111 Comments   
Finally, a modeling competition in which contestants will be required to have a little meat on their bones.

Re/Dress, a boutique for plus-size women in Brooklyn, N.Y., just kicked off a modeling competition, reports the New York Daily News. The catch? The call for models starts at size 18.

In theory we're all for it; we're just a bit confused by all the body-image absurdity these days. Shall we review?

-The fashion industry refuses to look twice at a woman who's one potato skin past a perfect size 4. In fact, they prefer perfect 0s. Or any women who resemble a "hanger," the famous fashion dictate which says that clothes look best on a woman whose body most resembles the wire accessory.

-- When a size 10-ish model with tummy pooch appeared in the September issue of Glamour magazine, the response was so rabid, she was quickly rechristened "the girl on page 194," and the magazine vowed to be the first to include more models who reflected "real women" in its pages. We sighed: Finally, a model who looks like us.

-- Despite that pledge, two months later, Glamour featured famous plus-size model Crystal Renn in a dress she didn't quite seem able to zip up. And we argued that most of the models the magazine deemed "plus-size" were actually smaller than the average American woman, who is a size 14.

-- Now, one of the first modeling searches celebrating real women and their curves skips over the sizes 12, 14 and 16 -- and jumps straight to 18 and up.

We ask: Is promoting women who are size 0 -- or size 18 -- beautiful or irresponsible? And why can't magazines -- and anyone who's going to send women down the catwalk -- select more models who aren't at either extreme?

More Good Stuff on the Web:

Is it okay for women to hit men?


Talk Nerdy to Me: The Top 5 Sci-Fi Date Movies (TechLand)
crazy things parents sayParents say the darndest things! And now, the Internet is there to collect them all (CrazyThingsParentsSay)