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

[sistermagpie]

> >Carol responds:
> 
> But "skinny" isn't beautiful and it shouldn't be anyone's goal, and I
> speak as someone who knows what skinny is, having lost any pleasing
> plumpness in my face, arms, and hands without having any idea how to
> get it back.

Magpie:
Oh, I don't think it should be a goal, either. It's just funny how 
often the person is basically saying that they shouldn't feel badly for 
having the natural body type that they have, but they're doing it by 
insulting another body type. Ideally women should be able to celebrate 
different types of beauty. I would consider myself slender, actually, 
but know that when people describe me as "skinny" or "anorexic" the 
idea is to be insulting--just as, if I were talking to a woman with an 
hourglass figure, if I called her "fat" it wouldn't be a compliment. 
It's sometimes about putting one body type over another by exaggerating.

-m