Jordin Sparks

I have been meaning to write about this beautiful young Idol, but I am glad I waited until now. Sparks is incredibly beautiful, incredibly talented and very, very likable. She is also very lucky.

What she is not, however, is "a vision of unhealth".

Meme Roth would disagree. She is associated with the National Action Against Obesity, and she feels like Jordin Sparks is a horrible role model because her body encourages obesity in today's youth.

Now, I will not busy myself with calling this woman horrible names, 1) because hundreds of other bloggers have got that covered, and 2) I try to keep a positive vibe in this blog. But I do intend to disagree passionately with her specific statements.

The quote I had the most problem with states, “We have to stop with the 'baby fat,' 'curvy,' 'goddess' euphemisms and own this child health crisis." I am not going to disagree that we have a child obesity epidemic sweeping our nation. Every woman is beautiful, but it would be naive and dangerous for me to state that every woman is healthy! But to compare women and girls who are curvy and voluptuous with any kind of 'crisis' is the seed behind all of the negative self-images we carry along.

I support this woman's mission in general because she is striving to provide strong, healthy role models. Thumbs way up; I just think she ought to broaden her scope of 'healthy' to include muscular, tall women like Jordin Sparks. Have you seen this girl's father? Jordin is not genetically destined to be tiny!

The good news is that people everywhere - women and men alike - are up in arms over this, only proving that the notion of 'big = bad' is slowly but surely fading into a 'natural and individual are beautiful' mentality.