We have a question for you. Don't think. Just answer.
Name the most gorgeous, most sexy woman of all time?
We'll bet your answer wasn't Kate Moss or Twiggy. More likely you imagined Marilyn Monroe (sans reefer). Sophia Loren, hair tied back in a scarf, big black glasses. Or, maybe even Mad Men star Christina Hendricks, the glorious Joan, buxom and wide hipped in her pinch waist dress. Ever thought about what dress size these gorgeous women fit into? We're pretty sure we're not talking size 0, size 2, even size 4.
Last September model Lizzie Miller made a splash when she appeared in Glamour sporting--gasp!--some belly fat. The celebration that followed (or the extra media attention?) seems to have compelled Glamour to do a feature on more normal-bodied women.
So in November, Glamour featured a bevy of curvy, gorgeous women--again, in an article about body image; not simply as an unacknowledged part of a fashion or beauty spread. And the current issue includes a handful of gushing reader letters, complimenting the forward-thinkingness of the magazine. We're disappointed that these women didn't just appear, wordlessly, as part of a fashion photo shoot.
We've been wondering why is it that the fashion and magazine industry seems obsessed with making women's bodies appear skinny to the point of absurdity. Case in point? The Ralph Lauren ad featuring a model whose head is wider than her airbrushed waist. Kind of creepy, no?
Unrealistic presentation of body image is not limited to the States. French Parliamentarian Valerie Boyer wants to make tricky graphic altering illegal: she proposes legislation mandating that photoshopped pics contain a disclosure: "Photograph retouched to modify the physical appearance of a person." Violators could be fined thousands and thousands of dollars!
Look at Michelle Obama. She's gorgeous. Not since Jackie Kennedy have we had such a beacon of fashion to aspire to. An entire section of the Huffington Post is devoted to her style. French Elle just voted her "best-dressed: politique chic" (beating out the French First Lady). Yet fashion designers are not making sample sizes for shoots in Mrs. Obama's size, are they?
Girls growing up today have enough pressure without these unrealistic and unhealthy images of scarecrows. Us gals at Bitches on a Budget have had enough.
We say bring back the belly. Quick.
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Michelle Lelwica: Stop Criticizing Your Body And Start Critiquing Our Culture's Devotion To Thinness
I'm calling on men to reject this pressure from society's pressure to be "successful"
Men, it doesn't matter if you have a job or prospects or even ambition.
You are great the way you are....reject it when society tells you that you MUST be employed.
Don't give in to the public pressure to shower or shave, as well.
You are beautiful just the way you are.
What I would rather promote is how to dress oneself properly. Unless you're very thin and lean, tight jeans that ride low on the hips is very unflattering. It makes your b*tt look flat and wide and creates a severe muffin top. I don't think anyone sees that as attractive, yet it's more common than not. And if you do have a little curve to your shape, tight tops aren't attractive either. Your clothes should not bind or squeeze, nor should they highlight every jiggle of every step you make. Your clothe should flatter you, not point out every bulge and jiggle.
And seriously, when is the baggy pants hanging low going to end? It started in the late 80s, for chrissake! And, it started in prison to indicate being available for sex. That's all I can think of when I see guys waddling around holding their belt buckle so their pants don't finally drop. Just the other day I saw a young man with the waistline of his pants right above his knees, no joke.
There is a healthy body, and it is athletic, not sloppy, and not bony. Don't use "healthy" as a fig-leaf for lazy or too-jiggly.
Not that all women (or men) have to have six-pack abs, but there seems to be plenty of belly to go around these days, for girls and guys. The idea we should be promoting isn't that the belly is beautiful or that thin is in, but that healthy is beautiful. I do have my preferences (who doesn't?) but I've seen women of all body types that I consider attractive.
I understand that teenage girls are pressured to conform to the fashion scene and the Hollywood trends of uber-thin but telling them that it's okay to be unhealthy in the other direction is also the incorrect approach.
What all of the public needs, be it young or old, male or female, is pressure to be HEALTHY.
Healthy exercise and diet (not in the Hollywood sense but in the healthy dietary sense) should lead to a justified positive self worth.
what she's saying is that we should be encouraging people to have both bodies and self images that are healthy. airbrushing models to look size -6 encourages eating disorders, body dysmorphia and self-hatred, mostly in females. it is NORMAL to have a little bit of belly fat if you are a woman. that's how women (not teenagers, but actual women) are made. advertising should reflect this, tv and movies should reflect it and women should be very comfortable with it. not obesity, but normal body weights. i think it's about damn time.