Elastic Waist - Rants and musings on weight, body image, celebrities, fitness, food and other fixations.

CELEBS 01.22.2008 BY WEETABIX

I sometimes have a theory that I act as some kind of psychic liver for this Web site, filtering through all of the negative body image muck and trying to come out the other side with something usable and enlightening, but fucking hell, sometimes it just gets to be a little much with all of the toxic crap out there. And most of it is written by women!! What the hell? It's bad enough that there are these ridiculous ideals, but then we're also projecting our own self-hatred on other women?

I've never met this Rian chick who writes The Skinny Website, but I suspect that she is secretly a very unhappy person. Notice how she frames pictures of Liv Tyler frolicking in her bikini (it must be bikini week here on Elastic Waist): "Now, you know I’m not saying she is fat or even overweight. However, you may remember how thin she was back in April 2007" and then she shows a picture of Liv fully clothed, immediately followed by a shot of the most bootylicious bottom and then a seriously unflattering shot of Liv sitting on the beach with the skin on her stomach doing the thing that it does when everyone in the world sits like that. Yeah, Rian, even Arwen looks like the damned Michelin Man when she sits like that. What are you trying to say?

Of course, you caged it with that whole "I'm not saying she's fat or anything but..." comment, so you're totally blameless. I've called out Rian before, without actually calling her out, and I'm not the only one who has noticed her bullshit, and there's nothing really exceptional about this Liv Tyler post compared to the rest of the misogynistic crap that's always showing up on TSW but damn it, I'm so sick of it! This is the post that broke the fat chick's back!

But I don't know what else to do. What is there to be done about the Rians of the world? How can we quell these thoughts, this ridiculous in-fighting between women who should be supportive of each other and not perpetuate body image traps? What can be done?

The comments would like to know if you really think those pants were a good idea today.

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8 Comments

AJ said:

This shit just pisses me off. Liv is stunning, radiant even and it just really sucks that there are so many evil, ruthless people out there! Grrr!! And no, now that I've read all of this I am NOT comfortable in my jeans, I actually wish I would have worn tighter ones.

January 22, 2008 11:48 AM

Comrade GoGo said:

Liv looks radiant and serene in those pictures. I want to be more like that.

As for the Skinny Website, pfffffffft! I used to check out that site, I admit it. Then one day I realized that I always felt shitty afterward, and I stopped. It's a one-trick pony, and often a bitchy one-trick pony at that.

January 22, 2008 12:03 PM

Candy said:

There is no site quite like the skinny website that pisses me off to such an extreme. Is it seriously necessary to have a website solely dedicated to degrading people about one of the most sensitive subjects there is. Plus, she ends all of her posts, "what do you think?" which I find needy and annoying. I answered what I thought of her once, and she posted a super defensive response.

January 22, 2008 12:17 PM

Kristina said:

life is too short and too important to let such people/websites/attitudes taint your state of mind. love yourself, love your body, be a role model. the best way to combat such people/attitudes is to lead by example.

btw, Liv looks happy with herself and is enjoying herself. good for her.

January 22, 2008 1:15 PM

lisa-marie said:

Sounds like a website to be avoided and even boycotted. Not that any of her regular readers could be encouraged to quit reading - they're probably just like her: insecure little twits who need to bash on other people to make themselves feel better.

January 22, 2008 1:18 PM

charlotte said:

I totally agree with you guys - except I don't think the main problem is Rian. I think it's the commenters. People are vicious and juvenile over there, not to mention not terribly literate.

But you girls have inspired me (again!) - I'm taking SW off my blogroll. I've had a love/hate relationship with it for awhile and it took this post for me to see that this kind of girl-on-girl hating just brings us all down.

January 22, 2008 2:04 PM

Curvy Goddess said:

I think some shots of Rian and the commenters looking their worst, in a bikini on a website should do the trick. What a bitch.

GRRRRRR. MORE GRRRRRR!!!!!!

January 22, 2008 3:46 PM

Moe said:

I think she looks fabulous.

I totally agree with the girl on girl hate thing. I so don't miss working with large groups of women.

January 22, 2008 11:15 PM

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