weight. 11 years later, I'm now a size 12. I have to say people were far more derogatory to my face when I was a size 0. People were down right mean, criticized my lack of butt, lack of chest, that I must be sick, starving myself, and those comments were on a weekly sort of basis. I certainly didn't feel beautiful then. My experience now that I'm a little overweight is that the discrimination is much more muted and subtle, no one says anything directly, but you can feel the judgement. I've dropped a couple pounds from where I was previously, and the comments I get about how it's great that I'm losing weight or how I look good now that I've lost some are tough. It's an insidious sort of thing. At least that's been my experience. I don't blame her for speaking up and saying that she's fine the way she is, and she's beautiful. Though admittedly, I think that sort of thing is less effective coming from a model whose looks are already touted as being closer to the ideal, than some random girl on the street, and in a profession were ones looks are what you are judged upon.

Anyway, I guess my anecdote/point is that while this woman position that it's the "overweight" girls who are the problem is ridiculous, the general theme that women with thin bodies are just as beautiful and worthy of praise is a valid position, and shouldn't be mocked.

No.   Someone who is 5'7" and a size 12 is not on the other end of the scale.   You're still solidly in the area of average even if it is still considered overweight on a doctor's chart.    

omgzombies, welcome to the fat conversation....

[omgzombies]

Apr 25, 2014 18:47:19 GMT -5 PinkSquirrel said:

Apr 25, 2014 17:03:41 GMT -5 omgzombies said:

I've been on both ends of the scale. For years I was a literally a size 5'7 and a size 0, and then around 19, I finally developed curves, and started to gain some weight. 11 years later, I'm now a size 12. I have to say people were far more derogatory to my face when I was a size 0. People were down right mean, criticized my lack of butt, lack of chest, that I must be sick, starving myself, and those comments were on a weekly sort of basis. I certainly didn't feel beautiful then. My experience now that I'm a little overweight is that the discrimination is much more muted and subtle, no one says anything directly, but you can feel the judgement. I've dropped a couple pounds from where I was previously, and the comments I get about how it's great that I'm losing weight or how I look good now that I've lost some are tough. It's an insidious sort of thing. At least that's been my experience. I don't blame her for speaking up and saying that she's fine the way she is, and she's beautiful. Though admittedly, I think that sort of thing is less effective coming from a model whose looks are already touted as being closer to the ideal, than some random girl on the street, and in a profession were ones looks are what you are judged upon.

Anyway, I guess my anecdote/point is that while this woman position that it's the "overweight" girls who are the problem is ridiculous, the general theme that women with thin bodies are just as beautiful and worthy of praise is a valid position, and shouldn't be mocked.

No.   Someone who is 5'7" and a size 12 is not on the other end of the scale.   You're still solidly in the area of average even if it is still considered overweight on a doctor's chart.    

Part of me wants to argue with this statement, and part of me agrees.  It is average, and I certainly wouldn't want to insinuate that the "issues" I've faced over the years are comparable to someone who has been fighting being overweight or obese all their life.  But the fact remains that I'm still over a healthy weight (thus you know, the very definition of overweight), and trust, it's not muscle mass.

[omgzombies]

Apr 25, 2014 18:53:36 GMT -5 gpw said:

Apr 25, 2014 18:47:19 GMT -5 PinkSquirrel said:

No.   Someone who is 5'7" and a size 12 is not on the other end of the scale.   You're still solidly in the area of average even if it is still considered overweight on a doctor's chart.    

omgzombies, welcome to the fat conversation....

I'm picturing a twilight zone sort of intro...

"You've entered.... the fat conversation."  Dah dah duhhhhhhhhh

[gpw]

Apr 25, 2014 18:58:26 GMT -5 omgzombies said:

Apr 25, 2014 18:53:36 GMT -5 gpw said:

omgzombies, welcome to the fat conversation....

I'm picturing a twilight zone sort of intro...

"You've entered.... the fat conversation."  Dah dah duhhhhhhhhh

More like this

[omgzombies]

Apr 25, 2014 19:00:13 GMT -5 gpw said:

Apr 25, 2014 18:58:26 GMT -5 omgzombies said:

I'm picturing a twilight zone sort of intro...

"You've entered.... the fat conversation."  Dah dah duhhhhhhhhh

More like this

Love it!  Now if only we can get some Mystery Science Theater going on, we'll be all set.