Tall, Skinny, and FashionableMike Rappaport

Jane Galt writes:

The obsession with being tall and skinny just strikes me as weird–Iwas at the gym yesterday, with two twelve year olds on the machinesnext to me, inventorying everything they’d eaten like obsessive societymatrons. It is not a ticket to glamour, except in the minds of thewomen who run fashion magazines, and the gay men who design the clothesin those magazines. Models often have trouble getting dates, because noone dares approach them. (I swear). Plus, they often have reallygigantic emotional problems, as would you if you spent eight hours aday being inspected for flaws. I’ve no evidence that straight men thinkthat the Underfed Valkyrie look is a universal ideal, so why do womenthink this?

I guess I have to agree.  Tall and skinny does not do much for me (although I don’t claim to be  representative).   Jane’s reference to women who run fashion magazines and the gay men who design the clothes in those magazines reminds me of the movie, The Devil Wears Prada, which was great fun and where the heroine was not so skinny.