Thought I'd tell you that I thought about you and this thread, a few minutes ago. I didn't respond here before because I think you were a bit unfair assigning ALL the blame on men and your perceived notion of THEIR ideals about womens' weight. I still think you shouldn't give women a total green card for their parts in this issue. However, I watched a Neiman Marcus commercial today to only feel a bit shocked at how unhealthy the very underweight models appeared to be. As someone here wrote that being overweight does have its negatives, health-wise, so does being very underweight, in many cases. I suppose what I'm saying is that I see it fine to represent ALL women equally. Larger gals, super slim ones, but definitely ones who represent "the average", too, who too often are portrayed as "large or Plus-size".

Truth is, the average weight (in pounds) of an American woman is more in the high 160s to 170s. This is average among all heights and builds. I've also read, many times, that when a man is asked what "size" looks ideal to them, it is a size well above the clearly very underweight models that often appear in fashion commercials. Chances are, many of those models I saw in the Neiman Marcus commerical were quite tall, and likely striving for a weight below a normal BMI.

I sent an electronic contact message to Neiman Marcus drawing their attention to the above. Like you, I don't appreciate that the varied shapes and looks of people - the world's people - is misrepresented. Even the models barely smiled. Not that all should/need to smile, but smiling should also be represented.

I am so happy that you recognize your beauty. Of course you're beautiful! I feel beautiful at my "slightly bigger than the average woman (see above for "average woman") size. For people who are naturally underweight - naturally or because of illness - they are beautiful, too. However, those out there that can never love themselves, or acknowledge their own beauty, they need help. The help is not so much to change appearance, but to change mind-frame. Allow one to free themselves and not be a perpetual "victim". In fact, way too often people victimize themselves a bit too much. That is hard change, though, I know. Just as we here struggle with bipolar disorder, there are so many other types of mental distortions and other psych challenges to fight.