“Eat Less,” the French & Your Boyfriend

Hey guys!

Oh my god — I found the *best* shirt at Urban Outfitters!

“Eat Less”! Such a simple and catchy message, right? And for all of us who have dealt with weight “issues” and heard a doctor or well-intentioned friend say, “just eat less and exercise more,” this will certainly help bring the message home, since, obviously, we haven’t heard it enough!

And I thought of the three *best* places to wear it!

• In front of an eating disorder clinic. People suffering from anorexia will likely need to be reminded why they’re there in the first-place and may be inspired to hit all new lows of eating less.
• In front of impressionable pre-pubescent girls. If we don’t get them while they’re young, they may never learn to hate their bodies! *gasp*!
• At an over-eaters anonymous meeting. What’s this “compassion” thing people talk about? Wear this shirt proudly in front of people suffering from food addictions and show them you care. With tough love. And a spiteful message.

I hope I don’t have to tell you I’m being sarcastic. This shirt got a lot of press recently and was pulled from the catalog (though it’s still in stores). Sure, one could argue that “eat less” was meant as a political message to draw attention to global hunger and developed nations’ responsibilities to consume less. Sure. But, this is Urban Outfitters here, not Feed the Children. U.O. is notorious for its very slim models and its almost exclusive appeal to those in the “thin club.” And in the U.S. where eating “less” is a dangerous trend, primarily amongst the very audience U.O caters to and targets, this shirt could fuel what’s already an out-of-control fire. My favorite sarcastic little comment on this shirt came from a comment left on The Consumerist’s blog, which said, “I see nothing wrong with a Stupid label. Please stop encouraging them to take these off the market, I like to be able to see the idiots coming.” Amen.

But enough of that. That was just the icing on the big fat cake of news I have to share.

“Plus-sized” topless models were featured in the French Marie Claire recently (click here). Don’t click through if you’re at work — you might find yourself caught and trying to muster out, “whoa how did that pop up on my screen?” I think it’s awesome that “body variety” is being show-cased in a mainstream French magazine (aren’t they more inclined to do that, though?). This has been done, to a lesser extent, in the U.S. more recently, too. See here, here and here.

This is old news, but did you hear that a model had to be air-brushed to look heavier/healthier? Yep. See here.

And if you’ve ever had one of those days where you tried to explain to your boyfriend why you felt unattractive even after his countless assertions of your beauty (erhem), click here for a man’s perception of women’s complicated relationships with their bodies & self-perception. What do you think?

<3,

The Cranky One

Tags: marie claire, plus-sized, urban outfitters