Should this website ever publish pictures of skinny celebs like Posh: yes or no?

This is a question I found myself asking (myself! – it was a fun conversation!) after a reader left a comment and a follow-up on a Posh Frockwatch post. Basically, she accused me of being a hypocrite for publishing photos of Posh when I was so out-spoken about the need for media to be more responsible about the images of women they promote.

Hmmmm, tricky one.

KT wrote….

“The only thing I don’t like about your entire site is the pictures of Posh…just reminds me too painfully of my young sister in law, currently in hospital for the fourth time this year, struggling so hard with anorexia. I look at Posh and that emaciated body and it just makes me sad.

I’m sure you’ve written about this somewhere Mia – your strong views on body image and media glorification of ultra thin women on one hand, and your love of looking at pictures of Posh and posting them here on the other – I just can’t reconcile it myself.

Last week I went to a fashion show. First one I have been to. It was fun and frivolous and I enjoyed the whole thing. Oh, except that creeping niggling feeling that kept making me shift uncomfortably in my seat – the voice that kept piping up inside me saying “Well look at me, full of righteous opinions about body image and eating disorders and airbrushing etc etc, yet here I am, a paying participant of the ‘let’s pretend it’s OK these girls are starving themselves because after all it’s just fashion and fun and silly and not real’ club.”

Thinking about it more, my position is this: I like Frockwatch because I like looking at pictures of what celebrities are wearing. It’s like fashion McDonalds for my eyes. And Frockwatches are always popular posts so clearly I’m not the only one.

Unfortunately, most celebrities are slim. Some, like Posh, are very, very thin. Does she have an eating disorder? I don’t know. Do you know? Does she starve herself? Again, no idea. That’s a question only she can answer and repeatedly, she’s said no. Is she telling the truth? No way to tell just from looking at pictures of her.

Personally, I don’t aspire to look like Posh in the body department or even in the fashion department. God no. Neither look like a whole lot of fun.

But should that translate into banning images of her (or anyone) from the site because she’s thin? My own view is that I don’t think so. I publish pictures of her because I find her interesting to look at – I like to see what she wears and I’m quite fascinated by how seriously she takes getting dressed.

It’s like watching an exotic creature on a Nat Geo documentary. But maybe you feel differently.

Whatever medium I’ve worked in, I’ve always tried to push the message of body diversity and I’m still peddling that line. I’ve never believed the answer is to ban a particular body shape from being portrayed. That’s discrimination of another kind. I’ve just called for balance. A balance of shapes and sizes.

And wherever possible – like here, here and here and also here and here – I take the opportunity on this website to publish AND CELEBRATE images of women that don’t seem to appear very often elsewhere in the mainstream media.

Because dammit, we all need to be celebrated. Even our muffins. ESPECIALLY our muffins.

But ultimately, I want to know what you think……should images of Posh and other skinny celebrities be banned from Mamamia?

YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO CHECK OUT….

Posh Frockwatch – 43 outfits and 0 smiles

Beth Ditto – a most unlikely covergirl – FINALLY

The day the Prada-wearing Devil told Oprah “you’re too fat!”

What it feels like to be fat

Is the only thing making fat people unhappy other people’s prejudice?

Does being a size 14 really make you fat? REALLY?

An astonishing make-over. Women with muscles.

Here is that column I posted on that exact subject….SKINNY GIRLS ARE LIARS

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