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.......

[oyez]

In those days, though, the clothes were much better looking.

I hear that! Men and women dress themselves like paupers compared to the '60's and before. I don't think thick or thin was as much an issue back then. Now everybody is wash'n'wear.

[Skooz]

And the purpose of being for the fashion industry is to twist the minds of girls and women?

I never said that. I had posted that there is a multi-billion dollar industry whose sole purpose is to make women thinner (diets, diet pills, the list goes on and on....). You countered that the fast food industry is in business for the opposite purpose--to make skinny girls fat. I denied that, stating that whether or not one gets fat eating fast food the fast food industry does not exist for that purpose.

[Desdemona]

Men and women dress themselves like paupers compared to the '60's and before.

Just for the record, I grew up in the 70's and 80's. I watch old movies and salivate over the clothes. They were made to fit, not hang from the shoulders.

[Warren_Piece]

You obviously haven't been to the mall lately. My experience is that there are more (too) skinny girls AND more - ahmem - girls of substance ...

Either they're on the bulemia kick or they've given up entirely. If more women would QUIT dieting - but also QUIT eating supersized portions - the world would be a more beautiful place.

[freedumb2003]

>>Catherine Bell...has long, slim legs and no hips. <<
Her lower body seems to change.... some shots of her show as nice and hippy, but I have seen some shots that look like she over-slimmed down.

But you GOTTA love that face!

[SoCal Pubbie]

There is no female in the public eye, no matter how thin, that actually looks in real life like she does in her glossy photos. Cutting away part of the body is standard procedure. Look at any cover of Cosmo or People and if there's a staged sexy photo there's been doctoring, particularly if the figure is against a solid seamless background. While I'm waiting in line at the supermarket I love to closely examine the contours of say Catherine Zeta Jones' hips or Salma Hayek's legs, or perhaps the bustline of Pamela Anderson to see if I can detect if the outline looks faked. Purely for scientific reasons of course.

[jjm2111]

If more women would QUIT dieting - but also QUIT eating supersized portions - the world would be a more beautiful place.

In total agreement there.

[jjm2111]

"I had posted that there is a multi-billion dollar industry whose sole purpose is to make women thinner (diets, diet pills, the list goes on and on....). "

I'm sorry, my mistake. You are right there.

[Lord_Baltar]

At first I thought that was some kind of "Girls Gone Gravitational - Ton's of Buns" kinda thing... Yikes

[Ole Okie]

men prefer Marilyn Monroe whether she's in fashion or not.

Ain't that the truth?

Ain't that the TRUTH?

Ain't THAT the truth??

Viva la Monroe! Amen!

[alaskanfan]

Mae West bump!!!

[pbear8]

If the show American Idol is any indication, there's a frightening dearth of masculine men below the age of 24 or 25. I watched the first half an hour of it on Tuesday, and every single male I saw was effeminate, most to drag queen levels.

I'm glad they showed these guys. It's great for America to see how unattractive their behavior really is.

There were a few straight guys, you know the guys who sang bass.

Further, I'm thrilled that Simon reamed the guys who had been out partying instead of doing there jobs. Great for kids to see that success takes hard work and that the slackers don't advance to the next round. If you are not prepared for real life it shows.

[N. Theknow]

Ginger was not bad looking but in keeping with this thread's theme, Mary Ann was skinny where she needed to be and more importantly, fat where it counts.

Just think. Some day we will get to the age where Mrs. Howell looks good.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

I'm not sure where we're heading with this here. My point is homosexual clothing designers do not want women to look like boys. They just design clothing women might find attractive. Since their thoughts are more feminine, their designs are more feminine. Women are attracted to the feminine clothing. Guys, not being feminine (for the most part) are not attracted to similar clothing.

You're entitled to your opinion, however, I think it's at odds with plainly observable facts.

What is your point in short? That homosexual designers DO want women to look like little boys?

My point is that homosexuals in the fashion industry seem to prefer skinny, teen-aged boys. Ergo, they design clothes that look best on skinny, teen-aged boys. Would you prefer if I wrote that homosexuals in the fashion industry don't mind pushing androgyny in the fashion industry? Would that be more palatable to you?

Oh, btw, are you a lawyer?

I'm just Hemingway's Ghost.

[babaloo999]

That they're then able to foist this off on the general public is nothing less than sheer marketing brilliance.

Their marketing brilliance being matched by the overwhelming gullibility, or shallowness, of the populace. Not that I'm saying it's a bad thing.

[Lizavetta]

I may be wrong but I think it was the Dutchess of Windsor the former Wallis Simpson.

I think it was Babe Paley.

[Desdemona]

My point is homosexual clothing designers do not want women to look like boys. They just design clothing women might find attractive.

Ummmmm..... not to argue but as a female fairly well-endowed with hips, size 10-12, the clothes right now are made for 5'7" hipless, bustless chicks. It does not look good on petites, especially not when the proportions approach "perfect". Most dresses hang from the shoulders - well at least are designed to. On some us they hang from other parts and make us look frumpy. Designers make clothes THEY like and look attractive on the bodies THEY would like to see. Don't fool yourself. Since Coco Channel, there hasn't been an innovator interested in making women actually look attractive to men.

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

[freedumb2003]

>>Don't fool yourself. Since Coco Channel, there hasn't been an innovator interested in making women actually look attractive to men.<<

My wife is rather petit and has a different problem -- the petit market tends to be teenage girls and the Brittany/Christine make-kids-look-like-prostitutes look. We were totally unable to find any reasonable clothes cut for grown up women at all. We have to go to Mexico to get reasonably conservative fashions for her.

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

[Ouachita]

LOL,
that's just this Cowboy fan's tribute to the Eagle fans.

[HELLRAISER II]

I try not to be mean to overweight people, but good lord man those women are god awful ugly & HUGE.