Should an "Overweight" Beauty Pageant Contestant Be a Role Model for Young Girls?

Kelly Mills — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:02:00 GMT

Monica Grenfell is horrified. Why? Well, see, this year's Miss England contest has a fairly unique finalist: Chloe Marshall, a size 16 (about a size 14 in U.S. sizes.) Seventeen-year-old Marshall has been quite outspoken about wanting to be "an ambassador for curves" and demonstrate to young girls that it isn't necessary to be a size zero. She says she eats healthy food and exercises regularly. Grenfell, however, is a dietician and she hopes Chloe doesn't win. "It would send an appalling--and very dangerous--message to other young women that it's OK to be fat." She adds that Chloe is a terrible role model and says charmingly, "Who on earth does she think she's kidding? What she's demonstrating isn't bravery but a shocking lack of self-control. Instead of flaunting her figure, Chloe ought to own up to the truth. She is fat and she got that way by over-eating." Nice.

Grenfell makes the point that we don't have an anorexia epidemic, we have an obesity epidemic, and that the last thing girls need to hear is that it's okay to be overweight because it puts you at risk for health problems like Type 2 diabetes and heart attacks. Mmm hmm. Well, we could debate that one all day, but there is certainly no consensus among researchers that obesity itself is the cause of the problems. In other words, the real issue is poor eating habits and a lack of physical activity, not the weight itself. And we certainly have a plethora of extremely thin role models for girls right now, role models whose bodies are not a realistic goal for many of the most active, healthy-eating girls in the world.

But beyond that, do girls really need the message that a diversity of shapes and sizes are lovely? You've probably already guessed what I think about that. Hell yes. And while we may not have an anorexia "epidemic" (curse that word) the extremely adverse health effects of eating disorders are well-documented. And by the way, most eating disorder stats only deal with the most obvious examples, while plenty of researchers are discovering that even young girls are using extreme measures to try and get thin, often unsuccessfully, with lord knows what long-term health consequences. I guess that's why I think Monica Grenfell should go f*ck herself for tearing into a brave teenage girl, and while I don't love beauty pageants, I'll be cheering for Chloe.

Pregcellent: My Shirt Says It All

Kelly Mills — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:30:00 GMT

Once upon a time, funny message t-shirts were the province of frat boys and other guys with beer bellies. Then they began to grow in popularity were adopted by fashion designers and hipsters. Then they ended up on small children who could hardly protest. (I'm guilty of this--my kid had a shirt that said "Cereal Killer.") Now there's a real explosion of message tees for pregnant ladies. Shirts that say "Knocked Up" and "Baby on Board" don't even begin to scratch the surface.

I have mixed feelings about this trend. Of course pregnant ladies should be able to flaunt some funny expression if they so desire. However, the majority of these shirts, like the majority of all message shirts, are highly stupid and doomed to be someone's bright idea for a shower gift. So here's my top three best and worst maternity message tees for the week.

Worst:

1. "Pregnant is the new sexy." Let me reiterate this: Unless you are a female rapper, saying "I'm sexy" under any circumstances is just irritating, true or not.

2. "I have milk." Yes, we know you will, though you probably don't now. Either way, we don't always wanna think about it.

3. "The Princess is Pregnant." What, you work at Disney? No princesses.

Best:

1. "If you didn't put this baby in here don't even think about touching my stomach." Finally, a useful shirt.

2. "The baby wants cake." Perhaps it's a bit trite, but I've always been fond of that sentiment.

3. "My fetus can beat up your fetus." I'm just a fan of violence, I guess.

Feel free to voice your opinion on this vital issue or add any you've seen that are great or suck eggs.

Strollerderby : messages

Should an "Overweight" Beauty Pageant Contestant Be a Role Model for Young Girls?

Pregcellent: My Shirt Says It All