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

Editor's note: The following story contains subject matter and descriptions that might not be suitable for some readers. Discretion is advised.

Tell it to the wicked queen from "Snow White," who was neither the first nor the last female to find both her life's obsession and the key to her own ruin simply by looking in the mirror. A girl's driving need to be the fairest (prettiest, thinnest, youngest, blondest, best-dressed) is one of the oldest stories in the book, and we all know that for a few, the need can have deadly consequences.

But while photographer Lauren Greenfield hasn't uncovered some new phenomenon in her "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, 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 really want to be a teenager. Now. Really fast," says Lily, 6, in one of the revealing interviews that accompany the photographs. "(Teenagers) dress up cool so boys like them. I saw it in a movie. They get dressed so fashionable, like a doll and stuff. They usually do this cool makeup, like lipstick. And a really blushy face. It's cool."

"In college," says Erin, 24, "I would go into the bathroom to purge, and someone would come out who just did, and (we would) look at each other and just know." Photographed by Greenfield at an eating-disorder clinic in Florida, Erin stands on the scale backward, not wanting to see how much she's gained -- but even the "blind weights" are a kind of torture: "I'm getting to where I can hear the clicks, and I'm afraid to hear that second click at a hundred. My total fear every morning is to hear it slide all the way over."

Greenfield's glossy, saturated color prints at first seem to emphasize the surface lives of these girls and women -- their various failures or successes at attaining the all-but-impossible feminine ideal -- but the interviews uncover worlds of hurt and anxiety (and in a few cases, hope) hiding just under the skin. And once the viewer gets there, even the photographs unaccompanied by text begin to speak volumes.

"Teens are not surprised at all by what's in the book," Greenfield, talking by phone from her studio in Venice, Calif., said. The artist said she's received hundreds of e-mails in response to "Girl Culture," many from girls and young women thanking Greenfield for shedding light on so many wrenching, formerly hidden rites of passage.

"Mothers, women of another generation, are often more surprised and disappointed by the photographs, and kind of shocked," Greenfield added. "They ask, 'Where are the smart girls?' It looks more one-sided to them. Of course, it's not meant to be the full picture of girls growing up today."

True, we see more cheerleaders here than valedictorians, but anyone who thinks the mostly maladjusted girls of "Girl Culture" represent some fringe minority is in denial.

"She makes the point that the extreme is becoming the norm -- that these patterns of behavior are becoming more and more common, and it starts at an earlier age than we think," commented Steve Moriarty, photography curator of the Snite. He pointed to a pair of images hanging side by side: On the left, a willowy lingerie model stands on a beach in mesh bikini panties and a matching bra she's just unhooked at the chest. On the right, three little girls in sequins and ballet outfits primp around a table littered with makeup. Calli, 5, stares probingly into a silver hand mirror held by her friend. It looks like the beginning of a lifelong, love-hate relationship.

Mirrors are everywhere in this series, from the basic bathroom vanity to the reflective sunroof of the Ford Explorer limo whisking the "damas" (maids of honor) to a lavish "quinceañera" ("sweet 15" party). And there are figurative mirrors as well: between a mother and her pre-adolescent daughter -- both doing everything they can to look 19 years old -- at an upscale beach resort; in the eyes of three admiring workmen, scoping out a model named Sara on a New York City sidewalk; and in every image where the female viewer might see traces of herself.

"One guy said, 'I felt really nauseous going through the show. I was thinking about all the terrible things I did to girls in high school,'" said Greenfield, recalling the first showing of "Girl Culture" at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona last fall.

The men and boys we do see here -- bare-chested hardbodies on spring break hoisting an agile woman into an inverted fellatio pose; tattooed bikers ogling a woman's exposed breast, and only her breast, in another beach crowd -- make a sorry display, but again, Greenfield doesn't intend to reflect maleness in all its complexity. Rather, the images challenge us to consider how "girl culture," as Greenfield defines it, couldn't possibly exist without the willing participation of everyone involved.

"One of the things I looked at is how girls are complicit in this process," the photographer explained, adding that back in her own student days at a progressive school, she was taught to blame the male-dominated media, the exploitative fashion industry and so on. Now, she believes there are more complicated forces at work.

Greenfield also captures ironic intersections of what Trudy Wilner Stack, the traveling show's curator, calls "the girlish (ribbons and bows) and the girlie (g-strings and pasties)" realms: a condom blown up into a toy balloon; a "fetus bingo" game at a high school for teen mothers (we see one player's chipped blue nail polish); the shot of Lily, just 5 at the time, browsing with pursed lips through a rack of belly tops at the same Los Angeles boutique that outfits Spears. Lily's outfit -- a fuzzy white bra top and matching shorts, with fuchsia silk flowers at the chest, tucked into her big hair and onto the vamps of her chic slides -- is more shocking than even the skimpiest showgirl getups Greenfield documents in Las Vegas. One can't help wondering, Where is this child's mother?

While parents and other supposedly influential figures are mostly absent from these images, their permissiveness and even complicity in the beauty industry's reign of terror over their daughters -- after all, someone's got to be paying for all these clothes, cosmetics and summers at fat camp -- lurk just outside the frame. Ultimately, "Girl Culture" serves as one big mirror in which we as an American culture must confront this perverse sequel to decades of supposed progress in gender equality.

Early on, though, Greenfield had no idea the photographs she was making -- often in very intimate, private settings -- would end up telling such a big, public story.

"This really grew out of the last book I did, 'Fast Forward,' which was about kids growing up in L.A., how they grow up so quickly, and specifically looking at the culture of materialism," she said. "I just started to get interested in girls and how they acted within the material culture."

She continued the investigation while on assignment for other, short-term projects, chiefly for The New York Times Magazine. Gradually, over about five years, the big picture became clear.

"She has a good antenna, and good instincts for what's going on in a culture at a particular time," Moriarty observed. "We may take a little flack" from conservative voices on campus, the curator added, for the sheer flesh factor of this show and its exposure of social problems some might like to believe have no home at Notre Dame. "I hope people see themselves in these."

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

'Lauren Greenfield: Girl Culture' Through March 9 at the Snite Museum of Art, on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. An opening reception will be from 2 to 4 p.m. today, with a lecture by Greenfield at 3 p.m.

Also on display: "Contemporary Impressions: Art by Native American Artists" and "Notre Dame Architecture Student Drawings: Designs for a New Snite Museum." Regular gallery hours are from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

In addition, photographs from Greenfield's last book, "Fast Forward," will be on display through March 23 at the Brauer Museum of Art, on the campus of Valparaiso University. Call (219) 464-5365 for more information.

Just look at post#69

Okay, you don't have to ask me twice.

Seriously, you make some good points.

"Society" does put out a lot of images of especially thin women, for a lot of reasons. And if this causes distress to anyone, well I'm sorry about that and I don't think it's done to cause harm.

These images don't seem to encourage people (especially women) to keep themselves at a health weight -- obesity is just way out of control (especially in the small town area where I live -- it's not so extreme other places).

It would be nice if there was a way "society" could put out some effective messages about why it's in the best interests of individuals to keep themselves down to a healthy weight. But I don't really know what those "effective" messages might look like.

Confession--sometimes I watch boys who watch girls.

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

This put me in mind of the time I watched a couple of guys drooling over this girl...but she looked like an ad for "Save the Children." Positively skeletal. Brrr. Are we teaching boys to crave these boneracks? When I was a teen, I was considered too skinny. Boys wanted curves back then, so I guess I'm always behind the curves... Things like this must change because of culture.

Which wife is of more value, a plain, virtuous wife or vain, pretty wife?

Fortunately, I have a pretty virtuous wife. I mean my wife is pretty and virtuous. I think most people here understand the balance. If someone thinks so little of themselves that they can use their navel for a koozie, I probably don't want to be around them. On the other hand, at a certain point in time, you have to say, "I've spent enough time on my looks, let's get on to the rest of life."

It's like everything else. Keep it in perspective, and things will work out.

"Society" does put out a lot of images of especially thin women, for a lot of reasons. And if this causes distress to anyone, well I'm sorry about that and I don't think it's done to cause harm.

I hope that it is not to intentionally cause harm, and you don't have to apologize, enjoying the human body is not a crimes or a fault. It is natural and healthy to appreciate beauty. I just believe that there are a lot of people in our culture that see only one thing as beautiful and if you don't look like that then the message gets put out there that there is something wrong with you. The most suseptible to this messages are the young. Those who have not had a chance to develop a healthy self image and all they have to go on are the images in the media and how people react to them. And when I say young I mean as young as 5 years old, they are seeing this and they are paying very close attention.

The best thing that we could do is to get images of real people out there. Look at how effect the "Subway" ads with Jared are. People can identify with him. He's not so far out there that people think they have to kill themselves to be like him. We need more images like this, especially of women. Real women, not made over air-brushed, plastic, impossibly perfect women.

The funny thing about the pciture in post 69 is this, that person is Cory Everson, who had a career as a female bodybuilder, admitted to steroid use, and has had a fairly good about of plastic surgery (if you look at her through the years it is more than clear).

Another example of hurting your body for an unreachable ideal. There is nothing wrong with self improvement as long as it is realistic and done for the right reasons and not just because some billboard told you this is how you should look.

Let me know what you think.

I think the obsession with weight paradoxically leads to obesity, as others have mentioned. But as you have said, it's probably just one of the factors leading to obesity.

I'm also concerned with the image of "the perfect woman" that is presented to young men. The impossibility of this standard, and the reduction of male/female relationships to sex, is destructive to healthy male/female relationships of all kinds.

In other words, she's totally innocent of pop culture, she does her own thing, and she's a lunatic. Oh, and she doesn't go to school

Sounds like my homeschooled 7-year-old. Although I'd have to add that when presented with a choice between pretty, traditional clothes and the latest thing, she almost always chooses traditional clothes.

I agree. The entire culture promotes a view of women as their looks and "sexiness" being their only value. Look at the exponential increase in porn in the last 10 years. Fortunately, the girls who I'm priveledged to be around, including my daughter so far aren't buying into the hype and in fact are actively resisting it. My only concern is that they don't turn so far away from their femaleness in horror and rebellion of what they suppose is expected of them by our culture.

Tough time to be female and young.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.