Why I love Lil' Kim and thoughts on celebrity skin

Celebrity skin: It's always extreme. Currently, the media can't stop talking about how painfully thin actresses and singers are becoming.

About the columnist Last Call

A few seem to be naturally thin, but many are wasting away by seemingly unhealthy means. Anyone who saw "The Birdcage" can attest to the fact that Calista Flockhart, as slight as she naturally is, did not always look like she was a lollipop.

Likewise, Jennifer Aniston was not always the tiniest friend on the block, but now she's practically floating down the sidewalk. But amongst the narrowing of waists and minds, a plethora of larger women are succeeding. Missy Elliot, for example, is a plus-size woman who's not trying to get any smaller - and leading the female rap charts. Carmyn Manheim , who won an Emmy for her role on "The Practice," speaks adamantly of the beauty and the challenge of being a heavy-set female. The presence of plus-size women in the public eye is a good start towards reversing the weight standard, but it leaves me with one question: Where's the middle ground?

By middle ground, I mean women of average proportion. According to studies, the average woman in America is 5'4" and a size 12. That's more than 120 lbs, and a lot more than an average model, actress or singer, who is likely to weigh in at around 110 lbs. Many famous women of average body types struggle to rid themselves of "extra pounds." Jewel, the yodeling poet wonder, is a great illustration of a yo-yo dieter. One minute she's at the Grammy Awards, looking svelte in a revealing dress, the next she's singing on VH1, visibly larger and trying to disguise it by tricky camera angles

In my opinion, there are simply too few truly normal women in the spotlight. On the same note, women who come in looking what I'll call "healthy" end up burning extra pounds off as quickly as they can. Fueled by agents, agencies and their competitive counterparts, women such as Courtney Love, who has made fun of her own transformation and extensive plastic surgery, and Miss Butt herself, Jennifer Lopez (who has lost more than twenty pounds in the past few months, according to interviews), have shamelessly shed their fat before our very eyes.

Enter Lil' Kim, the notorious rap star famous for her wild child ways. Admittedly, I'm biased - I like any short woman with a big mouth. But Lil' Kim stands out in my mind. She's a woman of small stature who has a small bit of meat on her (she's not large by any means, but she's no Kate Moss). That doesn't stop her from having absolute confidence in her body. She parades around in outfits that make Madonna blush, and doesn't blink an eye if she accidentally reveals a stretch mark or a little cellulite. If you didn't catch her outfit at the MTV movie awards, you must not watch T.V., because it received more coverage than the show itself. It was half a dress - and a circle to cover the other half of her chest.

Lil' Kim had no worries whether she was the thinnest or the prettiest - she was there to have a good time. She wore a similar outfit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume exhibit opening, and although I can't give her points for good taste, she gets kudos for loving the way she looks. Little Kim's not alone, either. A few actresses, including teen favorites Drew Barrymore and Kate Winslet, are daring to be beautiful and healthy. And there's no better way they could be using their influence.

Why does size matter? Personally, I don't think that skinny celebrities cause women to have eating disorders, but I do believe they're a factor. Countries who do not emphasize low body weight to women have few episodes of eating disorders, whereas millions of women in the U.S. suffer from them. The occasional plus-size woman in the media spotlight will not end the idea that "dangerously thin is in", but it might help. More importantly, I think more "average" women like Little Kim need to be as prevalent as the uber-skinny figures if women are ever going to stop suffering for a dress size, and start loving themselves.

- Love, loss and what I wore: