Several months ago, all the media hub-bub was centered around Jessica Simpson’s weight gain. Astronomic in the eyes of Hollywood, her advance into the territory of Rascal scooters was seemingly about to bring about the end of days.

Only a size 4, the rags started labeling her “Jumbo Jess.” They dare not be concerned with her lack of acting talent, her mediocre singing voice or her apparent inability to cohesively form a sentence, but how dare she put on a few pounds!

When compared to the likes of Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio, though, Simpson would definitely be considered a fattie. These women strut their stuff in the latest fashions on the catwalk (yeah, on the catwalk) with their sharp measurements, causing the streets to overflow with the sick of thousands of bulimics.

These women are creating an archetype that is causing women to lose sight of what is important, of what is beautiful. These models do not represent the average woman as a whole, nor do they showcase the idealized woman. They are leading to low self esteem and the damaging of the trachea of sundry teenage girls. Hollywood and the media have created an image of women that is not only damaging, but downright silly.

Women are meant to have curves. If I wanted to have sex with a 12-year-old boy, I would hop into the DeLorean with Doc Brown and travel back to ancient Greece.

There is a difference between being healthy and being sickeningly gaunt. The runway and the silver screen would lead the average American to believe that the latter makes you beautiful. Granted, the greater majority of Americans are considered obese, but the media would lead the fairer sex to believe that they need to be more like Goldie Hawn in “Death Becomes Her” to ever earn the desire of a man.

“Heroin chic” was all the rage in the 90s, and how are the proportions of models now any different? Models these days look a few pounds shy of a cheeseburger heavier. The average American woman weighs 140 pounds. The average model weighs 117. The average model weighed 127 pounds in 1960. What the hell happened in the last 50 years?

So what is the purpose of the representation of women on the runway? Models are showcasing the newest fashions, fashions intended only for other models apparently, as the average model is 98 percent thinner than the average woman.

And it’s not just that the models feel that this image is the one best suited to be sent out into the universe. Most of the time they are required by contract or fear of being brutally murdered by a man in too much leather and very tight jeans to hover around such impossible weights. The industry as a whole is perpetrating this idea that women need to be full on a pea. The fashion industry is virtually like a third world country without the distended bellies.

It has even been suggested by some German fashionistas that Heidi Klum is too heavy for the runway. Heidi. Klum. Seal and I can both agree that this is ludicrous.

What’s next? Megan Fox is absolutely gorgeous, and the superior minds that troll the Internet have deemed her hideous because she suffers from a rare disease known as “toe thumbs.”

Are we going to critically analyze every little aspect of a woman’s appearance until we come across what is widely accepted as the better model and harvest women in a lab until we are overrun by “Stepford Wives?”

Ever seen the Venus of Willendorf? Take a second and Google it, I’ll wait. That was at one time considered the essence of beauty and grace. What are our fertility goddesses going to be represented as? A limestone carving of Nicole Richie?
All women are beautiful. Every single last one of them possesses some quality, physical or otherwise, that makes them gorgeous.

They don’t need the impossible Barbie doll measurements to earn lust, just a sense of confidence in what they have to offer.
We seem to have our ideas of beauty all mixed up in this health conscious age. We seem to think of women with a little extra weight as lepers, equating them to bed-ridden slobs that need the assistance of several skateboards to move from the bidet to the boudoir.

The pointy cheek bone/pencil-thin leg set have it all wrong. Exposed ribcages and sinewy neck lines are reserved for Room 101, not on the cover of “Playboy;” they are the effects of being malnourished, not the epitome of a beautiful woman.Nicole Richie?

All women are beautiful. Every single last one of them possesses some quality, physical or otherwise, that makes them gorgeous.

They don’t need the impossible Barbie doll measurements to earn lust, just a sense of confidence in what they have to offer.
We seem to have our ideas of beauty all mixed up in this health conscious age. We seem to think of women with a little extra weight as lepers, equating them to bed-ridden slobs that need the assistance of several skateboards to move from the bidet to the boudoir.

The pointy cheek bone/pencil-thin leg set have it all wrong. Exposed ribcages and sinewy neck lines are reserved for Room 101, not on the cover of “Playboy;” they are the effects of being malnourished, not the epitome of a beautiful woman.Nicole Richie?

All women are beautiful. Every single last one of them possesses some quality, physical or otherwise that makes that gorgeous. They don’t need the impossible Barbie doll measurements to earn lust, just a sense of confidence in what they have to offer.
We seem to have our ideas of beauty all mixed up in this health conscious age. We seem to think of women as a little extra weight as lepers, equating them to bed ridden slobs that need the assistance of several skateboards to move from the bidet to the boudoir.

The pointy cheek bone/pencil thin leg set have it all wrong. Exposed ribcages and sinewy neck lines are reserved for Room 101, not on the cover of “Playboy,” they are the effects of being malnourished, not the epitome of a beautiful woman.

BJ Grieve is a City Times copy editor