Too Skinny Doesn’t Necessarily Equal Healthy (or Sexy)

What is Too Skinny?

Too skinny doesn’t necessarily equal healthy any more than fat equals unhealthy.  There isn’t always a direct cause and effect relationship.  Certainly being within a healthy body fat range is a good goal, but our current fascination with extremely thin women, the too skinny, is worrisome.

Sure some pictures get photoshopped to make the models look thinner.  But even without that I’m seeing a whole lot of skin-and-bones being passed off as healthy.  They are just too skinny.  Some of these girls look like they would break their arm if they did a push up, let alone threw a 50 lb bag of dog food over their shoulder.

Muscle mass is an important part of a healthy body.  Think about what you expect your body to do for you each day.  Besides my regular exercise, and the monthly 50 lb bag of dog food, I want to be able to pick up my son, run around the park with him, catch a football, hike in the forest, carry bags of groceries, fill out a low cut dress without silicone, try any new activity that arrives, and much, much more.

Rather than celebrating the thinness of women, critizing whenever someone gains a little weight, and expecting post-partum moms to be back in their jeans the next week, it’s time for everyone to start celebrating the best they are as people.

Why we weren’t too skinny before:

Okay, maybe I just want to bring back the Rubenesque period. Then a woman’s big body represented wealth and childbearing capabilities at a time when food was limited, child bearing was frequently a life threatening endeavor, and long cold winters put the fragile at risk.  During this time a big solid woman’s body came to represent fortitude, stamina, health and survivability, and this was considered sexy.

Yet, I live in a time when women are stronger and more powerful that any other period in documented history. And extreme thinness is still touted as “sexy”.  Too skinny is admired.  No one ever asks if she’s “healthy”, “happy”, “loved”, “in love”, “satisfied”, etc.  Why not?  Aren’t those better qualities than one’s weight?  Or size?

So, I have to ask, what does extreme thinness in women capture?  What values and qualities are we attributing to too skinny women?  Are these really your priorities?  Because it definitely isn’t healthy.

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