Truth or Slander: Can you judge a skinny girl by her picture?

 

BIG SOULLESS MEDIA takes on TINY BUT MORAL BLOGGER! It’s the stuff movies are made of! No? Ok, so I don’t really watch movies but it’s a story we’re all familiar with and if you are a blogger yourself, you probably already know where this is going. There has been a bit of a legal kerfuffle going on behind the scenes here at The Great Fitness Experiment. You wouldn’t know it unless you are a reader unfortunate enough to have subscribed to the comments of the afflicted post and/or you have ended up on the receiving end of one of my tirade-ish e-mails.

Why have no less than four lawyers been sic’ed on me over the past year? I published pictures of ultra-thin models and dared to say the images promoted disordered eating.

The post, called Functional Anorexia, was written over 3 years ago about the prevalence of women lauded in our society for living an eating disordered lifestyle but managing to stay just this side of living. It’s Tori Spelling quibbling with Star magazine about her low weight (“Tori is a shocking 95 lbs!” “No, I’m not! I’m a whole 107!”) never mind that either weight for her is considered underweight and unhealthy. It’s every starlet who says they’re just born thin when actually they live on Scotch and Swedish fish. And it’s every model wallpapered in the background of almost every magazine, television shows, ad campaign and website targeted to women.

You know the models I’m talking about – they’re not famous enough, or well-paid enough, to actually have names. More often than not they’re just underage waifs from poverty stricken countries who are chosen for their coltish limbs and familiarity with malnourishment. Too frequently they are sexually, physically and economically abused by their handlers. There is a reason this aesthetic is sometimes called “Auschwitz chic.” It is a lifestyle that hurts everyone involved. We see the pictures of them and feel badly about ourselves, internalizing the thin-at-all-costs mentality. They become fodder in a fashion machine that chews them up and spits them out with nothing to show for it but debt and a chemical dependency. To say these images do not promote an unhealthy lifestyle is using the OJ Simpson defense logic: perhaps we can’t say with 100% certainty that OJ killed Nicole (or that seeing anorexic looking women promotes anorexia) but everyone knows it’s true anyways.

Not the lawyers though. If you read my original post when it first ran, you might remember the pictures I used to illustrate the article. Stark black-and-white portraits of young girls so thin they looked like walking anatomy charts, all being aggressively promoted by the same Mega Huge Modeling Agency. For weeks the only people I heard from on the topic were readers – in fact, it became one of my most-read posts ever, even being featured on the Chicago Times and USA Today websites. The popularity began the problem.

Over the ensuing months, I have received e-mails promising a lawsuit from the lawyers of every one of the models I featured, save one. The lawyers allege that my article says their client has an eating disorder which, they claim, she certainly does not and also (you know if perchance she did) that kind of defamation could hurt her career. They demanded I pull the pics and as you can see on the post I obliged. While grovelling my apologies. Because I totally don’t want to be sued. (Seriously, if they garnered all the profits I made from this website for the entire 2 years it’s been running they wouldn’t even be able to get whip on their Starbucks hot cocoa.)

Here’s the thing though: I never said those particular models had an eating disorder – I don’t know them from Barbie – I only said that use of those types of images promote an eating disordered lifestyle. Which I still firmly believe.

The Big Media won. I was censored. My point was buried under their legalese. And yet, there is a strange ending to this story: a few weeks ago I received one of the most plaintive e-mails I have ever gotten. It was from one of the models herself. Her English was very poor and the IP address was from Budapest but she managed to express herself very poignantly. She plead that I remove not only her pictures from my site (which I had already done after her lawyer had threatened me in 3 different languages) but to remove her name as well. Because, she wrote, she desperately needed the work. Her whole family depended on her earnings and she was so new to modeling she just couldn’t take the risk of missing a job because of this.

While I hated her lawyer – and all the lawyers – with their scare tactics, her e-mail went straight to my heart. How could I deny another woman, another sister, the chance to work and support her loved ones? Even if her job hurts us all? I read somewhere that the only professions where women, as a rule, make more than men are modeling, stripping and prostitution.

People think women are vain to worry so much about their looks. Turns out that maybe we’re just pragmatic.

So, what do you think? Did I slander these girls? Do super skinny models, whether or not they are eating disordered themselves, promote eating disorders? Did I cross a line? There is exactly one picture left on my original post. I urge you to look at it before you answer. (Unless you are triggered by these types of images – then please don’t click through!)

39 Comments

  1. Well, you can probably guess what side I’m gonna come down on here: NO you did NOT cross a line or slander ANYONE! These images of hyper-thin models ARE dangerous, and ABSOLUTELY can drive women to EDs. I not only experienced it myself, but have seen it over and over and over again. I have spoken to and seen models who not only starve themselves, but shoot heroine into their feet so they’ll stay thin and the track marks won’t show. The drugs are often provided by their agents and managers. This is not to say that EVERY model does this, but an alarming number do, and many of them aren’t even out of their teens. It’s an industry that damages its employees and everyone who sees the images it produces, to say nothing of the exploitation of young, desperate girls.
    Having said that, I COMPLETELY get the whole not wanting to be sued part! I hate those lawyers, too! A bunch of bullies protecting a worthless industry.

  2. While I don’t think you slandered anyone–I do feel bad that the models would face dire consequences because of it and not the modeling agencies. That isn’t fair, but that’s the way the world seems to work.

    I have been treated for ED a couple of times and I would definitely get triggered with these kinds of images because it’s a very difficult mentality to overcome. In India, however, magazines do not feature super skinny [but they do feature skinny models nonetheless!] models because only the tuberculosis stricken rikshaw puller, who’s a migrant worker from some decrepit village, is as skinny as the model in your post–and that’s not seen as attractive.

    That said, I do think that people more than humans are supposed to eat in North America. What’s ‘calorie restriction’ to a North American may be ‘normal food intake’ for someone in Japan.

  3. Thank you so much for writing about this topic! I am really sorry for you to be bothered with so many problems because of this but where would we end up if no one ever says that being so thin is neither normal nor attractive!!! Someone has to speak up against this nightmare. I really can’t understand how this trend could develope. Is there really someone out there thinking that Auschwitz Chic is attractive??? This is degrading for our society!

  4. I think judging anyone by their image is dangerous. Granted if someone looks as though they need help you can infer that they may be sick but they may not. If we continue to judge others by their appearance (skinny and fat) we will continue to hurt others and ourselves. I have friends who eat nothing but junk and are stick thin, I eat a healthy vegan diet and am overweight- we both get judged by our appearance and nine times out of 10 when we’re having dinner they will give us each others dinners.
    I just think we need to take images like these with a pinch of salt- they’re not screaming at us to lose weight, we’re seeing it and linking it to all those messages we’ve been exposed to perviously or our own inner critic. I think we would be better off if we could take a step back, realise we are all beautiful and stop judging others or taking things as a personal attack.
    I don’t think you deserved to get sued but I can understand models not wanting to ruin their careers. Its such a tricky issue. I hate the idea of censorship but I respect that everyone deserves to work.
    I hope they all leave you alone now. Try not to let it get you down!

  5. Whatever happened to freedom of speech?

    Absolutely these images affect young girls. Any of you with daughters at home should refuse to have women’s magazines around the house. Sure, they’ll be inundated with these images elsewhere, but at least you won’t be adding to the load.

  6. This is a hard topic for me. On the onehand, I’ve used images just like that, taped to my fridge, to my scale, to my closets, to “thinspire” myself, back when bulimia had me fully in its clutches. I’ll admit, even now I still have days where this kind of picture makes me long, rather than pity.
    But the fact is, 66% of Americans are not even remotely close to “too thin”. 66% of american adults are on the opposite end of the spectrum. While anorexia and bulimia are very serious issues, they are not the only eating disorders…and I wonder if they’re also not the only eating disorders these images promote.
    I’ve never been overweight, much less obese, but I wonder how much images like this create a sense of despair that leads to more eating. I wonder how much these models’ addictions fuel all our addictions, whether to food or weight loss.
    Honestly, I have no patience for the claim that these images promote anorexia. They promote anorexia the way second had smoke promotes smoking…it’s unavoidable and it’s a part of every day life, but if you’re already addicted, it’s not the fault of the image. Rather than promote, i’d argue that they prolong the addiction, or they enable it. But they don’t start it, and I think that’s a critical distinction to make.

  7. I still feel that most of this are symptoms of a food disordered society. .Until that is changed not much else will. We have become prisoners of our addictive freedoms.

  8. I love this post and it’s important. Of course you didn’t slander. You talked about the detrimental use of these images. Using pictures of underweight unhealthy models to set the bar for what “sexy is” is and has been devastating. I recently wrote a post about the Ashley Madison advertisements that take a picture of an overweight woman and label it “scary.” Images are powerful and damaging and the effects are endless. Its important to break down just what an image is saying and turn it on its head. Keep fighting the good fight!

  9. Oh man. This is a topic that I could opine on for hours, but alas, I will spare you the diatribe and simply say that although I agree with you, I also see where they are coming from (the model working for her family, not the scuzzy lawyers.) That’s a different culture, and if they have no other options, they are in fact still prostituting themselves and their health out to simply survive. Others do it willingly when various other options are available to them. Where do you draw the line? When is it “okay” for women to starve to paradoxically feed their families or their bank accounts?

    On the other hand, if they’ve never openly admitted to struggling with an eating disorder, I can see how it would affect them and spark controversy (even if it’s true.) It would be like assuming someone has any other mental illness based simply on their looks, which to be honest, is unfair.

    I most certainly have my own experience with this that could taint my perspective, and while I’ve never been triggered by images of thin models or aspired to look that way myself (although I do look unhealthy and hate it) I can see how others might be affected, and I think that’s the point your post was making–unhealthy images can consequently have a negative affect on those who see them. There is no right or wrong answer, as it’s part of a larger issue, but when it comes to your post, I think it was just as effective without the images. We’ve all seen them…too much.

  10. Slander? Not hardly. It was a well-written piece that talked openly yet generically about what the fashion industry might be contributing to a highly sensitive problem.

    Keep writing! We are all the richer for it. (Even if you aren’t… grin)

  11. Oh. My. God. That one picture scares the crap out of me. I remember reading this post, and vaguely remember the other images. I don’t think you slandered the specific women, though I can see the point of the woman who emailed you, however backwards and just plain wrong as it is; sadly it is the truth of the society we live in. (Hi, run-on sentence…)

    Bringing up these topics is what your blog post was about. Anyone who read it, and your blog in general, would know that. Beyond highlighting the eating disorder aspect of modeling (let’s be honest….its there), this post highlights the problem of de facto suing in the country. For reasons that would otherwise be considered ridiculous! Slander? Hardly.

  12. This was a great post! The problem isn’t the problem isn’t the models themselves, but the industry. As long as there is a demand, someone is going to supply it. Unless we can change the industry, we can’t really blame the models for fitting into what is demanded of them to make money.

    It’s a tough situation, but I think your original post shouldn’t have been censored. Only by shedding some light on the situation can we change it! Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better!

  13. First of all thank you for 1) writing that post and 2) linking back to it for people who weren’t readers at the time. I think that the functionally eating disordered are a population that is HUGELY overlooked and misunderstood, and it’s an issue that needs to be addressed, blared from the rooftops, and made a much bigger deal of. Kudos to you for not letting it slide by the wayside despite some dustups over the post.

    I have to admit that if I were one of those girls, I would have been very adamant that my name and photo be removed too. But I think that the point you were making about functional anorexia shouldn’t be swept aside by that issue.

  14. You didn’t libel the models (libel is written, slander is spoken). You didn’t explicitly call out any of those models as anorexics and your comments were pretty clearly opinions. Further, the models were public figures (or at least trying to be public figures), which raises the bar for a libel suit.

    That said, you were smart to pull the photos. The use of their photos in concert with the piece certainly implied that that the models were anorexic. Given the costs and risks of litigation, backing down was the prudent move. I’m not saying I like that, but it’s the reality.

    Super-skinny models clearly DO promote disordered eating. At the very least, these standards in the industry drive women with aspirations of modeling careers to starve themselves. But more broadly, standards of beauty are driven, at least in part, by media standards. Despite the age-old question of whether art imitates life of vice-versa, our views are shaped by what we see in the media. The constant reinforcement of certain standards of beauty and behavior as seen on TV and in print does affect us. I’d think the most vulnerable to these images are the pre- and early-teens who don’t have the life experience to resist the images and are at a point in their lives where they are seeking role models. Isn’t that the same point in life that disordered eating shows up? Coincidence? Naw.

  15. That picture is of an undernourished woman. If she was in a different setting, in different clothes, we’d all be scrambling to donate food to wherever it is she’s from.

  16. I do have to say I really hate the term “Auschwitz chic”. I cringe every time I read it. As someone who has both had her anorexia battle and whose grandparents lost friends and relatives in the Holocaust, it makes me shudder to think about connecting models who don’t eat to book jobs with organized genocide. Both of these are serious, terrible things but linking them together doesn’t help either. And sadly, with the way eating disorders and ultra-thin women are looked at in our society I think it makes the atrocities of concentration camps seem less serious. I’m not trying to rag on you Charlotte, just to qualify! I know you didn’t invent the term.

    But on the actual topic I absolutely believe that looking at pictures of these models (even if they themselves don’t have eating disorders) day in and day out is unhealthy. At least it is for me. On the other hand I have some trouble with that issue because I wouldn’t say that looking at pictures of overweight people promotes BED. So I don’t know. I guess the difference is what’s revered in today’s world. In any case, while I can see the plea of the model who emailed you, who is standing up for the 12 year olds seeing her pictures and thinking that’s what they need to look like to be beautiful?

    • Also, (a mark of great posts, I was still thinking about all this while I was cleaning the house!) the comment from the mother of one of the models on the old post really rubbed me the wrong way. It’s easy to say “my daughter is perfectly healthy” but I lived under my parent’s roof for years with EDs. The were attentive and loving and for many of those years my mom stayed at home with us. But EDs are sneaky and amazingly good at keeping themselves hidden. Who knows, maybe her daughter does eat “more than most of your commenters”.

      But as a mother is it responsible to let (if she is/was under 18) or not discourage your daughter from being in those kinds of images that other young girls are going to compare themselves to? True, I don’t remember her pictures but if the one left is any indication this isn’t a picture of a model showing off clothes or makeup who just happens to be skinny. That’s bad enough. These images are more look how beautiful I am because I’m skin and bones. Makes me sick. I hope if I have daughters that I raise them so they want no part in this screwed up mess.

      Now I’m really done! Sorry for the novels 🙂

  17. Like many of the commenters above, I definitely don’t think that you are guilty of libel, and I do agree that these images can be unhealthy. It’s really interesting when you look at body images and cultures and why these trends come in and out of vogue. Generally, the more prosperous a culture/time period is, the more people have to eat, so being thin becomes more desirable. In cultures/times when there isn’t enough, being larger is a symbol of status! I can’t remember which country, but I remember reading about a place in Africa, where a woman who is getting married sits around not moving and drinking cream for a month so she’ll be more beautiful. It’s the same in many other places and throughout history. Being plump was good in Ancient Rome. It was bad in Italy several hundred years ago when women carried lime satchets around their necks to induce vomiting after eating. Being thin was great during the roaring twenties in the United States (hence Twiggy’s arrival). It’s all very relative to time periods. That picture DOES look very undernourished, though she might not have an eating disorder, and I believe it does send a bad message (dear God, pictures like that are plastered on every single pro-ED website.) But we also live in a country where healthy TEENAGERS like Miley Cyrus are being called out for being FAT! That’s NOT acceptable. I’m always overhearing women talk about wanting to be THIN, not healthy, and trying all sorts of fad diets and unhealthy eating/exercise habits to get there. The focus seriously needs to shift.

  18. I don’t think you committed libel at all.

    As for the images (I missed the original post, so can only see the one photo left), I personally know I’ll *never ever ever in a million years, even if I was anorexic) look like that, ever. So I guess they don’t really affect me. That being said, I do feel for the teenagers who are being subjected to that standard day in or day out. Does it cause them all to be anorexic? No. But, it can cause eating disorders, over-exercising, or even binge-eating and weight gain (with the though they are too fat to even bother, something I’ve fallen into occasionally). I feel bad for the young stars and even older stars who are called fat when they are actually healthy and average. Size 6, even vanity sized into an 8, is still very average and healthy for most women. But when compared to size 00, 0 and 2, it looks “fat.” It seems there aren’t too many middle-ground role models out there. (Healthy, somewhat fit size 4-8).

  19. I agree with Kevin. Slander is saying something that is untrue and you did not say that these models were anorexic. Furthermore, since these models are public figures, you’d only be guilty of slander if you said something that you knew was untrue with malicious intent. Your post come squarely under fair comment and opinion on a matter of public interest.

    There were no grounds to sue – but that doesn’t mean that somebody can’t sue you and cause you a real pain in the ass.

    Something useful would be to log this at the Legal Threats Database run by the Citizen Media Law Project.

  20. Although I’ve never struggled with ED (other than large portion sizes, but not binging) and I pay little to no attention to the fashion industry and celebrities, I have a hard time with these images. My first thought is and always has been “eww, she looks sick” in regards to the super thin models.

    It breaks my heart that women think this look is attractive and that anyone would WANT to look this way. Every day, I wish that young girls would/could ignore the unhealthy images and focus on the healthy images that boost their confidence and activity levels…not to be thin, but to be strong and healthy.

    It’s sad that the world we live in supports being sickly-looking as a means of income. I’m just as sad for the model who contacted you as I am for the girls who look up to said model’s figure (or lack of?). It all makes me want to go back to school to become a counselor to help girls and women with body image and self esteem issues.

  21. So, I’ve never really cared about my weight, despite having an eating disorder… so you would probably think (based on that little bit of information) that I would tell you that obviously they don’t promote eating disorders… because some people with eating disorders don’t want to look like that AND some people that look like that don’t have eating disorders.

    HOWEVER, I am a rarity and while I do not believe whatsoever that the media causes eating disorder, I do think that the media and images of that nature have a HUGE tendency to act as a catalyst for a person with an eating disorder… It can propel people to think not only that that is something to strive for, but also they can use that as justification for why it is okay that they weight that amount (IE: “it’s okay that I’m underweight, because X, Y, and Z are underweight and they’re obviously okay)… I think it speeds up the the process of the eating disorder, sometimes making it get worse more rapidly… partially due to the pro-anorexia subculture that does idolize these underweight models — or severely airbrushed models.

    The whole point of advertising is to sell a product, studies have shownt hat the best way to sell product to women, in particular, is to create a feeling of self-loathing… You have to make a woman believe she’s flawed in order for her to buy the product that fixes a particular flaw. Unfortunately, advertisers do a great job at tapping into this… and we start to believe self loathing is a form of character building…

    and also I think it’s a shame that you’ve been dis-entitled to an opinion. That’s all it is… an opinion.

  22. This is my favorite post of yours ever. I love seeing you point anger, injustice and accusal at a misogynistic system rather than at yourself.

    Thank you!

  23. Truth is the ultimate defense against libel and slander. There are studies to back up the premise that looking at super skinny women can – in some people – cause eating disorders, or make existing ones worse. Ergo, no libel. (PS – slander is spoken. Libel is written.)

    To be honest, they’d have a better chance going after you for copyright infringement than any type of defamation.

  24. I think no matter what we are all influenced by models that we see in magazines. I don’t like to look at fashion magazines because of the models but now I’m beginning to stop wanting to read fitness magazines because of the models. They all look great! Does it promote healthy eating habits when you see those models? Not in my case I still tend to indulge and then I feel bad when I read what they eat day in and day out. I could say the same about running magazines. I want to get back to my running body but it’s unrealistic for me to think I’ll ever look like one of the people the grace the covers of running magazines.

    I think regardless of what and where the models are at we feel a certain want or need to look like them. I do think you were right however in pointing out how serious of an issue anorexia is and I don’t think it was right for those lawyers to attack you.

  25. Charlotte, I am with you! I mean, there are girls & young women & older women in our own media that are heavier than that one picture you have left but still way way way too thin & do create a distorted image of what girls & women should look like. I blame the media & the advertisers & the shows & the clothes lines & all those people that insist women & girls have to be ridiculously thin to be marketable!

  26. When you’ve had an ED you know how little food you can to eat to be that skinny. You can also recognize all the tricks of the trade, I’ve seen skinny women claim “oh I just eat whatever I want” then watch them cut up and push their food around their plate so it looks like they’ve eaten. Unless your a 13 year old prepubescent girl, you are not that thin naturally.

    It breaks my heart to think that is held as the standard of “beautiful” for women.

  27. Ugh. How sad. No, I definitely do not think that you were slanderous. I think that models are commodities and that the people they make money for need to protect their product at all costs. Unless they are Kate Moss they can’t run the risk of them being associated with any kind of seedy behavior (and starvation or purging and/or drug use are definitely NOT glamorous). But it makes me so sad that the model who emailed you has so few options, that she is so desperate for work. You so rightly point out that the models are “chosen for their coltish limbs and familiarity with malnourishment” from poor countries. There doesn’t seem to be much difference between the level of exploitation of models and prostitutes, except maybe models are a little bit luckier and have a little more potential for opportunity.

  28. Pingback:Found Fridays 11/18 « The Dandelion Girl: DBT, photography, life lessons I've learned (or have yet to)…

  29. This makes me sad. What a broken world we live in. I don’t think you did anything wrong.

  30. No slander here. We could look at it from a purely logical view. These girls are so under weight that they are considered unhealthy by doctors. Yet, they are specifically chosen to be the faces of big modeling companies. Seems very logical to assume that their images will create a desire for many people to be thinner than is healthy, which can really only be accomplished through disordered eating and/or exercise. Good for you for calling it what is…

  31. This might be weird, or perhaps just an example of an occasional flash of sanity I’ve had, but photos like the one remaining example on your old post have helped me pull back from a full-blown ED when I was at my most vulnerable. Because it’s not pretty, it’s not sexy, it’s not empowering or anything positive to look that skinny. The girl looks piteous. But then my impulses were a bizarre attempt to assert some power in my life, so it was a slap in the face to see how utterly powerless those who have achieved the ideal really look. But for those who take it at face value, thinking it must be good because they’re “models”…yeah, that could be mentally damaging.

  32. Wow, I was wondering if you went too far before I looked at the image. No, that one is well over the line into scary land. My mother was anorectic. I often compared her to a holocaust victim. It is not attractive to anyone. Why anyone would look at that and go “gee, I want to look like I’m dyeing of a disease.” is beyond me. I am into looking strong and muscular, and while I don’t think that is everyone’s ideal, some form of healthy should be. My mother died at 65 of a heart attack, and most of her life was devoted to her disease. I came a distant second. I’ve seen lots of thin and healthy women. If your knee is larger in diameter than your thigh (barring injury!) you are too thin.

  33. There is sometimes (or frequently, depending on the context) a gap between being morally correct and legally correct.

    I don’t know enough about libel and slander, but I think it is plausible that you may have crossed the legal line. Not likely, but plausible.

    The entirely different issue is whether you crossed a moral line, which I don’t think you did- you drew attention to an actual problem, and one that many others have pointed out before, and deserves more attention.

    However, it would like to note the following:
    a) the majority of lawyers are not “scuzzy”; and
    b) that we act for clients, based on the direction of those clients, so your hatred or irritation should not be directed towards us, but towards the clients (who provide the instructions).

    In addition, think of the other side of the coin, if someone put your picture up beside an eating disorder post, even if you did have an eating disorder, wouldn’t you take steps to have it taken down? Wouldn’t you want to protect your reputation? Generally, a letter or an email from a lawyer is a lot more effective than a phone call from the individual.

    We’re hated, or considered “scuzzy” until we’re needed. I’m not saying there aren’t problems with the profession, but painting every lawyer with the same brush is unnecessary.

    • Oh Meghan! I’m so sorry! You’re totally right. I didn’t mean to impugn your whole profession based on a bad experience with a few people. And of course the issue is with the people paying them, not necessarily they themselves. I was so bound up in my personal feelings about my post being censored (sort of) that I didn’t think of it from this side. Thanks for setting me straight! And please accept my sincerest apologies. Lawyers do a lot of good and it’s unfair to perpetuate tired stereotypes of them.

      • Don’t worry- I know you always mean well and you have a good heart, so I really do not hold it against you in any way, and actually gave you the benefit of the doubt. Plus, I seriously doubt that you actually *hate* anyone, you’re just too busy being a mom and playing with the gym buddies…and hate is really time consuming.

        It just gets to be so very hurtful when so many people just indiscriminately say they “hate lawyers” all the time (or call us scuzzy! Which is harsh!) – especially without realizing that we’re just people. We’re your neighbours. We work (usually pretty hard, with long hours), we pay taxes, we vote, we volunteer, we bake Christmas cookies, we go to spin class, etc.

        I really did not spend 7 + 1 years in post-secondary to be hated by the general public solely for my profession. There should be a disclaimer on law school applications.

    • Oh Meghan! I’m so sorry! You’re totally right. I didn’t mean to impugn your whole profession based on a bad experience with a few people. And of course the issue is with the people paying them, not necessarily they themselves. I was so bound up in my personal feelings about my post being censored (sort of) that I didn’t think of it from this side. Thanks for setting me straight! And please accept my sincerest apologies. Lawyers do a lot of good and it’s unfair to perpetuate tired stereotypes of them.