People's may, but ours usually doesn't. Here we try to be respectful of the range of shapes and sizes humans come in.

Plastic surgery is iffy, because it's something people do to themselves-like a bad haircut.

I don't want to be judgy about something people may or may not be able to do anything about.

While Lea Michelle certainly looks thin and lean, I don't know that she's "severely underweight" as Gris described her. I do know she's small, vegan and working 16 hours a day. But if she were dangerously underweight I can't imagine she'd be able to shoulder the workload that she does. She's up front on the show in both its dramatic arcs and songs, so she's probably putting in more hours than most.

I suspect that it's a bit like SMG who got thinner after S1, and there was much flurry of concern about anorexia but she never had a health breakdown and she herself noted (a) normal for a teen girl to shed some babyfat from her middle to late teens; (b) working 16 hours a day.

SMG never had a physical breakdown from undernourishment so it was all just speculation and diagnosis via television.

Like DJ, I've known women who were naturally very thin and that was due to their body type and metabolism.

I do think it's inevitable that actors and other performers will judged by their appearance. But I also find a lot of the commentary distasteful. Unless we're making fun of Courtney Love's plastic surgery or Nicole Kidman's botox fixation. Then it's fair game.

But record companies that think Amanda Palmer needs to lose weight can fuck off. Ditto John Cameron for hounding Kate Winslet for her weight.

Fair enough.

I really do apologize for the flipness of my remark. I'm not sure why this has become a big deal on either side, to be honest. I certainly don't mean to be attacking you, Steph.

I think we're actually on the same side. I want Lea Michele to gain weight because I'm concerned that the reason she's lost it is because she feels she has to, and I don't think she actually does.

But would you want her to gain weight because she feels she has to? Or say, get implants because without curves she looks "too thin?"

I hope you don't feel piled on, Gris. You've been more than open to considering the issues and gracious about it.

Oh, yes! Please read everything I'm typing as friendly argument. It's a discussion worth having.

It's a discussion worth having.

I concur. That's why I bothered to address it. It's interesting in itself as a subject, but also as a matter of board culture and the value of having those kinds of boundaries.

I do think having an opinion on other people's appearance is fair game, just like having an opinion on anything else. Now, our opinions carry exactly zero weight regarding what most other people should do about their appearance, but I don't like the idea of any topic of discussion being off limits here as long as it's conducted in a respectful manner.

I don't want to be judgy about something people may or may not be able to do anything about.

I'm on an Internet discussion board, so I feel like part of what I do is be judgy about all kinds of random crap. I believe in a whole host of personal freedoms, but god DAMN if you put yourself out there, then I can comment.

Talking smack about Mark Hamill's plastic surgery is in poor taste because they were reconstructing his face. Meg Ryan's was not corrective. It is shameful that as an over 40 actress she felt she had to do that shit to herself.

No. I am projecting, I admit it. It's quite possible she lost all the weight naturally and is not in an unhealthy state. In that case, I'm wrong to suggest that she should be gaining weight.

The SMG connection is interesting because although I, too, noticed the weight loss from Season 1 to Season 2, it never looked unhealthy to me (well, maybe the last few episodes of Season 6, where I feel like she really hit her lowest weight point, I got a little worried). She just looks like somebody who's naturally very small from head to toe, at the low end of her own personal range. To me, it looks like Lea has dropped below her own natural personal range. She's not built as boyishly as SMG or Natalie Portman (I wish I had a better word for a "boyish" build as I certainly don't think either of those women look unwomanly, but that's all I'm coming up with) and so her current level of thinness looks wrong to me.

Am I right? I don't know. I'm speculating. Maybe I shouldn't, but I can't really help it, at least internally: actors and actresses are positioned as commodities we're supposed to evaluate on a physical level, and I do it.