[Cola]

Originally Posted by ms-nietzsche

This is actually very true, and not only because it's correct. Throughout history the attractive, ideal female body as held by men has been the one that can produce many healthy children. Even "ideal" the hip-to-waist ratio that's been thrown out there correlates with fertility. That's why it's so odd and wrong that the ideal woman now is 14 years old and looks like a starving holocaust victim

But is that really the case? Are you talking about the ideal of crazy fashion people or of the rest of the population? Because I think the latter would rather idealize a Monica Bellucci instead of a high fashion model .. which is why I think the whole "people get mentally sick these days because the ideal is so sick" thing is just an easy explanation for a complicated issue. People feel comfortable when there are clear definitions of evil and good. (However, youth is definitely idealized, and the 14-year old models might be a result of exxaregating that)
And about the ideal of the fashion world .. well, models are objects, kind of, right? It's not about the model as a person (an Irina L or Agyness D or Kate M is an exception, the person cult around them moved them to celebrity status), it's about the model as a way of making clothes look cool - they look indifferent in that thousand dollar dress they drown in, it's no big deal to them whereas a normal person would go "oh gosh, I'm wearing Balenciaga! So exciting", which suggests all the old clichés about upper class - lofty and a bit jaded in the face of luxury.

(I feel like I wrote this 1000 times already)