too skinny was bad, but is too big bad, too?

for quite a few years, there has been a debate raging over whether it negatively affects women in the general public to use rail-thin models on the runway and in advertising. does that promote an unhealthy body image and inspire girls, at the most, to anorexia and bulimia to try to keep up, or at the least, develop a low self-esteem because they can't be an all-legs 6-feet-132-pounds? i don't know the answer. it's one of those, which comes first, the chicken or the egg, scenarios. have women always had body issues and the media is merely reflecting that? or have body issues developed as a result of the media?

i just don't know.

all this to say, designer jean paul gaultier used a plus-sized model, the one you see here, on the runway during a show in paris. it seems some people think this is a jab at the argument itself because this girl is not your average, 5'2" 160-pound woman. and that if the fashion industries use models who look like this, they're promoting another type of unhealthy body image. obese is not better than anorexic, they say. neither should be promoted as beautiful. others say it's good gaultier used a big model, and that it's a act that promotes that beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder and size doesn't matter.

i'm reserving judgment. basically because, like i already said, i just don't know.