Brains and beauty: Cambridge student reaches beauty contest final despite weighing 10st, sneers the Mail.'Despite weighing 10st' implies that 10st is somehow unsightly.
In fact, given that Emmalina Thompsell is 5'5", her body mass index is 23.3, which puts her squarely in the 'ideal' range on that scale. The height-to-weight ratio on this chart also puts her squarely in the 'OK' range. Not underweight. Not overweight. But the right weight.
The picture is the girl in question. Can't you just see how the Mail thinks she's hideously fat? Even by the Mail's usual standards of picking on the weight of women, this is a disgrace.
Not convinced. The mail seems more to be lauding her for not being stick thin than berating her for it.
ReplyDeleteHey guys,
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say thanks for the support on this. I can see that the mail is trying to put a certain point across, but the way the headline is phrases definately does not seem to be lauding me for being stick thin!
More seriously, the main reason that I am putting myself up for this is not because I think that I am super pretty - there are many pretty girls out there, but because the England One-Wall Handball team, of which I am a member, really needs sponsorship/funding to attend the World Handball Championships in October.
If anyone is interesting in supporting us, please get in contact, or visit www.englandhandball.co.uk
Lina x
Alex - I see there is elements of trying to celebrate Emmalina as brains and beauty (as if the Mail is only just realising that's possible).
ReplyDeleteBut the headline and the four mentions (in 452 words) of her weight/dress size/waistline tells a different story. Especially, when as shown, there is nothing unusual about her weight. On their homepage it's currently '10-stone beauty's bid to be a beauty queen' - the focus entirely on her weight.
The Sun's version of this story has no such focus - http://tinyurl.com/q58a7w
The Mail are also picking on Natasha Henstridge today for not being thin enough for them http://tinyurl.com/pngknd
Lina - Thanks for reading. Just for reading you have the support of this blog. It's a shame the Mail didn't focus more on your handball team - that seems like a much more important angle. Plus, we think you look great! Good luck with both contests.