All Dolled Up -'Bare truth' Disturbing: Girls Fixated on Body Image

South Bend (Ind.) Tribune ^ | January 26, 2003 | JULIE YORK COPPENS

[68skylark]

I think the article makes some good points.

(There are three photos that I didn't post -- someone with more html skills than I have might do this, or you can click the link above.)

Overall this story paints a pretty dark picture.

For those of you who feel the country is on a downward slope, I guess this will support your view, and maybe you have a point -- I don't know.

. . . one gets the sinking suspicion that a once relatively harmless fixation has become a full-blown, national psychosis whose victims just keep getting younger and more numerous.

I'm suspicious of people who assume things were better in the past -- it's usually a pretty weak assumption.

Furthermore, I've read millions of storis (like this one) which seem to complain about how "society" is putting out too many images of slim women, and causing problems by doing this. But when I look around my town, I see lots more problems of poor health (and premature death) from people who weigh way too much -- not from those few who starve themselves. So couldn't you make a better argument that "society" hasn't done enough to tell people (especially women) why it's in their interests to keep their weight in a healthier range?

[Slyfox]

She says she wants to be either a topless dancer or a showgirl.

[newgeezer]

"Girl Culture" project -- a book, an educational Web site and an exhibit now on display at the Snite Museum of Art -- the images are startling nonetheless. Standing face to face with strippers, topless spring break revelers, fat camp inmates, anorexics, debutantes, cheerleaders, models, junior high clique queens and pint-size Britney Spears wannabes

Yet another case of selling sex while hiding behind the "Isn't this simply disgusting?!!" disguise.

[mlmr]

Snap off the culture, turn off the tv. protect the children. Children do what they are told. The culture is telling them.

[expatpat]

I wonder how much of this 'psychosis' is the result of a hatred of women's bodies by homosexuals in the clothes/cosmetics industry.

[68skylark]

Yet another case of selling sex while hiding behind the "Isn't this simply disgusting?!!" disguise.

Yeah, that's a really good point.

This story gave the newpaper an excuse to print a colorful picture of a group of women in skimpy bathing suits. That's what caught my eye and made me read -- and I bet I'm not the only one, man or woman, who did that!

[Aquinasfan]

For those of you who feel the country is on a downward slope, I guess this will support your view

I'll vote for the downward slope. With all the talk about female "body image," I still think that the ubiquity and danger of this phenomenon is not fully appreciated. The cause is culture-wide and includes everything from "reality" TV shows to the explosion of pornography and sex-drenched "women's magazines."

[68skylark]

With all the talk about female "body image," I still think that the ubiquity and danger of this phenomenon is not fully appreciated.

I'm not sure I grasp your point, but I'd like to understand better.

Could I ask what phenomenon is "dangerous"?

(I hope I don't sound snide or argumentative -- I honestly want to understand your point. Thanks.)

[weikel]

Show me a girl with no regard for her appearance and ill show you a man hating feminist.

[apackof2]

Yet another case of selling sex while hiding behind the "Isn't this simply disgusting?!!" disguise.

Exactly, look at the Super bowl half time show
We have allowed/tolerated this in American culture
One reason, along with parents abdicating their responsiblies, that young girls want to look like size 2 trashy sex kittens

[isthisnickcool]

Show me a girl with no regard for her appearance and ill show you a man hating feminist.

OK

[Rain-maker]

Discomfort lurks beneath the winsome smiles in this image from "Girl Culture," captured at the Fitness America competition in Redondo Beach, Calif. Photographer Lauren Greenfield visits the Snite Museum of Art today to discuss the controversial show.

Photos provided/LAUREN GREENFIELD


"I want to be a topless dancer or a showgirl," says Sheena, 15, shown here with her friend Amber in a department store fitting room in San Jose, Calif. Many of Lauren Greenfield's "Girl Culture" subjects are photographed looking (usually unhappily) at mirrors, although in this case the mirror is just out of frame.


In "Girl Culture," Lauren Greenfield documents the many "body projects" -- such as the fresh pedicure of Nikki, an aspiring Hollywood actress, displayed here in Gucci shoes -- that take up so much of American females' time, attention and disposable cash.

Photo provided/LAUREN GREENFIELD

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[newgeezer]

Fox News Channel is very good at it. Given its heritage (The Fox Television Network), it should come as no surprise.

[RonF]

"Where is the mother" (and the collorary, "Where is the father") is a central point that got far too short a shrift in this article. What we did hear of was a picture of a child and her mother, both trying to look 19.

Here's my solution. Don't buy the clothes. Don't buy the makeup. Don't buy the CD's. Don't take her to those movies. Don't buy the magazines. Don't let her watch those TV shows. Sure, she'll see it, but that doesn't mean that you have to give it your stamp of approval or have it around her in your home. Tell your daughter you don't want her wearing that stuff because you don't want her going to school looking like a whore. Encourge her to engage in activities like band, chorus, athletics, Girl Scouts, anything where she has a chance to attain accomplishments that allow her to build her self-esteem from within, by actually doing something, instead of becoming dependent on trying to achieve self-esteem by getting praise from others for empty things such as what she wears or what she looks like.

Anyone watch the show, "Eight simple rules for dating my daughter"? The central characters include a father worrying about his very attractive teenage daughter and her involvement with boys. However, the title implies that he's trying to figure out how to control boys around his daughter. What he really needs to do is control his daughter. The younger daughter understands that the major problem is that the older daughter goes to school dressed like it's "casual sex day" at school. If the old man wouldn't let his daughter dress like a slut and made her stay home and study at night, he's have a lot easier time with her.

Anyone ever watch these shows and notice how in all the tours though all the rooms of these expensive homes, there's never one book in sight? And never a magazine, unless it's a pop-culture one. Guess they value things and expensive clothes very highly, but not education or non-popular culture.

[Dionysius]

Reading a biography of Karen Carpenter should be mandatory for every adolescent female.

[Publius]

Anyone ever watch these shows and notice how in all the tours though all the rooms of these expensive homes, there's never one book in sight? And never a magazine, unless it's a pop-culture one. Guess they value things and expensive clothes very highly, but not education or non-popular culture.

Watch "Frasier" on NBC Tuesday nights for a change of pace.

[lsee]

It's hard work being my children's moral gatekeeper and sometimes I'm unpopular at home, but the payoff will be worth it, I hope, when my kids grow up believing their souls are more important than their bodies, in spite of the media's twisted propaganda to the contrary!

[Publius]

Reading a biography of Karen Carpenter should be mandatory for every adolescent female.

TEENAGE BOY'S REACTION: Like, dude, I woulda dated Karen Carpenter if she just lost 5 more pounds.

[68skylark]

Reading a biography of Karen Carpenter should be mandatory for every adolescent female.

But for every Karen Carpenter who kills herself with excessively low weight, aren't there a hundred who are hurting or killing themselves with excessively high weight? Shouldn't we be attacking the more serions problem first?