East Asian Women "Obese" Body Type?
RCDeschene
Posts: 2,816
I was looking at some extra add-ons for Mei Lin 8 and I was a bit thrown-off by one of the features in the East Asian Women for Mei Lin 8. One of the five body morphs included in the product is labeled "Obese". Now, I'm no BMI expert, but that shape is certainly NOT obese. Sure, the depicted figure is significantly thick in the lower body, but this what is usually called "curvy", where the body has more fat volume than average, but its naturally well-proportioned and not at all a health risk (in fact, such bodytypes are considered the safest for pregnancy and childbirth). The obese form is more all-around protruded, most notably in the abdominal area and tends to look baggy.
The worst I'd give this figure is MAYBE "overweight", but even then that doesn't feel entirely accurate. What are your thoughts on this? Is this physiologically sound? Is this insulting to anyone? I'm not so much offended myself so much as it's something I find thought-provoking.
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Comments
If anything, the 'obese' shape is a better 'pear' shape than the 'pear' shape shown, which to me looks like a plank.
Going to myself.. I am bigger than the "obese" shape, so that makes me wonder what on earth I would be classified at... considering that obese is generally what one call someone who is extremely big... This shape is as said before curvy or possible chubby.
I don't get offended myself by this, but I also feel that it gives a very wrong impression.
I agree on that one, I have about that body shape (rather a tad more on the waist ;)) which amounts to a BMI of 26. WHO definition would be slight overweight. Obesity starts at a BMI of over 30 according to WHO.
So yes that really is off
have you ever tried to work out the equivalent western (US or UK/Europe) size to equate with the sizes on much made in China/Hong Kong etc clothing items as sold on sites like ebay?
It gets worse @Chohole Italian size 38 ist German size 36 (which I believe is EU)
Clinical Obese is actually much less than folks think.
English may not be the PA’s native language.
The charts for overwheight and obesity are a joke to begin with. I am very curvy, but I am also extremely fit, Add a bit more on the top, broaden the shoulders, slim the waist a bit and more muscular legs and that would resemble me as well. I will never fit into the charts correctly. If I weighed what the chart says I sould weigh I would be a skeleton (i've been down to their *perfect * weight, and its not pretty) I do kind of fine it a bit off putting that she would be considered obese, because to me, that's really not. Heavier than a fashion model, or the unrealstic expectations of the media for sure though. This does not look obese to me.
Nothing obese at all. Just a healthy female.
What ever happened to "pleasingly plump" or "stylish stout"?
I doubt that the front of a cut-out swimming costume like that would just sit on the skin of a 'properly' obese woman as that one is. Her stomach would be bulging out of the sides at the very least. To be honest, she doesn't even look plump to me, just a bit sturdy in places.
I think "chubby" would be more accurate, by East Asian standards, for the model on the far right. That's how she would be considered there, because the standard for thinness is much greater in Asian countries. In America, she could simply be considered "normal" or maybe "curvy." Additionally, by East Asian standards, petite and thin would not have thighs that touch.
It's not that East Asian people are different than western people. They gain weight just like everyone else. It's that celebrity standards are even more extreme. Actresses and music idols are held to very strict standards, and are often less than 45 kilo/100 pounds. Simply put, they are starved.
It is simply a matter of whose standards one is judging by. American? East Asian? Celebrities? Normal people?
It is worth pointing out that America is the home of fast food and junk. So while many people may gain weight the same way, America generally is fatter than the rest of the world because of high fat diets. What's normal in America really isn't normal elsewhere. So it is true what one culture considers obese may not be in another. If you look around the world, the places that have adopted more American style foods have also seen upticks in overall body weight.
The girl on the right is a bit odd to me. While it is not too unusual, her lower body is out of proportion with her upper body. Her legs are quite large, there is no denying this. If you were judging her legs alone, I'd guess she is obese. But her upper body is not obese at all. Her belly is not even bulging out, which I'd expect to be if she was truly "obese". Her upper body could even be described as voluptuous, rather than obese.
Agreed and IMO she is overweight, especially with those thighs
According to the fashion industry and hence daz, if a woman is more than skin stretched over bones she is fat. It's sad, but it is unfortunately the way of the world. I personally am shaped like that and I don't feel fat, but then I also try and ignore the fashion industry standards.
I second this, it's probably just a poor translation from a non-native speaker.
Actually it because of high sugar intake, mostly high fructrose cornsyrup. High Fat doesn't make one fat. I can attest to this, I was weighing in at 280 lbs. I had to drop the coke and dr. pepper. I dropped 50 lbs within 6 months.With only that change. I still comsumed the same fat intake, like chicken, beef, pork , fish and nuts.
That obese model, is no obese. She is a curvy girl!
I think there's about 5 people associated with DAZ in any way, PA or otherwise, that knows what a 'curvy' woman really looks like. George is obese. That ain't. ;)
THIS^
The way the western food supply has become saturated with sugar ,in all of its various forms, is one of the great under reported catastrophies of our time IMHO.
I've concidered the differences in bodytype standards between Eastern and Western cultures being a factor in the labeling, but even if that's the case, hell, even if it is all just a mistranslation of the artist's part, DAZ really should have asked the artist to reconcider the terminology if they want to sell such a product to a global audience in a day and age of "body-positivity".
Her thighs are a bit bigger than normal, but it's todays normal. Earlier generations would have considered her perfectly normal. There was a shift in the perception of the female body which started with Twiggy (born 1949). Sice then thin and emaciated became the new standard.
The definition of obese hase changed a lot during the last years. Experts are backpedaling already. As long as the fat stays in the right place (which would be the thighs), it's no health risk. At all.
I'm a bit curious why so many people seem to have an issue with this. It's a morph for a 3D character, the label doesn't really matter. One can also see from this thread that folks will invariably "overwrite" the own values on the label.
To be honest, I was a little surprised at Tosca's label choice. Here in the USA that's considered very very normal. Women are ALL shaped differently in today's world, which is great because a good many stopped trying to look like super models which isn't for most women and can hurt them emotionally and do damage to their bodies as a whole but this is NOT obese even in US standards. Full Figured is morel ike it... Curvy is good too!
Sadly this thread has been starting to get contentious in a quasi-political manner, so I think it has run its course and am locking it.