In Salon last week, Kate Harding gave us some perspective on the so-called "healthy body image" trend the lady mags are "endorsing." Especially Glamour, who thinks they've done such a great thing by using a few "plus size" models in a few issues of their magazine (plus size in fashion speak starts a size 6, by the way).
Let's pause for a little reality check. Prominently featured on Glamour's website at this writing is the headline "Sign Up for Body By Glamour and You Could Lose 5 Pounds This Week!" Further down the page, "How to Dress 10 Pounds Thinner," "When I See a Woman This Skinny, It Just Makes Me Mad," and "10 Ways to Reverse Holiday Weight Gain -- Fast!" This is the ostensible leader in the ostensible trend among women's magazines to promote healthy body image -- apparently, crash dieting and criticizing very thin women will make you like yourself even more? A rash of TV shows featuring larger people last summer was also heralded as evidence that more realistic beauty standards and less body shame are on their way in, but upon closer inspection, as I wrote then, they did "little to dispel the myth that fat people's lives are built around dessert and desperation." While people fretted that new plus-size clothing lines could promote obesity -- because giving young women who can't fit into mainstream sizes the opportunity to dress like their peers might make them forget just how much their bodies are reviled -- several retailers started reducing their offerings above a size 14. Despite a handful of baby steps and dozens of trend pieces inflating their significance, I'm pretty confident that 2009 will not be remembered as The Year of the Happy Fat Chick.
We've got a long, long way to go before the media actually tries to make women feel good about their looks.
2 comments:
Glamour should stick with its basic healthy eating/lifestyle features and away from sizes. They also do well when they focus on how to dress to flatter. I have the current issue out in front of me, and with the exception of the 5lb loss (in small type on the cover) in connection with a feature on healthy detox, they’ve largely stayed away from the overt negativity that Harding says is on their website. Not that they get a free pass, since they still fall under the usual extremely mainstream attitudes and tropes of a lady magazine, but they do try mightily hard to distance themselves from the older magazine aesthetic.
I blame the CNN thing on the fact they these people need to fill airtime with something. But, as I’ve said before, nobody wins. I have yet to meet a girl who’s never received criticism for her shape/size, and sadly, many of my friends are quick to complain or point out their “flaws”. The best bet is to do what Sidibe does, what they say on What Not to Wear--dress well for your body as best you can, wear the right cuts and color and make sure the clothes fit. Even Gabourey Sidibe, in the Harper’s piece, says this is part of where her confidence comes from:
She adds, "People always ask me, 'You have so much confidence. Where did that come from?' It came from me. One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life as if I was a beautiful girl. I wear colors that I really like, I wear makeup that makes me feel pretty, and it really helps. It doesn't have anything to do with how the world perceives you. What matters is what you see. Your body is your temple, it's your home, and," she chuckles, "you must decorate it."
She’s wrong in that it does help how the world perceives you (many of my fights with my mom on clothes at heart fall under this), but it does take away much of the negative self-esteem that girls have on this issue, it makes it much easier to say “fuck you” to whoever—the media, the community, society--is saying that you aren’t beautiful or worthy.
I wonder if she ever gets tired of everyone telling her to "never change" and commenting on her size. I understand why, at least now, it’s brought up--it’s an obvious fact, and people are curious, because it’s something that stands out.
But a lot of women whose size is part of their appeal--or considered some sort of aberration in the media (Calista Flockhart, Gabourey Sidibe, Christina Hendricks)—-get body image questions a lot. In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that nearly every actress/entertainer gets asked about it at some point, for some aspect of their body if not their overall shape or size. It’s not necessary; it’s really reductive and redundant. It’s not interesting, and the pieces are boring as hell, and it reduces the whole discourse.
What’s the real issue here is the problem of women’s clothing sizes. The problem with sizing is something that every woman deals with. That Double X article was actually hugely revealing, and underscores unfortunately why the system might be so difficult to change.
One anecdote that I want to share: Last week, I was met with the comment that I must be a bitch, and when I asked why, I was met with “because of your size.” I was speechless, because really? Not a funny joke at all and quite offensive. But I understand how the phrase started, though now I feel it’s become the default target for anyone upset about body image and is looking for a scapegoat, because the original “skinny bitches” are models and that ilk. But it goes back to what constantly feels like an assault on our bodies, not just from the media but from ourselves. We’ve internalized a lot of messages, and the fact that women have such a hard time finding acceptable clothing is very demoralizing and depressing, which only makes us reinforce those messages and act out in anger, but at the wrong targets: ourselves.
But it goes back to what constantly feels like an assault on our bodies, not just from the media but from ourselves. We’ve internalized a lot of messages, and the fact that women have such a hard time finding acceptable clothing is very demoralizing and depressing, which only makes us reinforce those messages and act out in anger, but at the wrong targets: ourselves.
Totally true. And not just attack ourselves but attack each other. Always noticing or pointing out what is "wrong" with another woman, or assuming that because they are skinny they are a bitch or if they are fat they are lazy.
I think every actress gets some type of body image question at some point in the career, definitely. Recently on The Today Show they put up a picture of Gerard Butler looking like he packed on a few pounds, and they said, why is it that women get so much more harshly criticized for their weight than men? They kept putting up this photo over and over again. But the point here, which I think they missed, is that we should stop criticizing everyone- and that criticizing men too doesn't make it "fair," just more wide spread.
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