Sometimes Stumbleupon sends me to some interesting places. Today it send me to Hugo Schwyzer’s web page and an article entitled “Real Women Have Bodies…” Here is an excerpt:

Curvy women are real women. Skinny women are real women. Women who have had boob jobs or lip enhancements or liposuction are still real women. Size 0 may make no sense mathematically, but a woman who wears that size is as real as the one who wears a size 16. What makes us “real” people is not the shape of our flesh but our basic humanity. And we lose our humanity when we judge – not when we lose weight, gain weight, or make the intensely personal decision to undergo cosmetic surgery….

Women who diet are still real women. Women who gain weight are still real women. Women who can barely fill an A cup are “real” women – and women who’ve had breast enlargements are still “real”. If we want to change the way girls feel about their bodies, we need to stop using the divisive language of “real” versus“fake.”

The girls and women you know in your life, whether you envy them or pity them, love them or hate them, are all real. The images in the magazines may be fake, but behind those images are women with real bodies, real hearts, real emotion. And even the most beautiful women can be hurt by cruel words.

He poses a wonderful point. When we go on and on about how “real women have curves” and whatnot we could be sending just as negative of a message out as we are when we say that only “skinny” is pretty. The truth is that some people are just naturally skinny; I have friends that can’t seem to gain weight though they want to.
I am still an advocate for fat acceptance (for there are many stereotypes that we need to tear down, burn, and stomp on) and the like but I believe that above all else we need to advocate positive body image/acceptance for everyone from below a size 0 to 24 and above. The goal should be to be healthy and love yourself no matter what, not forming a new “ideal woman.”
Cathy Relf put it well in her article “Curvy + hairy + size 10 = Real Woman?”

So there you have it. Curvy + hairy + size 10 = real woman. Or three different real women? This is the problem with terms such as “real” , “normal” and “curvy” – they are so non-specific that they can be used to imply virtually anything. As Humpty Dumpty says: “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”
…
The creators of the real woman purport to promote good body image, particularly for those of “average size” and above. To a certain extent, they’re succeeding. But, under cover of deliberately vague language, they’re also creating a new pariah: “unreal woman”. There’s no place in journalism for linguistic cowardice, even less so when it’s born of casual bigotry. Writing should be done with honesty and clarity – especially when the subject is as delicate as body image.

I suppose that my ultimate point is that fat or skinny we are all women: beautiful, enigmatic, wondrous, phenomenal women. Because of this we need to support one another no matter size, race, creed, orientation, or anything else. So we need to be careful that we aren’t tearing someone else down to build ourselves up.

(Note: By posting this I am not saying that I fully advocate the views of either Hugo Schwyzer, Healthy Is the New Skinny, or Cathy Relf; I simply agree with some of the points raised in these two articles)