Healthy and Fit Is Beautiful: Kate Upton Controversy

It seems as though the definition of skinny and the definition of too skinny are blurring; and unfortunately, for many of us who ultimately want to be healthy, it’s getting harder and harder to see what is good for our bodies and what is not.

It recently came to my attention that people on pro-anorexia and “thinspiration” websites were attacking Kate Upton, the “Sports Illustrated” swimsuit cover girl, for being fat. I’m not sure exactly by what standards she was considered to be fat (she is reported to have measurements at 36-25-34 at 5’11), but these websites have slammed her for not being thin.

It’s hard to imagine what is supposed to be beautiful, if being healthy and fit is not. Are you supposed to be emaciated with two percent body fat? Or maybe your collarbones are supposed to protrude from your body for these hateful websites to get off your back. Upton is beautifully fit, and in my opinion, as well as millions of others, and she is a skinny girl who works out to maintain her figure and is proud of it, too. She is a model. So many women, I’m sure, would kill for her figure, and it is really sad to see such backlash against her.

Celebrity images are overexposed in our culture and nearly all of them have their bodies scrutinized, day in and day out. We see when they change their hair color, break up with their significant others, and very prevalently, if they gain weight (or merely look like they might have at all). As such significant figures in our lives, if we call any celebrity “fat,” there’s a message that is being sent to America’s youth, saying that if you’re bigger than this celebrity, or anything like her, you’re too fat. If you’re as skinny as this super tiny celebrity, then you might be the right size. It is impossible to be anything like those celebrities because they’re simply not real and mostly an image that they must maintain.

It is my hope that people, particularly teenage girls, will see that healthy and fit is beautiful and not obscenely rail thin and emaciated. Ribs and bones are not hot, but abs and definition are! So, eat right and exercise well to stay healthy and happy.

By: Michelle Chang | Image: Weheartit