Why do we allow the very rich diet-related and pharmaceutical industries to manipulate us into thinking we are flawed and imperfect? Companies spend gross amounts of money on very persuasive advertising that manipulates women into thinking they need to aspire to the pre-pubescent and unrealistic images of beauty that bombard us in the mass media. This constant assault on our self-esteem has got to stop; and our children are as obsessed with this nonsense as we are. It just isn't right.
I smell a rat; a big stinking rat that doesn't care about the well-being of the women it professes to serve. As long as we continue to turn ourselves inside out in this unattainable quest for impossible perfection by cutting, slicing, sucking, starving, prodding, popping, and stuffing, we will never be truly happy and we will continue to lose our self-identity in the horrible confusion. What a waste of a beautiful natural resource: the mother, the sister, the daughter, the wife, the girlfriend, the aunt, and the grandmother.
So let's use our voices to write letters, submit op-ed pieces, blog, and converse about it. Let's create change at the grass roots level so we don't have to remain "not enough, too much, too small, too big, too round, too old, too bold, or too whatever." The next time an ad or message makes you feel uncomfortable, take note and don't buy the product. Better yet, cite your grievances directly to the offending companies. They NEED to hear from us!
Wake up women! Big business is out to take our well-earned money and they are willing to steamroll our self-esteem for their gain if we let them. Let's get the conversation going. It's time to step up and be heard.
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The stuff men do look at may be sleazy and nasty, but it's also has more variety. There are porn magazines that have heavy women in them. See, porn is looked at in private, where a guy doesn't have to worry about what his friends, family and coworkers think of him. There's plenty of men who keep their socially unacceptable desires "in the closet" while talking "thin" in public.
Fashion is about conformity, acting fake to look good to your neighbor. These famous stars who marry young thin women are in the public eye more than anyone, so they conform even more than anyone. Don't you remember how the tabloids went nuts when Gerald MacRaney married Delta Burke? If you step out of line you get slammed, and famous people get slammed double.
So, let's be honest and admit that there are a lot of factors involved here.
So, let's be honest and admit that there are a lot of factors involved here.
Make the ideal of beauty unattainable, and the money will never stop pouring in from those desperate to reach it.
Myself and most of the men that i know actually find the "tall and emaciated" look rather unattractive.
Besides, a lot of this has more to do with fanatical conformity than looks. "In fashion" means "looking like everyone else", not "looking good".
I don't.
Not arguing your point, SPPP, but you can't throw my man Peter Griffin in that mix. Lois has lots of weaknesses, the kids are Dumb, Dumber & Satan and even the dog is an alcoholic sex maniac. Family Guy's characters are so attractive because they're like Everybody Loves Raymond's characters: they're ALL nuts!
But, then again, part of the hyper-reflexive human brain space, is the occasional result of finding beauty in unusual places and circumstance.
Nevertheless, there is nothing about which to be embarrassed by enjoying the sight of someone sexually alluring who is fit and filled with happiness and potential. What that is to you is what taste is all about, and each to their own.
Women do attack each other.... and become more ruthless every day. Recently, I received an e-mail saying "it's beautiful women's month" in the subject line... the body of the e has a picture of Marilyn and a sentence followed..."did you know Marilyn was a size 14?" Great!.. I thought. A plus for women accepting their bodies.... until I continued reading... "did you know she also had bad hygiene?" I went ballistic... I did. I responded to ALL the people it was sent to, pointing out the destructive message hidden within the "complement".... most of the women just didn't get it...but i never got a mixed message e again.
You can all start by turning off the TV or just not watching any Hollywood crap, and throwing out ALL of your fashion/beauty magazines. Sure worked for me.
Over the years, I've found that the preferences of average, everyday guys range from rake-thin/boyish to morbidly overweight, and include everything else in between.
And I'll go on the record right now and say the sexiest woman I've ever been around was a long way from the most physically attractive. And it wasn't just me who thought so, either. I swear she could conjure an adoring male (or several) from the middle of an empty desert island.
I work in advertising. For a "big corporation". Run, more or less, by women. Women buy our products. Women want our products. If we stopped selling our products, women would be very upset. It doesn't matter what our product is, the fact is that it is driven by a market. Remove the impetus for the market, and you remove the "problem".
I see articles like this, and I just sigh and shake my head, and, occasionally, giggle. As one of the posters below (above? elsewhere?) mentioned, women do this for other women, not for men. The competitive drive in women is fierce, and a lot more subtle than the basic pissing contests that men indulge in.
Example: In any given business meeting of female corporate executives, just about every woman there can identify by style and designer, the outfits, shoes, and cosmetics of everyone else in the room. Men? "Nice tie." I've worked in female-dominated fields all of my life, and the company, organization, or business model doesn't matter: women judge each other harshly. Not men, women. They compete in brutal and (to men) frighteningly ugly ways.
Before you go blaming "big business" for your poor self image (because it's easier to blame a faceless corporation than indulge in a little honest introspection) go a month without any perfume, cosmetics, make-up, or hair styling products. Ditch anything with a label in favor of basic sweats. Every day. See what it is like to be judged on your appearance armed with just what Nature granted you. Watch how your co-workers, friends, family, spouses, children, and neighbors judge you. Men will likely walk right past you, oblivious. It is your "sisters" who will judge you the most harshly.