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.

Sure you can comment, but I think you do so with the realization that when the comment is, "God, she looks too thin," or "Wow, he is so fat," or "Her skin looks horrible!" there are probably at least half a dozen buffistas who look at themselves and wonder what you'd say about them.

The best I've seen SMG look in a long time was with her pregnant belly.

Oh, let me add: normally I frankly don't care quite as much about actresses and their appearance or even, really, their health. Not my business. I'm invested in Lea Michele way beyond the norm because of history - I saw Spring Awakening more than a dozen times on Broadway. It completely changed my life. I spent over a year building and moderating a major Spring Awakening fansite that I still own and administer. I respect Lea Michele for her talent and her commitment to that show, and I "knew" her (not personally, but as much as one can know a favorite actress) long before Glee catapulted her to national fame.

Sure you can comment, but I think you do so with the realization that when the comment is, "God, she looks too thin," or "Wow, he is so fat," or "Her skin looks horrible!" there are probably at least half a dozen buffistas who look at themselves and wonder what you'd say about them.

Isn't this unavoidable? There are all kinds of things people say here that I could find personally offensive. I thought this was a default position.