The (thin?) Line Between Plus Size and Obese.....

Edwina Currie has sparked outrage after calling plus size model Ashley Graham 'obese'.

Ms Currie, 69, a former Conservative health minister, said that looking like a curvy model was not sending out a healthy message to women.

Talking on BBC Breakfast she said: 'It seems to me that plus size models and extolling them and making it seem normal to be obese is just dangerous and unhealthy as the zero models, the very thin ones.'

Gesturing at a picture of size-14 Ms Graham, she added: 'I don't know who that young lady is.'

'Whether it's attractive or not it's unhealthy. And what you're doing if you're that sort of size, and I'm not as slim as I should be, is you're heading for diabetes which is awful.

'You're heading for hip problems and knee problems and all the other issues.'

Okay, here's my deal....In my opinion, her very skewed view of 'looking unhealthy' is a contradiction in terms. First of all, you just glanced at a picture and came up with your very own comprehensive assessment of her health. Do you know what her lipid panel numbers are? Are you justifying the right to make snap judgements just on glancing at someones picture? Do you even know what defines 'overweight' and 'obese' and that there are differences and your radical generalization of assuming she's obese and unhealthy are absoulutely appalling? It seems that you are a very educated woman which puzzles me that you can make such uneducated public statements regarding a topic you obviously arent well versed on.

First of all, 'overweight' is usually defined as a condition in which a person's weight is 10-20% higher than 'normal', as defined by a standart height/weight chart called Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25-30. Obesity is usually defined as a condition in which a person's weight is approximately 20% or greater above the 'normal' weight or a BMI of 30 or more. Morbid obesity means a person is either 50-100% over the 'normal' weight for them or more than 100 lbs over and severely impacts their mobility and daily living. Both terms are used to describe a person's weight that is greater than what is generally considered healthy for a given height. But, in more recent research, BMI has been debunked as the 'gold standard' for health predictions. BMI has been the standard determination of fat and fit in doctor's offices, insurance companies and goverment statistics since the 1970s. The BMI standard was created in the 19th century by a Belgian statistician who was trying to assess the collective weight of a population. BMI was never created for or intended to be used on individuals. It was the ease of the formula that made it more convenient and appealing for doctors and insurance companies to use rather that more complex and time consuming techniques such as underwater weight testing. Thus, BMI measurements became the norm for everyone. As BMI is only concerned with weight and height, it does not distinguish between all the parts that influence body weight.

According to the Health At Every Size approach: "We believe you are the best and only expert on your body and that body trust is your birthright."

So, Ms. Currie, I think we can all agree that just because someone is considered 'plus size', especially in the world of modeling, that doesnt automatically mean that they are grossly obese and unhealthy. It's when you make a radical generalization about a one dimensional picture of someone that the lines become very blurred and skewed. So, when you chastize someone for being too overweight, you automatically push them the other way, more toward the size zero you also claim that is also unhealthy. So which is it? You can't expect to shame one size and not expect them to want to turn the opposite way, so what true message are you sending to everyone? In a word: unsubstantiated!

Edwina Currie, 2014

Ashley Graham, 2015