Lando Calrissian's Cloud City for Fat People

David Small writes in with news that, as an AP headline puts it, "France may make it illegal to promote extreme thinness":

The French parliament's lower house adopted a groundbreaking bill Tuesday that would make it illegal for anyone—including fashion magazines, advertisers and Web sites—to publicly incite extreme thinness.

The National Assembly approved the bill in a series of votes Tuesday, after the legislation won unanimous support from the ruling conservative UMP party. It goes to the Senate in the coming weeks.

Fashion industry experts said that, if passed, the law would be the strongest of its kind anywhere. Leaders in French couture are opposed to the idea of legal boundaries on beauty standards.

More here.

reason on chubsy-ubsyism here.

Lando Calrissian: "Cloud City Entrepaneur (sic) or Everyday Cock-Blocker" here.

Comments

Episiarch | April 17, 2008, 3:17pm | #

She looks hungry.

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 3:19pm | #

I think she's hot.

Brandybuck | April 17, 2008, 3:20pm | #

"We keep them hungry. That way they'll fight better in the pit."

SeeingI | April 17, 2008, 3:22pm | #

This is idiotic. Is just featuring someone really thin "promoting" it? Why the hell does the government get to decide who's too fat or too thin now?

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 3:22pm | #

Awsome! Runway model catfights!

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 3:24pm | #

Why the hell does the government get to decide who's too fat or too thin now?

Didn't france (or some real country) recently institute minimum weight standards for models?

Andy | April 17, 2008, 3:25pm | #

Arguments about female body image are always fun. I love how people pretend that it's "the media" that has made being obese unattractive. And so to combat the discrimination of one group, we'll discriminate against their opposite instead. Granted, most of these models aren't naturally that thin, but doesn't the whole "beauty is on the inside" message get discredited when you obsess over weight either way?

John COsmo Jackson | April 17, 2008, 3:25pm | #

This policy is obviously a form of anti-gay bigotry, since the waif model look is preferred almost exclusively by gay male fashionistas. When you use a woman as a clothes hanger, you prefer this look. When you actually FUCK women, you want them to look like women- not prepubescent concentration camp survivors.

Paul | April 17, 2008, 3:26pm | #

Poor girl...

But seriously, don't we have an obesity crisis?

Bingo | April 17, 2008, 3:26pm | #

Guy: I think that was an industry regulation?

smacky | April 17, 2008, 3:26pm | #

I'd say if extreme thinness promotes anything, it's pedophilia.

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 3:27pm | #

you want them to look like women- not prepubescent concentration camp survivors.

Speak for yourself, you savage.

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 3:28pm | #

Bingo,

I don't remember the details, but I do remember having the same reaction to the regulation story as I have to this one.

Perhaps I am the over sensitive type?

Joel | April 17, 2008, 3:30pm | #

Hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing that was a pretty girl before she got trapped in that cellar for six months, subsisting on rats.

I'd like to buy her a cheeseburger.

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 3:32pm | #

Jole,

Too late, she is coming by my place for Italian Sausage.

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 3:32pm | #

sorry for the misspelling Joel.

Bingo | April 17, 2008, 3:35pm | #

Guy:
Looks like an industry reg.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5341202.stm

The Spanish Association of Fashion Designers has decided to ban models who have a BMI of less than 18.

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 3:36pm | #

Ah, so it was in a real country. Thank you!

sixstring | April 17, 2008, 3:36pm | #

When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead

Calling Alice...

John COsmo Jackson | April 17, 2008, 3:36pm | #

Guy Montag likes little boys?

sage | April 17, 2008, 3:39pm | #

What do you call a supermodel with buck teeth?

A rake.

Lamar | April 17, 2008, 3:42pm | #

Just when you think there's no more places to rub your wang and get off, along comes a very appealing ribcage....

Episiarch | April 17, 2008, 3:42pm | #

Hey, let's not fail to acknowledge that it takes a lot of work* to get that thin. She should be congratulated for her willpower and dedication.

* Arbeit macht frei!

Bingo | April 17, 2008, 3:44pm | #

Huge generalization:

Paleos' like 'em thick and the cosmotarians' aesthetic is geared toward the metropolitan petite.

ChrisH | April 17, 2008, 3:45pm | #

I'm confused. Does that image promote thinness?

I'm getting a glimpse of some weird sci-fi world where, when sapients are liberated from concentration camps, they immediately put on a fashion show.

Dang, it looks like she was really cute, before, the, uh, tapeworm...

sage | April 17, 2008, 3:46pm | #

A skeleton walks into a bar and orders a beer and a mop...

TallDave | April 17, 2008, 3:49pm | #

I love thin girls. I won't date a girl who weighs more than 120 lbs.

The girl in the pic is pretty close to my ideal. Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder.

Health is another matter. I would never ask a gf to starve herself to look better.

But that whole issue is a red herring. You can lose weight drinking protein shakes, taking vitamins, and drinking green tea.

Thin models don't promote thinness, they just sell what a lot of guys want.

Pottsy | April 17, 2008, 3:50pm | #

Anyone else getting the "BBW Romance" banner ad right now? Now, she is cute...

Lamar | April 17, 2008, 3:52pm | #

Is it any wonder that gay men think the most beautiful women look like little boys?

MP | April 17, 2008, 3:52pm | #

That chick needs a feeding tube, stat!

Pottsy | April 17, 2008, 3:52pm | #

Thin models don't promote thinness, they just sell what a lot of guys want.

Dior?

Ska | April 17, 2008, 3:52pm | #

I'd prefer to see tits than collar bones and ribs.

TallDave | April 17, 2008, 3:56pm | #

OK, more accurately, they sell women the perception that they can look like what guys want if they buy these clothes.

Jamie Kelly | April 17, 2008, 3:58pm | #

Those Auschwitz prisoners must have gotten TONS of teh pussy.

sage | April 17, 2008, 3:59pm | #

What do you call a supermodel with an afro?

Q-tip.

Jamie Kelly | April 17, 2008, 4:00pm | #

The girl in the pic is pretty close to my ideal.

All she needs is a good bout of leprosy, and it's pussy galore for TallDave.

rana | April 17, 2008, 4:00pm | #

"You can lose weight drinking protein shakes, taking vitamins, and drinking green tea."

You dont get THAT thin by drinking shakes, taking vitamins and drinking teas. No way.

Romster | April 17, 2008, 4:01pm | #

Yes.

Bingo | April 17, 2008, 4:03pm | #

Maybe as libertarians we could agree perhaps individuals find different body types attractive and an industry just happened to standardize around one of those body types. Additionally, individuals find certain self-images to be comfortable to them and are usually happier when they have that self-image.

Nah, fuck it. I'm with TallDave, skinny girls are way hotter.

Episiarch | April 17, 2008, 4:04pm | #

Is it any wonder that gay men think the most beautiful women look like little boys?

While true, it also happens that thin models are better clothes hangers for designers' stuff. Additionally, in the fashion world it is OK to be a bit too thin but it is absolutely unacceptable to be sporting any fat or cellulite. If you're going to err in one direction, thinner is the way to go.

mk | April 17, 2008, 4:05pm | #

hah. Is anyone else getting a advert for BBW Romance.com on the right?

After getting an eyeful of that model, I seriously thinking of giving it a shot.

Jamie Kelly | April 17, 2008, 4:05pm | #

My biggest problem with a girl who looks like that is that I would NEVER want to see the bulging outline of my own dick through her lower stomach.

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 4:08pm | #

I'm confused. Does that image promote thinness?

In the minds of some, yes, the same way that an image of a Hispanic woman in a political ad promotes racism, i.e., in the eye of a zealot everything is an affront.

sage | April 17, 2008, 4:09pm | #

What do you call a supermodel with diarrhea?

Show-off.

Taktix® | April 17, 2008, 4:11pm | #

The blouse that woman-stick thing is wearing looks like it was designed for at least some boobies. The fabric looks like its drooping where it shouldn't.

I don't find that attractive at all. If I'm with a woman that runs the risk of snapping during teh intercourse, I doubt strongly that I'd enjoy it.

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 4:11pm | #

Actually, the magazines that promote the rail thin models tend to be run by women and the magazines with well-built, could pole-cance for three shifts straight models tend to be run by men for men.

Reminds me , I need to support women in the arts more often.

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 4:12pm | #

My biggest problem with a girl who looks like that is that I would NEVER want to see the bulging outline of my own dick through her lower stomach.

So no reenacting the movie Alien for you huh?

Edna Mode | April 17, 2008, 4:13pm | #

Supermodels. Heh! Nothing super about them... spoiled, stupid little stick figures with poofy lips who think only about themselves. Feh! I used to design for *gods*!

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 4:14pm | #

JCJ,

That is a chick, dude! If *you* can't tell the difference then I guess you have about twice the opportunity, not that there is anything wrong with that . . .

rana | April 17, 2008, 4:17pm | #

"...it also happens that thin models are better clothes hangers for designers' stuff. Additionally, in the fashion world it is OK to be a bit too thin but it is absolutely unacceptable to be sporting any fat or cellulite."

Beat me to it Epi.
Clothes, for modeling purposes, just hang better on thin and tall women. And that is what the designer wants to show off, not the model per se.
However, if you notice swimwear models tend to have a few more pounds than runway models, and are in better shape- no fat or cellulite.
And you may not believe me, but some of these thin runway models actually DO have cellulite and would not be booked for swimwear.

Bingo | April 17, 2008, 4:17pm | #

I have to question the heterosexuality of anyone that can only identify gender by exaggerated secondary sex characteristics.

Reinmoose | April 17, 2008, 4:18pm | #

Just when you think there's no more places to rub your wang and get off, along comes a very appealing ribcage....

Now ribbed for his pleasure?

Episiarch | April 17, 2008, 4:19pm | #

Bingo, don't get upset at us because you're a subconscious homo.

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 4:22pm | #

Ah, the bashing of heterosexual males begins. I knew when SugarFree entered into the world of feministing that it could destroy ours.

NeonCat | April 17, 2008, 4:27pm | #

I'd buy her a cheeseburger, but she'd have to have an incredible personality for me to want to bed her, poor little stickfigure.

Jozef | April 17, 2008, 4:28pm | #

My biggest problem with a girl who looks like that is that I would NEVER want to see the bulging outline of my own dick through her lower stomach.

Jamie for the win. It did get me into trouble, though, as I was reading this during a company meeting.

Happy Gay Worker | April 17, 2008, 4:29pm | #

Planing down the thighs, planing down the thighs.
I make five bucks an hour, planing down the thighs.

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 4:31pm | #

She would fit better than most in the back seat of my Jeep, but the Charger could take a couple of those BBW models easy.

Vanessa | April 17, 2008, 4:37pm | #

That is a very disturbing photograph. She looks more suited for a role in Les Miz than she does for the catwalk. In all seriousness, she looks feverish with hunger to me.

rana - that is true about swimsuit models.

Back in the early 90s, Rebecca Romijn was more fleshy than she is now. She modeled swimsuits and lingerie for J. Crew, but they never had her modeling clothing. She had an incredible body at the time. Then she married John Stamos, dropped a bunch of weight, and became a supermodel & celebrity. I don't think she would have made that transition if she hadn't lost weight. I don't think she is too thin now, but both her face and body look different.

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 4:49pm | #

That is a very disturbing photograph.

Did not make a sound on my computer.

Dave B. | April 17, 2008, 4:53pm | #

Bingo -

Question my sexuality if you want. What other than the dress gives away the idea of that being a woman? On a related note, how many trannies have you dated?

Scott | April 17, 2008, 4:55pm | #

The Spanish Association of Fashion Designers...

Nobody expects the Spanish Association of Fashion Designers!!

ChrisO | April 17, 2008, 4:56pm | #

The supermodels. Won't somebody please think of the supermodels????

Perhaps the French parliament can next tackle the high cost of designer hair care products.

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 4:56pm | #

I can't help it. Now that I have left the ranks of the bitter gun-slinging Fundies and rejoined the Cosmotarians I have an insatiable desire for red wine and boney chicks.

Stevo Darkly | April 17, 2008, 4:57pm | #

I miss Jennifer Connelly's baby-fat.

Stevo Darkly | April 17, 2008, 4:57pm | #

PS: I'm talking Career Opportunities, not earlier.

Vanessa | April 17, 2008, 5:01pm | #

See definition 2 below.

dis·turb

1. To break up or destroy the tranquillity or settled state of: "Subterranean fires and deep unrest disturb the whole area" (Rachel Carson).
2. To trouble emotionally or mentally; upset.
3. To put out of order; disarrange.

dbcooper | April 17, 2008, 5:01pm | #

No love for the Hot Spot Stevo?

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 5:05pm | #

The appearance of others disturbs you? That is disturbing.

Wait, this is contagous, now you have me doing it.

Bingo | April 17, 2008, 5:06pm | #

It's okay to be jealous V.

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 5:10pm | #

Bingo,

Think we can get a catfight out of it? I am betting on the supermodel.

mediageek | April 17, 2008, 5:10pm | #

Supermodels. Heh! Nothing super about them... spoiled, stupid little stick figures with poofy lips who think only about themselves. Feh! I used to design for *gods*!

WIN!

TomHynes | April 17, 2008, 5:28pm | #

What do you call a supermodel with a yeast infection?

A quarter pounder with cheese.

Cracker's Boy | April 17, 2008, 5:28pm | #

I'm pretty much with JC Jackson. Clothes for women are designed by men who HATE WOMEN. Don't you gals get it? They are making FUN of you! Now, go get something to eat.

CB

rana | April 17, 2008, 5:33pm | #

Let me get this straight.

man says she is not too thin: Gay and possible pedophile
man says she is too thin: Muy Macho
woman says she is too thin: Jealous
woman says she is not too thin:... (well, still waiting for that one)

Vanessa | April 17, 2008, 5:35pm | #

I prefer to be thin and not flabby, but have never coveted anyone's washboard ribs.

rana | April 17, 2008, 5:36pm | #

Oh, I got it!
Amy Whinehouse on crack.
No better yet, Whitney Houston on crack.

Frankie Fignewtons | April 17, 2008, 5:36pm | #

Bingo | April 17, 2008, 4:17pm | #
I have to question the heterosexuality of anyone that can only identify gender by exaggerated secondary sex characteristics.

Really? I don't see how it would have any bearing on the person's sexual preference, but what do I know?!!?!?!!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!

Stevo Darkly | April 17, 2008, 4:57pm | #
PS: I'm talking Career Opportunities, not earlier.

Haha, yeah right, I'll bet you really dig her in Labyrinth. Personally, I didn't even notice her in that, I was enthralled by Bowie in those little tights.

tagyourit | April 17, 2008, 5:48pm | #

Keep you hands where we can see them. You are under arrest for 'conspiracy to incite extreme thinness.'

Geotpf | April 17, 2008, 6:42pm | #

Banning things only makes them more popular.

JLE | April 17, 2008, 6:51pm | #

It seems like the article was intended to have people consider regulation of body size. It's too bad all focus is on the photo rather than the revoked right for people to eat (or not eat) what they please.

J sub D | April 17, 2008, 7:05pm | #

JLE, I think that's a given around here. The stupidity of the propsal has so far gone unchallenged.

Geotpf | April 17, 2008, 7:07pm | #

It's so stupid nobody here feels like talking about it.

Robert | April 17, 2008, 7:08pm | #

Whoopee, meaningless law. They'll never be able to prove someone promoted excessive thinness.

Skoal | April 17, 2008, 7:09pm | #

Guy Montag likes little boys?

Hardly suprising, given his frequent use of NAMBLA codewords like "train oil" and "heat pump".

Bingo | April 17, 2008, 7:10pm | #

Okay regulating how people want to look is retarded and hopeless.

Now that's settled, let's talk about how skinny chicks are positively ruthless in the sack!

J sub D | April 17, 2008, 7:43pm | #

Now that's settled, let's talk about how skinny chicks are positively ruthless in the sack!

Thin as a rail or big as a house, it doesn't matter as long as they have a flat head.

dbcooper | April 17, 2008, 8:08pm | #

Thin as a rail or big as a house, it doesn't matter as long as they have a flat head.

To rest your beer on?

J sub D | April 17, 2008, 8:13pm | #

Of course.

John C. Randolph | April 17, 2008, 8:36pm | #

Clothes for women are designed by men who HATE WOMEN.

Not in all cases, by any means. I've seen a few dresses that clearly were celebrations of the female body.

-jcr

zoltan | April 17, 2008, 8:52pm | #

Now that's settled, let's talk about how skinny chicks are positively ruthless in the sack!

Like how their bones jut out and poke you? Or underfed ones like the one pictured above don't have the energy to keep going for much more than a few minutes?

Prolefeed | April 17, 2008, 9:16pm | #

Ironically enough, because of the ironic headline, the ad on the side of this article is for BBWRomance.com.

And that chick is SOOO not hot. Starved and rib bones poking out doesn't work for me.

Prolefeed | April 17, 2008, 9:21pm | #

Assuming that even IS a chick. Kinda androgynous, yeah? (Not the woman in the BBWRomance ad. Definitely some curves and estrogen there.)

That skinny chick is one prole that needs to be fed, if you'll forgive the pun.

grumpy realist | April 17, 2008, 10:55pm | #

Hey, pretty unlibertarian of you people. A bunch of fashion design houses and other entities get together and decide that they don't want models who are too skinny and get the gov't to pass a regulation about it. Hello? I thought libertarians LOOOVED it when companies were able to set their own regulations?

That bloody woman can be as anorexic as she wants; she just can't get paid for being a model and anorexic.

Rhywun | April 17, 2008, 11:04pm | #

Is it any wonder that gay men think the most beautiful women look like little boys?

One could argue that she looks like a little girl, and is preferred by the straight men who actually run the business. But that wouldn't satisfy the urge to perpetuate the ridiculous stereotype that gay men like little boys, I guess.

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 11:05pm | #

On a related note, how many trannies have you dated?

My guess is some number less than you have, Dave.

Guy Montag | April 17, 2008, 11:09pm | #

You idiots! That is not a BBW dating ad, it is the Drew Carey Project ad!

smacky | April 18, 2008, 12:01am | #

Rhywun,

I agree with you.

Vanessa | April 18, 2008, 12:18am | #

Grumpy:

"Leaders in French couture are opposed to the idea of legal boundaries on beauty standards."

The fashion industry didn't push for the regulation. It gave a nod towards self-regulation by signing some sort of non-binding agreement with lawmakers - whatever that weirdness means - but they clearly are opposed to this bill.

If the fashion industry wants to stop parading women who are dying of starvation down the runway, I assume they will do it. I'd like that. But that's not what is happening here.

JB | April 18, 2008, 12:48am | #

eh? I'd date her if she put on 10 pounds.

Stevo Darkly | April 18, 2008, 4:58am | #

Hey, pretty unlibertarian of you people. A bunch of fashion design houses and other entities get together and decide that they don't want models who are too skinny and get the gov't to pass a regulation about it. Hello? I thought libertarians LOOOVED it when companies were able to set their own regulations?

And hello to you! You must be brand-new here. I can tell because you don't seem to know the first thing about libertarianism.

I invite you to lurk more, and learn.

Meanwhile, I've bolded the obviously unlibertarian stuff above for your edification.

See, the thing is, companies can't set their own rules (for themselves) when there is a a government regulation that forces them to do things a certain way.

If they chose, maybe some companies could use skinnier models, and other companies could use thicker/curvier models -- and then we could see which were more effective at appealing to consumers and selling clothes. But there's no chance of anyone going their own way and experimenting and learning anything of the sort if there is a regulation forcing everyone to do things the same way.

Cab | April 18, 2008, 11:15am | #

Lando is no cock-blocker. Don't hate the player...