Get Successful, Lose Weight

Recently there was an article in the Los Angeles Times about the recent rise in prominence of successful performers and personalities who are breaking the size 0 mold favored by the media over the past 7 or 8 years. Certainly, we've seen curvaceous types like Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, "Ugly Betty" star America Ferrera, t.v. actress Sara Ramirez, etc. gracing magazine covers. Undoubtedly this is in a way a backlash against Nicole Ritchie/Olsen twins who epitomize the thin-thin-thin worlds of fashion and entertainment. Most of us find it refreshing, even inspiring to see ladies who look more like the rest of us rising to prominence.

But already we've learned that Miss Ferrera is a size 6 and that Hudson along with the most recent American Idol winner Jordin Sparks are already on diets to lose weight. Now, there's nothing wrong with trying to improve your health and well-being but none of these women are what you call obese. Sparks cruised to victory a size 12. She's no waif but she ain't fat. If America loves her just the way she is, what's with the dieting?

It's because they all get caught up in the machinery. Once these ladies achieve success, they're surrounded by "experts" like agents and publicists who tell them that if they want to climb higher and stay on top, they have to conform and lose weight. To them, being a size 12 is totally unacceptable. A 6 might still make you bigger than average, but it's better than being a 14 in their world. The media feeds into this by running positive stories about how so and so lost 20 pounds and how you can too. You won't see a story about gushing about how Ashley Olsen gained 20 pounds and how the underweight can pack on some curves too.

After all this is the same media that considers the bony Gisele Bundchen "curvy."