Let's hear it for women with meat on their bones

Jewish World Review ^ | 1-31-03 | Leonard Pitts, Jr.

[SJackson]

It may be the ultimate weight-loss plan.

No diet, no exercise, no surgery, no pills. Just a little digital wizardry. Point and click here, point and click there, and unwanted pounds melt magically away - from your photographed image, that is.

This is what the British edition of GQ magazine recently did, altering photographs of actress Kate Winslet - without her knowledge or permission, she says - to give her that svelte look common to heroin addicts and supermodels. Winslet has responded angrily. "This is me," she says. "Like it or lump it. ... I'm not a twig, and I refuse to be one. I'm happy with the way I am."

Let the church say amen.

Winslet, it should be pointed out, is not what we delicately describe as a "plus-size woman." She's just a woman with womanly curves, some of which she displayed quite openly in her star-making turn as Rose in "Titanic."

I wish I had a convenient theory for when and why womanly curves became a bad thing, wish I could explain our fascination with a kind of woman who does not, as a rule, exist in nature: Stick legs, sunken cheeks, waist in to here, chest out to there.

It was not always thus. I mean, by those standards, sex symbols of an earlier era would never have heard the first wolf whistle. Marilyn Monroe was not, after all, a beanpole. And that famous pinup of Betty Grable, which, we are told, inspired the GIs to go out and win World War II, did not show a woman who had missed many meals.

By contrast, a 1997 Psychology Today article reported on a researcher who had quantified the fact that Playboy centerfolds and Miss America contestants - purported icons of feminine physical perfection - had been getting skinnier over the years.

Our perception of beauty has changed. And if you're wondering why that matters, it's because our girls are watching. Watching and learning from all this how it is they should be. Much of what they have learned has proved dangerous if not deadly to body and spirit.

Approximately 5 million to 10 million women and girls (and 1 million boys and men) suffer from eating disorders - primarily anorexia and bulimia - which are sometimes fatal. That same Psychology Today recounted the results of a body image survey of 4,000 women and men. Almost 90 percent of the women wanted to lose weight.

Score one for pop culture. I mean, one of its primary functions is to make us dissatisfied with what we are, make us want what it is selling. Right now, it's selling the canard that the average supermodel's body is achievable or even desirable for the average girl. And girls are getting sick, even dying, as a result.

There are those feminists who would argue that the solution is for men to stop objectifying women, but their reasoning flies in the face of human nature. If somebody hadn't objectified somebody else, none of us would be here to argue about it. And anyone who doesn't think women fantasize about a masculine ideal has never seen a soap opera or romance novel.

I'm not out to stop - as if I could! - the endless mating dance of male and female. I'd just like to see something done to protect our girls and women from its more insidious effects.

Continued.......

[HELLRAISER II]

It most definately works, i'm on it right now. But if you aren't a big meat eater, find a different diet.

[geege]

No wrinkles either...to me they look "air brushed"...........:0)

[Desdemona]

Clothing Designers hate women -- the fashions reflect the old Madonna/Whore pathology.

It's one extreme or the other. There's nothing but sweatshirts and jeans in between.

[Bella_Bru]

And Kate Winslett received a lot of grief for being what critics called "chubby". She never was. She is and was classically curvy and beautiful.

[HELLRAISER II]

The body for life program is a good program, but if you have alot of weight to lose the Atkin's diet is great. But your right about giving up some favorite foods, say goodbye to bread, candy, cake, fruit, grits, oatmeal, potatoe's, rice and any other high carb food.

[Ouachita]

LMAO...
if you enjoyed that, do a Google search for "ugly women".

Have a barf bag handy though.

[Skooz]

Yep. One of the cool things about the Body for Life program is you HAVE to eat 6 servings of carbs a day. Potatoes are on the menu! How cool is that?

Plus, a free day every week when you can eat anything you want, as much as you want.

I was on the Body for Life program for over a year and was amazed at how much better I looked and felt, as well as the weight I lost. As soon as we finish the floors and carpeting in our new house, I 'll set up the weights and get on it again.

[twigs]

Rita has worked very hard to live that down IMHO. Yes, she may have appeared less than the brightest that night, but she has earned her stripes since that time. She is largely responsible for bringing the Chandra Levy case to the public eye, with the result of ridding the US of a very dirty public servant who was a security risk. And she continues to work tirelessly. When someone makes a mistake and works to overcome it, then we need to forget it and let them get on with their life.

[HELLRAISER II]

After you get through the induction phase of the Atkins diet (6 weeks) you can also have an "eat day" and thereafter once every 2 weeks. I will have to admit that it takes extreme will power, but no diet that you've ever tried will bring you better results than the Atkin's diet. Assuming that you can stick to 20 carbs a day or less and that's hard.

[jjm2111]

I don't agree, but hey, that's life. :)

[jjm2111]

"Would you prefer if I wrote that homosexuals in the fashion industry don't mind pushing androgyny in the fashion industry?"

This is one thing we can agree on. Did you ever notice that male fashion models and the female fashion models could almost be interchanged?

[jjm2111]

"There are compelling reasons for women to know how to sew. I'm telling you."

LOL!

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Did you ever notice that male fashion models and the female fashion models could almost be interchanged?

You're making my point!

[Spruce]

...Ergo, they design clothes that look best on skinny, teen-aged boys. ... Bingo!

[TotusTuus]

So we know your answer to the "Ginger or Maryann" question, huh?

Has any guy ever chosen Ginger? Deep penetrating intellectual discussions on this topic over a pint at the pub suggest the answer is no.

But it's more than looks. Consider: Mary Ann is a regular, down to earth modest (in dress and temperament) midwestern, and therefore conservative, girl. Ginger, being an eccentric actress is obviously liberal (she wouldn't like FR).

Now if I were Gilligan....

[keats5]

LOL. So true.

[oust the louse]

I am truely disappointed there aren't too many pictures on this thread...

[jjm2111]

When you put it that way, your point became clearer.

[csvset]

Leah Remini

She appears on CBS's King of Queens.

[yarddog]

I once saw a poll which showed that about one third of men preferred Ginger. I was a little surprised as I would have thought it would be something like 10 to 1 in favor of Mary Ann.

I remember being a teenager when the series first came on and thinking how tough it would be to live on that island the way the castaways did (sexless aparently except for the Howells).

The show is actually incredibly stupid but I watched it anyway just to see Mary Ann in those short shorts.