"Muffin tops" distasteful, some say

Kim Ode reported on the rise of "muffin top"--a new term for the flesh that sometimes rolls over the waistband of girls' low-rise jeans--in the Minneapolis Star Tribune this weekend. Kate Freeborn, New Moon's managing editor, gave Kim her take on the term. Here's an excerpt:

The term was new to [Kate], but its intent all too familiar. "Anything that compartmentalizes girls and labels them according to body parts is negative," she said. "Again, we're not looking at the whole girl, but her legs, her butt, and now her muffin top."

Actually, she added, a little roundness is a sign of good health.

"These are girls whose hormones are working, whose bodies are changing in all kinds of ways," she said. "They should have a little stomach out there. It means their bodies are doing what they're supposed to be doing.

"But fashions can be unkind. My sense of what I hear from the girls is that they are not thrilled with the fact that they don't have a lot of options."

What's your reaction to the term, and the trend?