Fraternity puts on Plus-Sized Beauty Pageant at WKU.

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

Absolutely not true. Very few people can possibly, even with starving themselves, have a beauty queen body. Most people just are not built like that. Hell, my skeleton alone probably wouldn't fit into anything smaller than an 8. I could starve myself, have surgery, etc and still never be a size 2.

Well, originally i was going to say something like be as thin as them, or be their size, but i realize that for some people that is not true. I said "figure" in terms of the silhouette of the body. the human eye is attracted to certain proportions of the human body. I'm not sure exactly the number but, if you divide the measurement of your waist into your hips the ideal proportion is something like .87 for women. So, obviously, you could be a size 8 and still have those proportions. That is what i meant by figure, sorry for the misunderstanding.

Everyone does have a different body type, but size 24 is not a body type, it's over weight. People need to stop lying to themselves.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by jessicaelaine

Everyone does have a different body type, but size 24 is not a body type, it's over weight. People need to stop lying to themselves.

Size 24 is a body type. It's a plus size body type.

Get over yourself.

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

Size 24 is a body type. It's a plus size body type.

Get over yourself.

Ha! This is funnier on the board than it is in the email notification. God bless big fonts and their emphasis.

[ChildoftheHorn]

Originally Posted by ASUADPi

The average size of a "normal" woman is, what between 10-12?

According to recent studies the average woman is actually a size 14.

[susan314]

Originally Posted by ChildoftheHorn

According to recent studies the average woman is actually a size 14.

Interesting. I'm presently a size 12, and it is nearly impossible to find clothes that fit properly. (I have been a size 8, sometimes even a 6 most of my life, but am still working to regain my figure with 2 children under the age of 3. ) Clothing at most stores is cut for a smaller frame. I finally decided to try to see if I could find a pair of jeans that fit well at Lane Bryant...the second I walked into the store, the saleslady said "honey, nothing in here is going to fit you."

You'd think that if the average size is actually a 14, it might be a little easier for women in the 10-16ish range to actually find clothes! What in the world do they expect us to wear?

/end tangent

[UGAalum94]

Continuing the tangent, sorry.

My husband and I were talking about this yesterday after a trip to The Gap. What we were thinking is that the morbidly obese people, like half-ton man, are throwing off the averages quite a bit. The range down from a size 14 is relatively limited compared with the range up from there. If they aren't discounting the outliers at the top of the range, well, there you go.

But I hear you about how hard it is to find clothes that fit well or simply look decent if you're size eight through 14, and most of the people who wear these sizes would have healthy BMIs, so we are not talking about overweight people from a health standpoint.

I think I once read that the average for a man's waist size is a about a 40 to give people a sense of the guy equivalent of what "average" is. *

I think the fashion industry is aimed at a certain segment of the market and the rest of us are just supposed to make due.

* while it's easy to find sites discussing women's clothing sizes, almost every search for men returns a bunch of results on penis size. I wonder what that says about our culture?

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by Alphagamuga

What we were thinking is that the morbidly obese people, like half-ton man, are throwing off the averages quite a bit.

I think Nicole Richie, Lilo, Paris, and Hilary Duff make up for that, though.

Hell, Nicole Richie alone knocks off 5 fat guys.

[UGAalum94]

AlphaFrog, I know what you are saying and yet as far as averages, Nicole can't really go below a size zero zero or whatever, which would be what eight sizes below 14, whereas going up, we've got infinity.

And, I think almost every article on health basically admits obesity is maybe the single greatest health issue for the country with diabetes, high blood pressure, hearth disease, associated. We are not a nation of thin people.

But again, I want to point out that the people in the pageant whose thread I'm digressing from are probably more in the healthy and beautiful range of larger sizes. The pageant is good and corrects somewhat from the idea that being underweight is what's desirable.

[BlueReign]

Originally Posted by susan314

Interesting. I'm presently a size 12, and it is nearly impossible to find clothes that fit properly. (I have been a size 8, sometimes even a 6 most of my life, but am still working to regain my figure with 2 children under the age of 3. ) Clothing at most stores is cut for a smaller frame. I finally decided to try to see if I could find a pair of jeans that fit well at Lane Bryant...the second I walked into the store, the saleslady said "honey, nothing in here is going to fit you."

You'd think that if the average size is actually a 14, it might be a little easier for women in the 10-16ish range to actually find clothes! What in the world do they expect us to wear?

/end tangent

I fit right into this category with you. A 10 is way too small and a 14 is too big. Some 12's don't fit right depending on the store. Good luck on getting that figure back. I haven't been an 8 since the year B.K. (before kids)

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by susan314

Interesting. I'm presently a size 12, and it is nearly impossible to find clothes that fit properly. (I have been a size 8, sometimes even a 6 most of my life, but am still working to regain my figure with 2 children under the age of 3. ) Clothing at most stores is cut for a smaller frame. I finally decided to try to see if I could find a pair of jeans that fit well at Lane Bryant...the second I walked into the store, the saleslady said "honey, nothing in here is going to fit you."

You'd think that if the average size is actually a 14, it might be a little easier for women in the 10-16ish range to actually find clothes! What in the world do they expect us to wear?

/end tangent

The problem during this phase of life is that the abs are stretched out, your pelvis probably had to expand and possibly your rib cage too. My coworker found this awesome website and a few of the ladies that I eat lunch with have tried it, bought the jeans that it recommended for them and had great success...
www.zafu.com click on "Get my jeans" and it walks you through a questionairre then finds the brands/styles that work best on you!

[jadis96]

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

Plus sized women, fat-big boned-or-athletic, generally can't compete with "regular" pageant winners in many people's minds. It's not an implication - it's a fact.

Yes it is a fact, at this point, but these guys seems to be making a start at trying to change a preconcieved idea of beauty and kudos to them for it. I am larger (and before you ask no, not telling you how big, but I often refer to myself as a fat chick) and I see nothing wrong with this as long as it is done with taste. It seems like these men are taking it seriously and trying to make a point that beautiful doesn't have anything to do with big or small. This is no different then having a special beauty pagent for an ethnic group or a lifestyle in my opinion. Frankly I see this as something great. It is showing that people can be valued and judged by different standards of beautiful. Think what a great message this is sending to kids, you don't have to fit a stereotype to be beautiful.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by Alphagamuga

It's weird what people latched onto in my post. I said I liked the idea of the pageant and I salute the group for having it.

Did you want people to only latch onto that part of what you said? Or the whole post? It's not weird. It's GC. You've been a member since 2006. You should be used to it by now.

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

Plus sized women, fat-big boned-or-athletic, generally can't compete with "regular" pageant winners in many people's minds. It's not an implication - it's a fact.

Exactly.

Originally Posted by James

Are you sure they aren't doing it as a subtle joke?

I was kinda wondering the same thing, but if not I think it's awesome that they are putting their time and effort into something like this.

Originally Posted by macallan25

I hope you fall in a fire ant bed.

I love you.

Originally Posted by jessicaelaine

I watched Miss USA also, and I all those women looked like they ate. Just because they are not over weight does not mean they don't eat. Just because they don't look like the 64% of Americans that are overweight does not mean they need to also look like that. They all looked very healthy to me and I admire them for that. Just because the majority of people are overweight does not mean it's normal or healthy to be overweight. If it was your job or life dream to be Miss USA I'm sure you could devote your time to having their figure too. But everyone has their own priorities and there isn't anything wrong with that too. But don't act like women who are completely healthy are somehow incorrect.

Get over yourself. You need to watch the MTV episode on overweight people. There was a girl on there who was into pageants.... she starved herself by eating only cottage cheese all day. It may not be normal or healthy to be overweight (even tho NORMAL could mean anything nowadays), but it's definitely not normal or healthy the way most of those pageant girls take care of themselves.

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

Get over yourself. You need to watch the MTV episode on overweight people. There was a girl on there who was into pageants.... she starved herself by eating only cottage cheese all day. It may not be normal or healthy to be overweight (even tho NORMAL could mean anything nowadays), but it's definitely not normal or healthy the way most of those pageant girls take care of themselves.

And I'm sure MTV is really concerned about representing things the way they actually are and not the extremes for entertainment sake. They are after all an educational television channel.

I participated in a few beauty pageants when I was in high school and although the girls there were a lot more concerned with their appearance then many other girls, unhealthy eating was just as common as it is in the entire population of girls of that age, no more no less. Show me 10 young women, no matter if they are in beauty pageants or not, and I'll show you 10 young women with not so perfect eating habits. We are after all subjected to university cafeteria food.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by jessicaelaine

I participated in a few beauty pageants when I was in high school

Answers a lot.

Originally Posted by jessicaelaine

...and although the girls there were a lot more concerned with their appearance then many other girls, unhealthy eating was just as common as it is in the entire population of girls of that age, no more no less. Show me 10 young women, no matter if they are in beauty pageants or not, and I'll show you 10 young women with not so perfect eating habits. .

This doesn't make sense. I can show you 10 young women. So what? If I tried hard enough I could show you 10 hermaphrodites. Or 10 fingers and toes. Elaborate?

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

This doesn't make sense. I can show you 10 young women. So what? If I tried hard enough I could show you 10 hermaphrodites. Or 10 fingers and toes. Elaborate?

Obviously you do not understand this phrase. I was inferring that 10 out of 10 young women have bad eating habits. And by bad i don't mean they don't eat enough, but maybe they eat fast food 3 times a week or fry everything in sight or can't eat only 2 oreos, but have to eat half the bag. Unhealthy eating can be something other than anorexic, like those of an overweight person in a plus size beauty pageant.