I found the link to this article on the Drudge Report

Breibart

Nice thread, I never really thought about Jo's views on subjects other than anything related to HP. This article is a good insight on how my favorite authors feels about a recent issue. I agree with Jo, and I think the emphasis on self-shallowness is horribly wrong, and there are more important things in life than weighing the same numeric amount that also is your age.

I used to be brainwashed by the media, thinking that I weighed too much, and that I should feel bad about myself if I weighed a certain amount, but growing older and wiser, I came to the conclusion that all the photos of those really skinny girls were either retouched, or that the women depicted in the photos had an eating disorder.

Just letting you guys know that I'm going to move this over to the News Discussion area. I have a feeling that it will get a little lost in the lounge I'm also going to edit the title to make it a little clearer.

I think it's great that JKR's voiced her opinion on girls obsession with weight. I'd love to see more media-role models do it- of course, to be blunt it's hard to take Pink seriously when I see some of her clothes and 'look' but that's a separate issue.

I really hope that JKR's words have some impact on people.

Yes, I read that article today in the Daily Telegraph. I can't tell you how much respect I have for Jo, speaking out like that. She's probably done more for teenage health in just a few words than a whole library of books and magazines could have done.

Coming from someone as respected as her, let's hope that the message comes through loud and clear - don't let this become a plastic society where all people are judged on how they look. Personally, I'd much rather be around someone I can have a conversation with than a Barbie doll who can barely string a sentence together.

Good on you, Jo You go, girl!

You know, it brings to mind something I was watching a while ago where Kate Winslet did a photoshoot for GQ magazine...I think...one of the men's mags anyway...and she was airbrushed so much that she barely recognised herself. From what I recall, she asked them to put her back to the way she was because she was worried about the influence that unattainable images were having on young girls.

Being healthily thin is one thing, starving yourself because you think people won't talk to you if you weigh more than a lettuce leaf is quite another. If people won't talk to you for such stupid reasons, then they're not worth knowing in the first place.

I completely agree with her, and think it's good she's speaking out. I'm sure her words will reach so many young teens and pre-teens who are really the ones greatly affected by the media's twisted perception of beauty, and hopefully this will make them think twice about what all of that really is.

Beauty is a fine thing, but there are other things that should be considered in higher regard to it; like brains, personality etc. Jo has her priorities straight and hopefully she'll pass them onto her daughters.

I totally agree with what JK Rowling said about teens being too thin, there is a lot of pressure to be thin and pretty these days and I think she is right to speak out about this. It was even mentioned in one of the English newspapers (sorry I can't remember which one), a couple of days ago. I think she is setting the right example to her daughters, I like the bit where she says, 'let them be Hermione's rather than Pansy Parkinson's.' She also mentioned a song sung by 'P!nk', called 'Stupid Girls', which is my favourite song at the moment. It is great that she is setting a good example to teens around the world, and hopefully she will be remembered for helping teens as well as writing the great Harry Potter series.

I aggree with Jo on the whole weight thing. Being a female myself, I'm sick of seeing a countless number of 'stick figures' in magazines, movie, videos, etc. Girls are getting so thin, they look practically dead. It's like they want to be Karen Carpenter or something. However, if she thinks that, then why did she make Uncle Vernon, Dudley, and other characters' overweight? It's a thought.

This reminds me of when I did costumes for a high school play. It was great fun, the kids were so sweet and really wanted to help. But one day, I was up in the costume storage and I heard two of the girls saying how they'd rather be dead than fat!

I was really shocked! What a thing to think! What a thing to say! I came down and told them that I've was always chubby from when I was about nine years old. I did school plays, I taught myself to skateboard, I acted in professional theatre, and toured with a marionette troupe! I fell in love and got married, and had a gorgeous son, all while I was overweight! And I asked them if they thought I should be dead. Of course they didn't think that!

I didn't yell at them, of course, but they needed to realise that life goes on regardless of what you weigh. And the people I know like me for me. If they are too shallow to get to know me because of my weight, I don't really need friends like that.

This whole weight thing is spooky. The funny thing is--when I was in high school, I was maybe 15 pounds overweight and I got called fat all the time. And now, when women are supposed to look like sticks, I sure see a lot of very round young women, much heavier than I was at that age! So, there's the message and the reality. There are a lot more girls now who are NOT thin than there were in my time. Looks like a lot of girls are settling for reality and I'm glad. As long as you don't get so huge that it affects your health, there's nothing horrific about a bit of padding! Just as long as you don't put on way too much.

I'm glad Jo said it!

I definitely agree with Jo that the media puts too much emphasis on being stick thin; everybody with a bit of common sense knows this kind of look is unhealthy and condusive to developing an eating disorder. But it is important to maintain a healthy weight; being seriously overweight is just as bad for you as being too thin. Like I said; it's just common sense!

I was watching Sky News this morning and they had a whole feature about it. Here's a link.

I'm very glad Jo spoke up, because it's really useless to worry about how you look when, like Aethonon said, having fun and leading a meaningful life is not supposed to be bound by looks. It actually looks as though British women have some sense, because according to this news report by Sky News, they chose a girl that doesn't look like stick as the British woman with the perfect body.

I'll never look like Keira Knightly, and I'm fine with it. I actually think that Kate Winslet is more beautiful, because she is confident in her skin and it shows. If looks can govern a life, I wish the mirror was never invented.

Go Jo!

There was a whole article about the hypocrisy of her saying all the stuff about skinnyness when Dudley Dursley was fat which can be found right here
By the way, I stole it from mugglenet, who stole it from sorting hat so no-one sue me.
I found it quite hilarious the way the writer of it had forgotten to read the books. He said that Marrietta Edgecomb couldn't help her spots for crying out loud! And look at the size of Hagrid.
*waves hand in front of the 'journelist'* wakey wakey!

Well, I think JK Rowling is very correct. Girls and women nowadays, even from elementary school all the way to senior citizenship, are concerned about their weight. And the same goes for boys, definitely (but nobody ever comments on that ). I can assure you that guys are very weight-conscious as well. Sometimes, an obsession with your weight is healthy, if you are looking out for the health aspects. Such as if your doctor says that you have very high cholesterol so you have to stop eating certain foods. But girls today want to lose weight just to simply lose it!

I have a girl in my grade who is very skinny. Her arms and legs are so thin, you would think that she would collapse any second. Well, a few years ago, rumors went around saying that she was anorexic and was refusing to eat. I suppose that it came as no surprise to anybody, but we all felt badly and wanted to help. Long story short, she checked into rehab the next month. Diseases like anorexia and bulemia are exactly that -- diseases. And in this particular girl's case, every time she looked at herself in the mirror, she thought that she was fat, when realistically, she was sickeningly thin.

And who plays the biggest part in this? I'd say the media. But peer pressure and pure self-sonsciousness play huge roles in it as well.




_daviD

This made JK Rowling even more of a hero in my eyes.
I agree so much with that she said about the weight obsession. I always have. One of my best friends has struggled with eating disorders for years, and its so hard for me to see that. And the media doesnt help. Almost every magazine I pick up nowadays has stick thin actresses/models on almost every page. Its hard to see that, and to realize that this is some peoples main idea of what beauty is/should be. Its not beautiful, its sad (in my opinion)

I'm really glad that JK has said this

I've always been over weight, and i've been bullied lots for it. Something has always occured to me, it's much more socially exceptable fr a man to be overweight than a woman. I was teased at school about my weight by i boy who was overweight himself that always struck me as odd. But as I was a girl i was supposed to young pretty and thin.

yeah I think the media have done there fair share of making girls think they have to be thin. But it's starts earlier than that. most girls have Barbie dolls. Young, blonde pretty and thin. It's almost drilled into little girls head from such an early age, 'Be young blonde thin and pretty, and you'll be succesful.'

The fact that JK has said this will hopefully let young girls see that they don't need to be thin.

Yeah Nicky, i think you're right that Dudley was spoilt that's why he's fat, and JK wanted to empathise that fact. It's not, all fat people are horrid like Dudley.

The media at least in the UK, aren't allowed to say that a celebrity is fat when all they have are curves. They're trying to make curves 'back in', and make them so people think that they look sexy and attractive. (which they are ) They also show skinny celebs and write articles about how worried a certain magazine is about their health and that it's dangerous to be that thin. Also articles about proper, safe, healthy diets, if any one does want to loose a bit of weight

I agree that there are worse things in life than being "fat" I am slightly overweight myself, but I've never felt that it makes me a bad person. The only concern I would have is if it began to have adverse effects on my health. If someone was to tell me I was fat, I don't think it would affect me, I think I would probably just say, "Well, duh!" but I would be more insulted if they told me that I was mean, superficial, cruel, or that I had my priorities wrong, or I had never done anything to help anyone else.

GO, JO!!!

i think she only cares about the actual concepts of what is beautifull... she thinks to be beautifull you don't have to be under your normal weigh or be that thin... you just have to be healthy... and she's a bit worried about her childs, because she don't want them to grow up in a [MOD EDITED] world, that's all...


>>xoxox white owl! xoxox<<

MOD EDIT : I'm presuming you've read passerby's PM. I'm deleting the majority of your posts and cutting your post count. I suggest you pay attention to what passerby has said and don't ever use that word, or any other foul language, on this site again.

I totally agree, but someone has forgotten to tell the boys that it's acceptable to have a girlfriend who isn't thin. Boys of all ages seem to compare their girlfriend's/wife's weight to that of the girlfriends/wives of their best friends, as if a thinner mate reflects on a better manhood. ("I got the good looking one", that kind of thing)

Sad but true.

It really varies from guy to guy, boy to boy, etc.
I know i'm not terribly skinny or anything but not dangerously overweight, but I mean a chubby girl is just as good looking as a girl who is really skinny, in my opinion. At least with chubby girls us guys don't have to put up with, "omg i'm so fat, blah blah blah", it's so annoying.

JKR has impressed me yet agagin. By being a voice that people will listen to and by having something worth hearing. I have a daughter and I am very worried about the world she is going into. I hope I am constantly instilling a good self-image for her, and giving her the fortification to stand tall in the face of peer pressure and image obsession.

When I read what Jo wrote on her site about girls and weight problems, I appreciated just how brilliant she is even more. I am so glad that she is getting the message out to girls that it doesn't matter how much they weigh or how they look, all that matters is their mind and their personality! I'm not thin, nor am I overweight, but I understand completely the pressures young women are put under to be the right weight and look the right way. It's just so wrong. I too have noticed that this doesn't seem to apply to guys; it's more socially acceptable to be obese or unattractive as a male. The article I read criticizing Jo for her remarks and labelling her a hypocrite got me so angry... How dare they accuse her of promoting thin as good and 'fat' bad? The arguments made weren't even plausible; the writer claimed to have read the books, but I sincerely doubt this.
I applaud Jo for standing up for women and girls all over the world, and letting them no that it's okay to be who you are.

Of course, the good thing is that (in my experience) a lot of them grow up about weight issues when they leave school. I've met up with a lot of my friends in the years since we left school, and have noticed that quite a lot of the 'popular' boys have ended up in long-term relationships with people who are not stereotypically attractive.

I'm glad JKR has spoken out about this issue. She's so well credited and so many people respect her. Maybe people will start to get the hint.
I agree with everyone, it would be nice to be slim but not everyone is, being curvy's just as good. Anorexically thin people on the other hand are not good.
Go JKR i say *woopwoop* ! ! !
.X.

While I agree that women and men shouldn’t be so obsessed with their weight, I don’t think it’s right to blame “thin models” for the problem. That would be like a brown haired person blaming a blonde person because that person is blonde and they aren’t.

Being at a healthy weight and promoting that is not wrong in any way, however a person needs to be happy within themselves before that can be dealt with. A person needs to say that they will happy regardless and live their lives without shame and if they’re confident with that, the problem with their weight will be easier to deal with.

Sure there are unhealthy models who are too thin, but it’s wrong to blame those healthy, slim models who look after themselves for anyone’s weight problems. We all have our own problems, it's up to the person with the problem to deal with it, not to blame others for it. Either learn to live with who you are, be confident and be happy, or do something about it and deal with it like that. Either way, being sad and down about it isn't the right way to go about it, it'll stop you from either loosing the weight or being happy and everyone deserves to be happy.

true true!!!
I'm not saying all models are too thin, but the agencies tend to have a knack of hiring the ones that are seriously too thin, because they look "better" in their clothes.
Truth is the average size is not 8 (english size that is) it's more like 12/14 and they're still healthy weights.
I think everyone should just be what they want to be! I know that these matters have effected some of my personal friends a lot, and we need to stop it happening more. Models should be widely ranged, there should be curvy people too, because they are more "average person" !!!
.X.

In my opinion, it's better to be too fat than too thin. Anorexia is a disease that needs to be dealt with. Models are starving themselves just to make a fasion statement.

Real Woman Have Curves!!!!! We shouldn't be stick thin and perfect. I'm glad J.K. agrees that you shouldn't be obcessed with being fat. I'm sick of MTV where the music videos have wicked thin woman and show us that that's how woman are suppposed to be. Notice no men care that much about their weight. Woman are not delicate china dolls that will break when touched. We're strong induviduls and need to be trested with respect!

I'm in my ninth month of pregnancy so you can imagine how I look like

But I don't care, I'm going to lose these kilos.

Seeing thin models on TV, in magazines- it causes other girls believe they have to look this way. Not to mention about photoshopped girls

Parents should explain their children it's an influence of mass media and not a real, healthy world.

The 40-year-old mother-of-three said she had found an unlikely ally in the US rock star Pink, whose latest single "Stupid Girls" satirises "the talking toothpicks held up to girls as role models".


She found an ally in the form of Pink, the pink-haired singer whose lyrics in her song "Stupid Girls" are so adorable and insult-ive. Wow, we can form a trio (the three of us. All of you can join, and we'll be a big group )

I ain't a girl. but i would like to say something. the models that are over in the foreign countries and the U.S. are just TOO THIN. i mean yeah if you want to be that way go ahead. but these models are making themselves thin and then show themselves off to all the younger teenage girls who on instinct think they have to be that way too. i don't want to say much but that is what i think. i like girls who are at a healthy weight. i think it is good to get someone such as J.K. to let all the girls know they don't have to be that way and the way they are is fine.

As an anorexic "in remission" it's so wonderful to hear an intelligent, successful woman speak up about body image. Young girls growing up on Harry Potter books are lucky to have such role models as J.K., Hermione, Ginny, Mrs. Weasley and Tonks. These ladies just are who they are, regardless of what others might think.

Good for her! I think she's a wonderful role model for girls to have. Here she is, a successful woman who's richer than the queen of England, and she didn't make her money off of looks. She worked hard intellectually and wrote something that got kids interested in reading. And she also says that the false body images carried by much of society today are just that- false. Girls and boys today should see more people like this in the media today. As opposed to people getting arrested for under-age drinking and driving.

I'm glad that J.K. Rowling said that. Who honestly CARES about how much you weigh? If it's not endangering your health, then I honestly think it shouldn't matter. There are so many more important things to focus on about someone than how much they weigh.

Although I do have to say, it is really annoying to be accused of being anorexic just because I'm thinner. No, I'm not anorexic, I'm not bulimic, I was sick. (And it wasn't that it was anything bad, it's that I became lactose intolerant and it went undiagnosed for a summer...ya lose a bit of weight lol). But I guess I'd rather people worry about me and if I'm all right than not notice me become an absolute toothpick...or worse, tell me that I should lose more!

I think its great that she said that and it's very inspiring for girls. It's good to hear that from somebody as famous as her because that shows you that you don't have to be extremely skinny to become famous and that gives hope to many young people aspiring to become famous. Hopefully this will prevent a lot of girls from getting eating disorders!

~Kate

I am so glad that there is finally someone out there (especially in the movie making business) that allows heavier woman and girls to actually be seen in their movies. I mean it is seriosuly hard to find a movie that is not full of sticks. I agree with Eisa where she said "Who honestly CARES about how much you weigh? If it's not endangering your health, then I honestly think it shouldn't matter." I feel this way too but I am one of those ones that really need to loose wieght. Anyway that was so , I was so happy especially to see Mrs. Weasley I mean shes not skinny by any means but she is not completely obesse either. I was just so happy to see that she wasn't a darn stick. LOL!

There is nothing impressive about being able to hide behind a lamp post. I agree with Jo and I think it is really good that she has highlighted this as an issue she opposes.
She did miss something crucial in her point though. It is not just females but males who are also affected. There is so much help out there for females going through these issues but everyone always seems to skate over the case of anorexia in males and it is every bit as bad.

I completely agree with Jo.

I have several friends who worry about their weight -- they're not anorexic or anything -- but they just sit there at lunch "how many calories is this?" -- "how many calories is that?" and it's really annoying.

Truth be told, they're all good looking, and they're not crazy thin or anything, they're average, and to me they look MUCH better than the girls who practically starve themselves.

I'd rather be around a girl who had a personality and brains, with weight, as opposed to a brainless one that is the size of a lamp post.

~Duke