On being skinny (Was: One reporter reacts to JKR's revelations)

[Carol]

Susan wrote:
> BTW, I am prejudiced, but against skinny, tall and beautiful 
people..being old, fat and dumpy myself...but I have no state power to
back up my prejudices... <sniP>

Carol responds:

I realize that you're joking here, but one of my pet peeves is the
association between between tall and skinny, both of which I am, and
beautiful, which I am not (though maybe I was sort of cute once upon a
time). Skinny is not the same as slim, which is a neutral term, or
slender, which is generally a compliment and is associated with youth.
"thin" is also neutral. "Skinny," however, is what I am--my hand and
wristbones show and my arms look like they'd be the righ size if they
were three inches shorter. Not because I'm unhealthy or don't enjoy
eating--I just don't gain weight. (I did buy three-pound dumbbells in
the forlorn hope of putting a little muscle on my arms.)

In the nineteenth century, plumpness was fashionable (except in the
waist--those corsets must have been instruments of torture), and young
women who were too thin by the standards of the day were likely to end
up as skinny old maids. These days, the confusion between "slender"
and "skinny" leads young girls to become anorexic.

Anyway, there's no reason to be prejudiced against skinny people like
Professor Trelawney and me. We may be prettier than Umbridge, but
that's because she looks like a toad. We're no prettier than Molly
Weasley, even if we do weigh less than she does.

Carol, tall, skinny, and too old to give her age, but not prejudiced
against pretty young women of any build even if she does envy their youth