Jezebel 
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New York, 6:13 AM
Mon Nov 23
18 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/20/09
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11/20/09
I think that quote you mentioned is just one to encourage inner beauty and not worry too much about weight. I find it much more healthy then this one.
11/20/09
It's hard to please everyone, which is why I'm not really pissed at her for saying any of this stuff, because I don't think she meant harm to anyone. Everyone takes what they hear and applies it in their own unique way. But I just think of all the less conventionally beautiful people in the world and wonder how a statement like that would make them feel, coming from a supermodel.
11/20/09
The way Moss' statement contrasts eating with thinness also perpetuates the idea that weight is determined by food intake; i.e., that it's possible (and good) to get/stay 'thin' by eating less -- certainly not true for a huge proportion of the population.
11/20/09
I agree with you that that phrase probably shouldn't be used very often, but I was just making a point that her original statement is something I would never say. It's not like I was qualifying the one thing with the other.
11/21/09
I don't know that that's necessarily a problem. I think the problem arises from the assumption that if one has those habits, one will automatically be thin. That's not the case, nor is its inverse -- if you 'overeat' and don't make 'healthful choices', you will automatically be 'fat' -- true.
I know you know some people who eat huge amounts of junk all the time and are rail-thin.
(If you don't, I can introduce you to several of my annoying cousins.)
I'm also sure you know the purported definition of 'fat' varies, in the U.S. practically according to coast. Someone who's deemed 'skinny' at size 4 in the midwest can also be perceived as 'fat' in Beverly Hills.
It's the linkage between eating habits and body size that's at issue in your statement. Correlation doesn't equal causation.
11/20/09
I guess both SKINNY and MEDIOCRITY sells.
11/20/09
Plus, I'm not sure we know how skinny feels in a vacuum. We value and idealize certain body types over others. So psychologically, meeting the beauty ideal may "feel good"...but it might not be achieved in a healthy way, or actually be healthy, or result in actually feeling good so much as feeling like we meet the ideal.
11/21/09
But ... deprivation in order to please others is a requisite for the well-behaved modern woman! Where are your morals, young lady?
*has vapors, faints*
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11/20/09
-Running full out for a very hilly mile.
-Breaking body weight on a lift for the first time.
-Back flips.
-Three minutes non-stop on the heavy bag.
-1 arm push ups
I'm lucky someone introduced this stuff to me before I took drastic action trying to lose weight early in college.
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At the same time, Moss is PROOF that skinny is exalted so much in this culture that is DOES feel good to be skinny (or, to fit perfectly into that narrow physical ideal). It doesn't have to be that way, but Moss' statement is a symptom of our misogynistic body standards, not the cause.
11/20/09
11/20/09
It reminds me of how magazines like Star constantly pick on celebrities weight, then turn on them when they are "too thin," saying they promote an unhealthy lifestyle. The patriarchy will never be made to answer for creating and enforcing these paradigms, so we have to have someone to blame.
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11/20/09
It is acknowledging that the opinion of others is more important to you than your own personal pleasure.
Like many commenters, I've struggled with disordered eating. Unlike Kate Moss, however, my own warped mentality was not constantly rewarded. It was cause for concern. Before judging her too harshly, I think everyone should remember that this is a woman whose mental illness has been praised.. maybe not with words, but definitely with actions.
11/20/09
11/20/09
I'm not disappointed or surprised that Kate Moss made that statement. It's sort of a "No shit!" moment for me. It does piss me off that people think that this paradigm of lionizing thinness is the only way it can be and the only way it has ever been. Actually, it isn't, and it hasn't been. STFU