The Healthy Issue
Lily Donaldson & Gemma Ward by Steven Meisel for Vogue US December 2005
Article first published as The Healthy Issue on Technorati.
An article written by Colombian comedian-superstar Alejandra Azcárate raised a lot of eyebrows, generating a big amount of criticism because of its cruelty to fat people. The article called “Las 7 Ventajas De La Gordura”, that could be translated as “The 7 advantages of being fat”, claims that big women do not spend much time buying clothes because they just buy whatever fits and that unlike skinny people – like Azcárate – they do not have to think before they eat because they are already chubby, so they do not worry about the diet at all… among other insulting things, and finishing with the “I love being skinny” statement, in which Azcárate confirms that it is better to be skinny than being fat – which, sorry but is true.
The controversial article generated a lot of media response, backlashes from all over Colombia, and off course twitter and facebook were invaded by despising comments about it. And even the same publication that released Azcárate’s article was used as the mean to publish a counterpart, properly called “My Response To Azcárate’s Article” in which the author harshly criticizes the infamous article and the magazine that published it by calling them irresponsible.
Just because I have a genetically-blessed figure, it does not give anybody the right to say whatever they feel like just to offend me because we all have our own personal body issues, body issues that could lead guys to countless hours at the gym trying the almost impossible muscle-building-task; the Adonix-Complex another issue that no one considers. Because yes, you do not always want to be so skinny specially when you are an insecure 15 or 18 years old boy with an impossibly fast metabolism. Thank God all those problems are behind and the gym hours really made me realize that it is all about a self-confidence that comes from a healthy figure.
It is important that we all do everything we can to help everybody we know, and to deliver helpful and accurate information to promote a positive welfare. And even most important, to recognize that there are different types of HEALTHY-BODIES and that slenderness is not always a sign of bad health, while obesity is an alarmingly-growing disease that affects millions and millions of people. We should not support any kind of eating-disorder, we should try to fight against obesity the same way we fight anorexia. Just be healthy and love your body however it is as long as you stay healthy… This is a message in favor of a healthy body image.
The same backlash was obtained by Natalia Vodianova herself when at the Vogue Festival 2012 she said “it’s better to be skinny than to be fat”. Which it is completely true, but what I think is the hidden problem here is the fact that we are in a world that silently supports obesity, and by this I am not saying that by any means I support Azcárate’s article, specially because I do not know what it is like to be overweight and the struggles behind it.
But it should not be about, if it is skinny then it is bad and the rest is good, because that is what really bothers me. We should stop the double standard and be fair with everybody, and promote a healthier focus of the body image. I honestly support Vodianova’s statement but if we are going to criticize insensitive Azcárate for being so offensive, then we should do the same with the people who do not have an fattening illness – but become a pro-obesity, pro-diabetes and pro-heart-diseases images – instead of being applauding them for their so called “Bravery”, because they are not promoting a good cause neither, and sometimes they can be really offensive with us, skinnier frames.
Just because I have a genetically-blessed figure, it does not give anybody the right to say whatever they feel like just to offend me because we all have our own personal body issues, body issues that could lead guys to countless hours at the gym trying the almost impossible muscle-building-task; the Adonix-Complex another issue that no one considers. Because yes, you do not always want to be so skinny specially when you are an insecure 15 or 18 years old boy with an impossibly fast metabolism. Thank God all those problems are behind and the gym hours really made me realize that it is all about a self-confidence that comes from a healthy figure.
It is important that we all do everything we can to help everybody we know, and to deliver helpful and accurate information to promote a positive welfare. And even most important, to recognize that there are different types of HEALTHY-BODIES and that slenderness is not always a sign of bad health, while obesity is an alarmingly-growing disease that affects millions and millions of people. We should not support any kind of eating-disorder, we should try to fight against obesity the same way we fight anorexia. Just be healthy and love your body however it is as long as you stay healthy… This is a message in favor of a healthy body image.
