High 5

Jennifer Love Hewitt protesting that "she's still a Size 2" is pathetic. Does everyone realize that the average woman in the United States is a Size 12? I am one of them, and am sick and tired of going to buy clothes and guess what? The 12s are gone (because there are more of us...hello) but there are plenty of 2s. The real world is not that thin!

Moncie - not to mention that it seems like sizes are getting smaller. How is it that I have the same measurements but went from a size 10 to a size 12, even after LOSING weight (not that I am heavy to begin with.) In some brands I even wear a 14 - and yet, with some brands, I wear an 8 or a 9!!! I wish our clothes came like men's clothes ... in measurements of waist and length, not arbitrary size.

As far as Dave Matthews Band goes, I am with you there ... hehehe ...

Jennifer Love Hewitt could be a size 2. Even teeny people are proportioned and she does have a proportionally larger bottom. And, NO her saying she is a size 2 is NOT part of the problem. Part of the problem is what YOU take from the article she wrote and this idiot
making the whole issue so important. Her concept is the article. The so called reporter is an idiot. Rest assured I'll not read his column again. Secondly with that ridiculous fake grin. You are the reason we need that person to put the news and your reports on a rate grid. Your second stupid entry of today. BTW, I stopped reading after No. 2.

Quickly: I don’t know if Jennifer Love Hewitt has an ‘eating disorder’ like many Hollywood starlets… I do know that I eat and eat and eat until I pass out and I don’t gain weight! My mother was the same way until she had children. She was a 2. My aunt was a size 0 with the healthiness appetite I know. I have friends who have the same metabolism. Have you noticed in our society women can’t win for losing? You’re teased if you’re a size 22. You’re teased if you’re a size 2! I would love the ability to walk into a store, pick the ‘ideal’ size and shape off a shelf so people like you won’t find the need to criticize my body because Lord knows; my size or Jennifer Love Hewitt’s size MUST affect your day-to-day life! So, since you are trying so hard to ‘solve the problem’, what size should women aspire to reach??
Dawn

NO. The problem is that we are so obsessed with being thin thin thin that even teeny tiny people (let alone NORMAL sized people) are called fat and only unhealthy walking skeletons are considered attractive.

YOU are part of the problem.

Actually, no, Steve, she isn't part of the problem. She's pointing out the hypocrisy of criticizing a size 2 woman for being "fat."

Steve, I'm going to repeat what these fine folks have already said, simply because it's worth repeating: YOU are part of the problem.

She has as much of a right as any woman to condemn the mass media for the attention placed on the size of a woman's body as a woman who wears a size 18.

And not for nothing? I've been blogging about women, body image and weight issues for years now - and have received national recognition for my efforts - and there isn't a woman I've crossed paths with who hasn't felt this pressure, thin or fat.

For you to imply otherwise does a disservice and shows you to be completely ignorant.

I disagree with the previous poster. Sizes are getting smaller but we are not. I was, for the longest time, at Banana Republic a 0. And now, I haven't lost an ounce, if anything, I've gained and I'm looking at ordering a 00 off the internet? No, this isn't a pity party, it's an example of how absurd the weight obsession has become. Cutting larger but labeling smaller does NOT boost our self esteem. Shame on retailers for thinking so little of customers and shame on us if it means we'll shop there more just so we can be a "size" smaller.

And seriously, you are going to have the likes of Petty and Ryan Adams apologize? That's even more absurd than double zero's. Let's start with the band Nickelback and slowly work from there.

And once and for all: does Ms. Hewitt in any way appear to be unhealthy? Quite to the contrary, she has everything Nature intended her to have. She is not underweight, she is not overweight. And look at her face in the photos: SHE IS HAPPY. That in itself is a major accomplishment!

As to size, I weigh 130 lbs and still have to buy size 4. At over 5'5" and 130 lbs I am NOT a petite person, so how do I end up in size 4? I end up in size 4 because someone in retailing thought that would sell more clothes. Even though by definition I am more of a size 8 and either way, WHO CARES? Am I healthy? Am I happy? Do I endeavor to do more good that damage in the world? I would think all of that would matter more.

Jennifer wants to have it both ways. She was all in favor of "thin is in" when she was a size 0. I didn't hear her complaining that it was unfair to judge people by their weight until she put on a little weight herself. Its time for her to feel what its like for the other 98%.

Also, can someone explain to me why cities are seemingly randomly assigned to posts here? I'm from Chicago, not Palatine, and the commenting interface never asked me whether I was or wasn't.

Saying she's a size 2 is part of the problem. She should have said-"i've never been happier than i am now, being grostequetly thin may have been cute when i was 20, but now it would just be pathetic"
Unless they doctored the photos, she's not a size 2- god bless her!

But, Pete, why is it necessary to cultivate that climate at all? It's hateful and defeating. Why is it time for her to feel anything so hateful of the sort? Because she may have been thinner once? What did she actually do to earn such a thing, as your sentence implies?

Plus, and this is the thing that irks me most about anyone saying anything about her body, is that many are measuring her against what her body looked like when she was a teen. She's a grown woman. Even some grown women who are a size two have cellulite.

Mr. Smith? I think this thing picks up your IP since I'm not from CT.

Women's sizes nowadays are nothing but a vanity label. A size 10 fifty years ago is now a size 2. Nowadays, a size 5 in one label may be a size 9 in another. Anybody can pick whatever size they want.

Mr_Smith wrote:

Actually, no, Steve, she isn't part of the problem. She's pointing out the hypocrisy of criticizing a size 2 woman for being "fat."

You're not looking at this incident in its extended implications. Yes, it's a joke to call anyone smaller than a size 14 fat, for that matter. But Hewitt is creating her own hypocrisy (and cancelling out any points she would have made) by flat out LYING about her size. She's the one who brought up size, but she doesn't have the real spine and guts it would take to say, "Hey, I'm a size 10, I'm not fat, and you all can bite my dainty butt!"

If Jennifer LH is a natural size two, that is who she is. No one should find fault with her. The point is people come in different shapes ans sizes. We can all protest unrealistic standards because they hurt everyone. We are all in it together.

Pete wrote:

Jennifer wants to have it both ways. She was all in favor of "thin is in" when she was a size 0. I didn't hear her complaining that it was unfair to judge people by their weight until she put on a little weight herself. Its time for her to feel what its like for the other 98%.

When did she ever say she was a size 0 or that she was in favor of "thin is in?" I'll repeat the obvious point that a previous poster said: She is clearly pointing out the hypocracy of calling someone who is a size 2 "fat." I hate to generalize like I'm about to, but in this case I really do think it is true: If you can't see that intent in such a comment, you are a) not paying attention, b) trying to take a confrontational stance to attract attention in your column (Johnson) or c) really, really dumb (Johnson?).

I am so tired of the current trend of these sickly skinny "beautiful" people. Who out there really thinks this looks good? To me, they just look like 12 year old boys, which I'm sorry, just does not do it for me...

Even young starlets who at the beginning of their fame that have curves and say they have no problem with it evenually succumb, lose 20 pounds they shouldn't and end up on the cover of some magazine about how they "remade" their body. Why? It really was fine. Women are supposed to have curves...

Do not do a single thing to change your body, Ms. Hewitt.

Gutless> She's not a size 10. I'd wager to say she's not a size 8 either. Women are going to have cellulite, it happens. Even the size 2s.

Who cares what size is Jennifer! She is beautiful anyway. If she is happy then that's it. It's her life not yours so get over it.

Oh, by the way, has anyone heard that a 3 or 4 thousand Americans have dies in Iraq?