Tyra's Big Rant

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-07-2003
Tyra's Big Rant
16
Sat, 01-27-2007 - 1:07pm

I have been reading all about how Tyra Banks was photographed looking heavy and how she has hit back at her critics.

I am on the fence on this one, for starter, yes 161pds at 5.10 is a healthy weight, but I am not so sure I feel sorry for her. I mean this is a women who has made millions of dollars by perpetuating an ideal that is not realistic for most women. I have seen her on America's Next Top Model telling women they need to be a certain body type etc in order to succeed in the industry. An industry which has gone out of it's way to create and communicate to millions of women that we need to be thin in order to be beautiful. Granted she herself did not create this image, but she sure as heck did help to perpetuate it. Apart of me think's it's justice that she is getting this backlash; she did help to create the audience and how ironic that they are essentially judging her against the same ideal that she herself help to create.

On the other hand, she has also said that now that she is not a model she can eat like a normal person, which goes to show that these tiny models are not living life as the average women, that they are going outside the norm to create their bodies.

What do you all think?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-11-2003
Sat, 01-27-2007 - 2:05pm

I don't feel sorry for Tyra ... America's Next Top Model is one of my indulgences, and I think

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-30-2006
Sun, 01-28-2007 - 4:53pm

I agree with both of you. I have also watched America's Next Top Model and Canada"s Next Top Model and have seen in both shows where they have these so called "heavy girls", who to me are probably just right for their height and age, on there, and too me are leading them on to think they can be a runway model just to crush their spirits and vote them off. How do they expect these models to even have any confidence at all. All they tell them is to lose weight.

It would be nice to see someone like Tyra to use her power to change the modelling career to show healthy women, like the so called "heavy girls" on those shows. To me those girls are the real models, not the one that actually wins the competition.

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-04-2003
Sun, 01-28-2007 - 6:12pm

I agree with all of you - and honestly when I heard her comments I wanted to laugh out loud. I have seen her kick off some stunningly beautiful women because of their womanly curves, which I always thought was ridiculous!! I mean here she is a curvaceous woman herself, in a position to help mold this incredibly unhealthy industry and she continues to perpetuate the myth of the railing thin woman.


Plus, she made some comments about her loving southern food, or something like that and I kind of felt that (a) just because you aren't modelling shouldn't mean you slide back into unhealthy eating as though looking good is the only reason for eating well, and (b) it isn't one or the other - starving yourself, or pigging out. She really should be advocating for healthy eating, healthy weight, and healthy body image, and I just don't see her doing any of that.


Plus, the comment about her looking like a drag queen, I TOTALLY agree! ROTFLMAO


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Mon, 01-29-2007 - 6:20am

I haven't heard about this rant......but with you in agreement in all of your comments- wasn't it Spain who said they would NOT have underweight models on their runways?


Does anyone have a link with the rant/story?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-16-2005
Mon, 01-29-2007 - 7:22am
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-16-2005
Mon, 01-29-2007 - 10:47am

Well I actually read the article this weekend in People and she herself was banned a lot from modeling in London when she first started out due to when her body started changing as a young girl because she was much curvier than the "ideal" in fact she said on call sheets it actually said "NOT TYRA BANKS" so thats when she came to the states and stopped modeling in London and started modeling for Victoria Secret and for Sports Illustrated.

She's always been "curvier" than the typical model so I'm not sure I agree with the assessment that she's ever been super thin. She's always had a larger chest and curves. I don't necessarily feel bad for her since she puts herself in the limelight and she's a star so of course she's scrutinized more than the average person. She's definitely not FAT even in the unflattering pictures of her she doesn't appear FAT to me I wish to be that fat. Jeez.

I don't watch reality shows. Why do I care who the next top model is. lol




Edited 1/29/2007 10:51 am ET by lovinhockey17

Smile,

Deirdre

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Mon, 01-29-2007 - 5:30pm

Thanks for posting the link Crystal- interesting article....I don't watch Top Model either, so cannot really comment- though what she said in the article was interesting, but if the show is showing an opposite side of that.....then ????


Interesting-


(By the way, love the new signature!!)

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-11-2003
Mon, 01-29-2007 - 6:15pm

That is what bugs me about Tyra ... she sounds one way in that article, like she wants to send a positive message to girls about their bodies -- but on Top Model she acts like it's all about what the industry wants and kicks off the "plus-size" girls. She's sending mixed messages.


iVillage Member
Registered: 05-07-2003
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 11:21am

I recall one ANTM show where she show the "plus size" girl in tears cuz they were not able to find anything that fit her. Now really why show that on television, it's only confirms that "plus size" models have a hard time in the modeling world, and methaphorically life (sorry can't spell today). If she really wanted to show that big and curvy is beautiful, then why would she organise photo shoots where they were unable to accomodate the plus size women; and then show it thus further humiliating the woman for being too heavy to fit into anything! Lastly, why in the hell is a size 12 considered plus size, does that mean that the average american, who is a size 12, is plus size!

My thinking is that Tyra is a smart women, she made a lot of money for being thin and now she is making a lot of money for gaining weight. She knows how to work our emotions with body image and has worked it to her advantage. She got our attention and I am sure her sponsors are excited that she managed to get new viewers to watch her show today.

I saw her on Larry King and she went on and on about how people are responding to the fact that she is not fat etc; if she really did not care, then why go to great lenghts to tell everyone what others think about her. in other words, for someone who says she is happy with her body and does not care what others think, she is doing a lot of work trying to change the minds of the american audience.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-11-2003
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 7:12pm

I agree, and even the non-"plus-size" girls on ANTM have often been in tears about some aspect of their bodies not quite conforming to the industry "norm."


I guess Tyra will be on her talk show tomorrow in swimming suit and all, speaking out against those who judge her and crying too, it looks like (unless that show was today, I don't watch it but saw it advertised).


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