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Her modelling website can be found here
Grace is an interesting combination of: IronMan Triathlete, Model and Single Mother. This gives her a pretty unique perspective on several worlds!
Grace has experienced pressure to conform to a body shape that is expected of her as a model and this is now at odds with her desire to pursue her ambitions as a triathlete. Recently she has been turned down by a bikini swimwear calendar on the grounds of being too athletic!
The irony of that is certainly not lost on me...
Grace seems to have rejected the notion of having a 'perfect figure' in favor of living and training as she wants to, citing her happiness and health as higher priorities. She quotes a survey which claims that 74% of Australian women are unhappy with their bodies. I think Grace would like to challenge some of society's firmly held notions from within the modeling industry. I have never met her, but I can imagine that this takes a certain amount of determination and courage.As for my opinion...?
I think that athletic girls can be very attractive and I think that beauty resides in the heart and mind as well as the body. When a person is living strong mentally, physically AND emotionally then they are are truly alive they radiate life energy. To my mind the 26% are the truly attractive ones ;-)
So what do YOU THE READER think?
Would you like to see models that are more representative of the general population?
GIRLS Are you happy with your body the way it is? Do you feel that there is pressure to conform to an 'ideal' body shape?
GUYS Do you like athletic girls?
6 comments:
THERE IS NO IDEAL BODY WEIGHT SHAPE
Article by Grace McLure
What is the “ideal” or “perfect” body or weight? Is there a perfect set of standards to be a successful model, football player, swimmer, triathlete, runner or other athlete? Particularly in sports and occupations which emphasize appearance and leanness there is pressure to conform to standards, which are often impossible to maintain in the long term without serious damage to your body. It is easy to believe and try to achieve these “perfect bodies” relative to our jobs, lives or sports however what we do not realize is that that our bodies may be perfect for us.
I recently received a confronting phone call from my modeling agency who were ringing to tell me I had NOT made the shortlist for a certain bikini swimwear calendar – one which I had featured in as a main model in past years. Apparently, I now had a very athletic body with
‘those veins’, a stomach with ‘that really muscular type V’, and that my legs were ‘bulkier, yes definitely bulkier’” Even though I knew my new gluteus maximus was going to help me cycle faster and there was no need to question myself or my weight, it did not make the comments any easier to take. I remember beginning modeling at seventeen. We arrived in Tokyo, and ordered to strip to our underwear before being measured by an old Japanese woman who had horribly cold hands and told me that I had,
“big big feet, probably too big for small Japanese shoes”
and a “big head.”
(Hey, before you look too hard my head is not that big and those feet just happen to be the only thing that get me through the water swimming as my skinny arms don’t do much!) I hated feeling like my whole worth was coming down to whether my numbers were stacking up to what they were “supposed” to be on a piece of paper. My agency are doing their job by trying provide models who fit “the mould.” What concerns me is that our society and particularly the media encourage the belief that there is an “ideal” or “perfect mould” and specifically that this is not healthy or achievable. I barely recognise myself modeling in some magazines which I know have been re-touched and where my skin looks flawless/poreless/celluite free and porcelin-like…. I can tell you it is a long way from the reality of my sweaty and spotty red face at the end of a hard cycling wind-trainer set! You only need to take a look around at class of five-year old school kids and to see how people naturally come in all different shapes and sizes that and all these body types in a reasonably healthy weight range should be encouraged.
The same concept of an ideals also applies to athletes where weight, image and muscle mass are important. Jockeys need to make weight, long distance runners are supposed to be skinny, triathletes thought to be lean and strong or football players and gym-goers want to be big. Leading jockey Darren Beadman is outspoken on the subject saying to continue his sport means living on only one meal a day. A recent national survey of jockeys found depression was rampant which is not surprising considering the minimum weight for races like the Melbourne Cup is 49kg. Wasting and dehydration is typical among jockeys and damages the body, hampers the mind and lowers bone density. There is increasing awareness of what is known as the female athlete triad of “disordered eating, amenorrhea (not menstruating) and osteoporosis. Tracey Menzie’s (former elite swimmer and current coach to Ian Thorpe) suffered chronic fatigue eventually having to be helped from the pool, her career finished and a question mark hanging over her fertility as a result of losing too much weight as teenager. You may think being really underweight will help you in your chosen sport and it may even do so briefly, but definitely not in the long term – studies have shown that those athletes who do starve themselves are prone to stress fractures, chronic fatigue and depression. Thorpe himself says that he has,
“swum well at 105kg and swum well at 90kg and that’s a big range.”
While there is no questioning the fact that in some sports it is beneficial to be leaner/lighter the fact remains that this is different for everyone. Professional triathlete and mother Belinda Hallorin agrees, stating as proof that twice at her lowest ever recorded skin fold levels she had two of the worst races of her career and that
“when I won the biggest race of my life, I weighed the most I ever have in my life."
My friends seven year old daughter wants to try the latest diet and I still hear my 55 year old Aunt worrying about her waist-line - not surprising considering we see people ridiculously thin from the ages of the Olsen twins to the Desperate Housewives and beyond. To be that thin is not natural and healthy. We all have a natural healthy body weight-range which works in conjunction with how much exercise we do and this will not make us over-weight. When we are under our natural body-weight our bodies will naturally kick in to make us hungry and tell us to eat and so restore us to good health and this will respond and adapt to how much exercise we do as sportsman. If we are doing a lot of running our bodies will generally naturally become lighter to help reduce the impact on our joints and ligaments and muscular/skeltal system however, when people don’t eat our body suffers by not receiving the nutrients it needs to function and our mental state is damaged. Our survival instinct will kick in to make us obsessed with finding food. When this is conflicted by a million foods and diet rules under the sun telling us what to and what not to eat and the results are often guilt, a bigger food obsession, and depression and leaves athletes with no energy to train.
Maybe it is time that sporting bodies and modeling agencies took more control of their industries and the health of their athletes by encouraging some standards to protect their athletes and the media celebrating all healthy body types. While it is unrealistic to impose a minimum body-fat level test for every athlete and model, I am sure measures could be taken. A good example is that now horseracing minimum weight requirements for jockeys are being reviewed. Some people are naturally under-weight however I find it hard to believe any guy (no matter how small he is and naturally thin) would find it difficult to weigh more than 49kg as in the case of a jockey!
A staggering staggering 74% of Australian women are unhappy with their bodies and 68% are willing to have surgery. We all want to improve, the key is to be happy right now and let anything else is a bonus. If you are honest with yourself and look back to a time when maybe you were ‘that 5kg lighter,’ ……… I ask you to remember specifically, at that time, were you really happy then? REALLY? How many times have you said...
“If I were just 5kg lighter – that’s all I want.”
“I just need to fix my teeth”
“its just the area on my tummy, then I’d be right”
“I only want my boobs a bit bigger/smaller and that’s it”
“Its just this line, this one right here in the middle of my forehead”
“I need to drink more water then my skin will be great”
We are led to believe that being “so called perfect” will make us happy.
It won’t, happiness comes from within.
I don’t look like a fashion model anymore but I have never received more compliments on much happier and healthier I seem since taking up triathlons and sport. More importantly I know the confidence and mental strength and positive energy which sport gives me. As far as my model agency comments go, I am going to focus on what I can do. I’m going to chase my dreams and see where my Writing, Acting, Television and Triathlons take me. In the mean time, I’ll do my part to show that muscle and good health can be seen as attractive by the media too!
How to let your body be ideal for you, your performance, your lifestyle
# Have a goal of a strong healthy body rather than a goal weight or size.
# Eating regularly from a balanced diet of all the food groups (including the naughty ones sometimes!)
# Balance how much energy you use in comparison to how much exercise you do (it doesn’t have to be specific to the last calorie).
# Choose healthy role models, stop surrounding yourself with magazines that focus on criticizing body types or emphasize one type of “ideals” (they will only make you feel worse)
# Choose coaches who know you and encourage you to be your best specific to you without unrealistic ideals.
# Challenge peers/coaches/other so called “ideals”
# Accept your body as it is right now and not what life will be like when you lose weight
Grace McClure commenting on discrimination based on body type and looks is like the Sultan of Brunei speaking up for the poor.
I agree with the anonymous comment above. It seems that until Grace herself was discriminated against according to what the majority regards as the "ideal body shape", Grace McLure was happy to benefit from that discrimination. Now that she cannot benefit from that discrimination, it's not ok! I think she needs to wake up to herself.
I dont understand why people cant be paid well because they are attractive. Some get paid because the are intelligent, some funny, some athletically talented. Why not because they are attractive?
Those that complain about it are often the ones that also complain when somebody aside from them gets a promotion at work or races a faster time. If people exercise more than others (+ have a genetic gift) good luck to them. It's the same as someone working hard at their job (+ have a knack for it) and those that train a lot to get faster (+ are genetically talented). Stop complainging about those that are attractive.
Unfortunately for Grace though, she (apparently) doesn't have the look that people desire. I and most of us in this community will think she has an attractive body, but her BUSINESS PARTNERS do not. That's life!
Sounds like Grace is just bitter about not getting a modeling job - what is SHE actually doing to help change the way women's bodies are perceived?
Im doing a project for my a-level media and would apreciate if you could answer this question for me:
do you think the beauty industry have a set idealized body image that women have to conform to?
Its pretty much the same question but more to do with the media.
I personally, dont mind my body when im out with my friends and getting on with everyday life, but when i see fashion shows with stick thin models and movies with slim women i do feel insecure.
I would like to see more models like the general population, i think it would benefit everyone.
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