Rant: Skinny vs. Curvy

Normally, I try to make my posts educational and/or helpful in some way. But today, I'd like to take a moment to complain about something that's been bothering me for quite some time. In the media, it seems that people often talk about women being "skinny" or "curvy," as if these two are mutually exclusive categories that women neatly fall into. I have to disagree. Skinny refers to the amount of body fat a woman has, whereas curvy refers to the distribution of body fat. One can be skinny and curve-less, skinny and curvy, thick and curve-less or thick and curvy.

The reason this bugs me so much is that I, admittedly, fall into the skinny category. However, even at my heaviest I have never been curvy, and I can say with certainty that I will never, without the help of substantial plastic surgery, be curvy. So when I hear people suggest that skinny girls would look better if they gained weight because then they'd be curvy, I cringe. I WISH that I could just gain a few pounds and look like Marilyn Monroe, but that's never going to happen. If I on the heavier side, I wouldn't look healthy or voluptuous. I would look like a big bean bag sitting on top of a couple of sticks.

On the flip side, it is perfectly possible for a woman to be skinny AND curvy. (curse those lucky SOBs..) If you don't believe me, let's look at some examples, shall we?

First, in the skinny/curvy category, my arch nemesis: Megan Fox

Megan's waist is impossibly small and she probably wears a size 0 or maybe a 2, so the "skinny" label definitely applies. However, her overall shape is obviously the classic hourglass. So, you can just as easily call her curvy. If there was ever a doubt about life being unfair, women like Megan Fox serve as incontrovertible proof.

Next up: Skinny/curve-less. This is where I fit in. If I ever took any full-body pictures of myself wearing something that shows my shapelessness, I would post one. But I don't, so here is another celebrity- Cameron Diaz.

Cameron is not any skinnier than Megan Fox, but her weight is distributed differently, giving her a more straight boyish shape.

In the thick and curvy category, you find women like Scarlett Johansson, Kim Kardashian, Kate Winslet, Beyonce, and Christina Hendricks. I think this group is pretty self-explanatory.

Finally, the thick/curve-less category. Interestingly, there aren't many celebrities in this category it seems. The only person I can think of off-hand is Sherri Shepherd. Although she is "curvy" on top, she has more of a V-shape and narrow hips.

So, you see, it is not really accurate to say that a woman is either skinny OR curvy, because they describe totally different things. Body size can be changed with diet and exercise, but body shape is almost entirely determined by genes.