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I don't really love the fact that this is from Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive issue (or whatever they call it...) but I DO like what SJ has to say:
"What about my brain? What about my heart? What about my kidneys and my gallbladder?" she asks, addressing all the hoopla about her curves in an interview in the magazine.
Sorry I'm not posting more... I'm beat from negotiating about my (ta da) upcoming appearance on CNN... More as I know it.. and have a good weekend!
:)
This isn't my REAL post for today... I just wanted to share my good news.
All Made Up: A GIrl's Guide to Seeing Through Celebrity Hype and Celebrating Real Beauty has zoomed up the Amazon.com rankings. Earlier today it was at 14,320....which is AMAZING for a smart book about important topics. Normally books that get up high like that are salacious, sexy best sellers. And in fact, today my Amazon page says that there's only ONE COPY left in stock...and that more are on the way soon.
So thanks to everyone for all your support....and if you've read the book, shoot me an email telling me what you liked (I hope you liked!) what was helpful, what meant a lot to you. Those emails are GREAT for me to have on hand to show that the book is making an impact.
Send me something through the "contact" page at audreybrashich.com or post it here if you'd like!
Did you ever take statistics in school or college? Then maybe you've heard the saying about how statistics can be twisted to support just about anything... or you can always find a statistic somewhere to support your claim.
Well, file THIS under THAT.
Yesterday Britain's Sun newspaper apparently reported:
"Researchers handed 470 women pictures of models of various sizes. Two-thirds gave a positive reaction towards the skinnier ones. Only one in three reacted positively when faced with a larger model. Those who preferred the skinnier models said they were "more elegant, interesting, likeable and pleasant".
Hmmmm.... Really. Wow. Ace reporter that I am, I feel like this "research" deserves some deeper digging. Like maaaaybe women react more positively to the images of the skinny models because in our sub-consciouses we know that THOSE images represent something desirable. Maybe it's NOT that we're all naturally negative when looking at larger women, but that's we've been conditioned to think that look is bad, not sexy etc.
But yet it's THIS kind of research that always gets pulled out of no place to support bogus claims like "Well, women actually dress for other women more than they do for men" and "Who do you think BUYS all those fashion magazines? WOMEN, That's who!" Those comments, just like this research, don't really amount to much when looked at in context though....
Yoo hooo...
Anyone happen to see the FRONT PAGE of USA Today today? There's an article called "Do Thin Models Warp Girls' Body Image?" by Nanci Hellmich that details the whole skinny model debate and quotes experts from both sides of the argument... Including me!
Wait, there are two sides to this argument, you ask? I know, amazing to think that... But YES. There are the critics like yours truly who argue that these images in pop culture DO have an effect on young women. There are tons of academic studies at this point that bear that out...and all you really have to do is talk to any young woman on the street to get an idea of how she feels about her body. It doesn't take much digging to get tease out feelings of dissatisfaction, comparison etc....
Then there are the fashion insiders, who toe a party line that always has themes like these running through it:
And wouldn't ya know it ALL OF THOSE ideas were expressed by the fashionistas interviewed for the article.
Hope you'll click through and read the piece.. then post your comments here!
Faithful reader (and college buddy) Ran sent me the most disturbing email last week. It's for the new HP digital cameras that have a "slimming effect".... so you can make yourself look skinnier in your own snapshots.
I'm not even kidding.
Check out the offensive copy here direct from their website:
"They say cameras add ten pounds, but HP digital cameras can help reverse that effect. The slimming
feature, available on select HP digital camera models, is a subtle effect that can instantly trim off pounds
from the subjects in your photos!"
Well, I'll be! And after all the time I've spent worrying that I don't look my digitally-enhanced best in my snaps from that last family vacation. What a waste! Now I don't have to be embarrassed to look at my own photos
" With the slimming feature, anyone can appear more slender—instantly.
This is really great news. Especially the part about how "anyone" can appear more slender. ANYONE at all? Like, say, all the 40something women you primarily chose for your ad campaign HP? Nice way to imply that THAT'S the market who needs to slim down. Or maybe you're just following the Giorgio Armani school of thought (more on that from last week HERE--that ALL women naturally want to be thinner... so you're just catering to that genetic fact of life.
The fact that this technique is now something that's being marketed to mainstream consumers is just so disturbing because of how it contributes to the "normalization" of this desire to be thin and extreme behavior to get it. And talk about mixed messages! How can we get all up in arms that Katie Couric was slimmed down for her CBS promo photos... when the same thing is happening on people's personal PCs? It leaves us trying to educate young people to the tricks media use with one breath, and then counteracting them at home with another....
As soon as I'm done posting this, I'm writing into the HP website to give them a piece of my mind. Should you want to do the same (and I encourage you to do so), link to the contact form HERE.
"I went through so many diets in my life. I've been very, very skinny I've been a size zero... but I'm naturally more curvy. I just ate vegetables, carrots and tomatoes. I went from a just-protein diet to just eating apples to eating no carbs. I took laxatives. I went through all of it just to be able to model."
--Petra Nemcova, speaking out on the skinny model debate. As reported on CBS.com, and the Oct 2 issue of People
How's that for a chilling headline?
According to new research done by Nielsen Media, there are 2.73 TV sets in the typical home and 2.55
people. And half of American homes have three or more TVs, and only 19 percent have
just one. Compare that to 1975, when 57 percent of homes had only a single
set and 11 percent had three or more.
Also worrisome: In the average home, a television set is turned on for more than a
third of the day — eight hours, 14 minutes, Nielsen said. That's an
hour more than it was a decade ago. AND (here's where we get how this relates to us young'uns: young people aged 12 to 17 watched 3 percent more television
during the season that ended in May than they had the previous year.
Plus with televisions now in places like on buses, elevators and in airport lobbies...it's harder than ever to escape it's web.
The yahoo article that reported this new research also tells of a family, David and Teresa Leon of Schenectady, N.Y. and their four-year-old
twins, who have seven sets, plus an eighth they haven't set up yet. They
include TVs in both the parents' and kids' bedrooms, the family and
living rooms and one in the kitchen that is usually turned to a news
station.
SWEET JESUS that's a lot of TV.
My concern when I hear statistics like this is NOT that TV is inherently bad. OF course there is some fine, fine programming on. (I happen to think the first season of Dawson's Creek is just about some of the best writing and handling of teen relationships/issues I've ever seen....) BUT when there is so so much rampant, uncritical consumption of TV (or any media) and so little time spent at home or in schools educating about how the media work, what their agenda is (sell stuff in the commercials! product placements! etc) it's disconcerting because it tips the balance of power toward media makers and the manufacturers they work with ..... Their messages end up coming through loud and clear... and we're kinda just like sitting ducks absorbing it all.
The remedy? Uh, throwing out a few of those EIGHT sets might be a good place to start.... or at least carving out time to talk about what's been seen...or balancing TV watching with lots of other activities that aren't motivated by the same agenda that Big Media has....
I'm going to need to start a new category on this blog just to keep all these entries straight.
VERY interesting developments happening with the Are They or Aren't They Too Thin arena.
Today's New York Times has a very interesting article titled When is Thin Too Thin? And it points some fingers at interesting places.
First it quotes Linda Wells, Ed in Chief of Allure magazine saying that during some of the New York fashion shows last week, there were audible gasps from the audience as they saw just how gaunt some of the models were.
"What becomes alarming is when you see bones and start counting ribs," Wells told the Times.
Yep, that's alarming all right. Almost as alarming as the effect these images could have on the thousands of young women who look at the shows and think "Gee. If I could just look like that, maybe someone would put ME on the runway in New York...and dress me in fabulous clothes...and I'd get to go to all the best parties and hang out with the beautiful people. Because that's what models do. And it's not like if I try to become a teacher or a computer programmer I'll get all the glamour, fame and fortune. Hell, I don't even KNOW any female computer programmers... so *sigh* I wonder if I could get that thin and have a shot......"
My point being: YES, I agree that it's worrisome that top models look this way... and I think the impact they can have culturally is even more worrisome.
Then the article goes on to say that there "remains an ideal among designers who seem to prize an ever thinner frame to display their clothes." Ahh. so the problem is with the designers? (could be! See part 2 of this entry below!)
But wait, there's more! Then a modeling agent named David Bonnouvrier, the chief executive of DNA Models, which represents many of the top faces in the business, is quoted as saying: “We are minutes away from a catastrophe."
!!
He also points fingers at " designers and model bookers [who] encourage extreme thinness, so much so that several of the models he represents, when asked about their weight, have refused to seek medical attention for what are probable eating disorders."
“This goes against everything we stand for as an industry,” Mr. Bonnouvrier told the Times. “I am kicking and screaming about it now because this should be an industry of beauty and luxury, not famished-looking people that look pale and sick.”
KICKING AND SCREAMING, eh? Well, I like that fact that he realizes that gaunt and emaciated doesn't portray a look of beauty and luxury.... but the flip side of that is of course, that the image he might be calling for (one that is beautiful and luxurious) might not be any more realistic or attainable.
***********
Meanwhile, over in London, Mr. Giogio Armani has penned an editorial that's run in the Independent. The full text is below because apparently they have some cursed firewall/subscription policy:
"Ever since I started out as a fashion designer, I chose to use models who were on the slender side. This was because the clothes I design and the sort of fabrics I use need to hang correctly on the body. I want the dresses to seem to float and flow with the body.
Gianni Versace was a very different kind of designer. He used jerseys and chiffons, which needed a body of a certain shape to hold the fabric. He used more voluptuous models. The particular styles I designed were quite different, and this is why, maybe, I was regarded as being among those designers who used slim women as models.
But I do not feel responsible for setting a trend towards models who look anorexic. As so often in the fashion world, things have been taken to extremes. And unfortunately there are a lot of young women who never accept that they are thin enough - and this is an illness.
In my view, all women want to look much slimmer than they are, and this encourages them to be very careful about what they eat. But there is a similar issue at the other end of the scale: there are very few women who have just the right degree of voluptuousness to be pin-ups.
Most of the comment on this issue of anorexic models - like comment on anything - tends to exaggerate the problem. But the fact that we are dealing with the world of fashion, where so much is exaggerated anyway, means there has been a particular lack of balance in this discussion."
********
okay. G, darling... here's what I have to say to YOU:
1. "In my view, all women want to look much slimmer than they are..." WTF?! I mean, I know you're a genius with fabric theory, not social theory... but um, could like maybe back up that assertion, or dig a little deeper? Cause "your view" begs the question of WHY "all women" want to look much slimmer than they are. Do you think it's genetic? That we're born that way? That we come out of the womb and immediately start thinking "hmmm, I gotta cut back and be careful about what I'm eating cause I'd like to be slimmer than I am." Because if that's your assertion, I would beg to differ. I'd like to throw in some wild cards, like say, oh, cultural influences. Just to mix things up a bit.
2. " And unfortunately there are a lot of young women who never accept that they are thin enough - and this is an illness." Y'know, I'm glad you brought this up. Because I've been a-wonderin' myself jes what in the hell is WRONG with all these girls. You sickos. Get with the program and realize that you just might not ever be like the women that Giorgio favors. You just might not HAVE the type of body that lets clothes drape correctly. You might actually have flesh, or enjoy eating, or play sports that develop your muscles. Just deal with it. And buy yerself some Versace or something. But whatever you do, just accept that you've got issues. You're ill. And that's no one's fault but your own, mm'kay?
3. "Most of the comment on this issue of anorexic models - like comment on anything - tends to exaggerate the problem..." Riiiiiigghhht. So you're saying that it's not useful or productive to debate such issues because it just makes a mountain out of a molehill? That we should just sit back and accept whatever is thrown our way cause designers (or creators of other cultural "products" ie magazines, films, music videos etc) know what they're doing when it comes to choosing fabrics that sit well on the body (or achieve the image they want.). So we're supposed to blindly consume these items and images without raising a stink? I don't THINK so.
4. And finally Giorgio. NO. Just no. To all your other points. They are poorly reasoned and I no longer think of you as the Italian Calvin Klein who makes elegant, simple clothes. When the time comes for me to buy clothes as nice as yours... for my appearance on Oprah, or the Red Carpet or the Kick-Ass Cultural Critics Award Show of Life... I will not be buying from you.
Um. I really don't know what to say about this new development in marketing.
Apparently, Brazilian beer brewers Nova Schin is using images of "hot" pregnant women to boost their non-alcoholic beer sales.
Sigh, where do I begin? How about with the fact that it's effing lame that advertisers can't come up with anything better than naked chicks for ads. (Or that apparently it's such a successful method, we fall for it every time.)
Or maybe I should gripe about the fact that pregnancy is no longer a time when a woman can take a lil' Time Out from all the body image pressures that bombard us daily. NOW we need to be PREGNANT AND HOT at the Oscars (a la Rachel Weisz and Catherine Zeta Jones) and PREGNANT AND HOT on the cover of W magazine (a la Gwyneth with Apple) and just A FEW MONTHS PAST PREGNANT AND ALREADY HOT ENOUGH to be back on the runway for Victoria's Secret (Hello Heidi Klum). Talk about Raising the Bar. Yeesh.
Or wait. Maybe the problem is that these ads (and you can see more of them HERE) aren't even of REAL women. They're some photoshopped, CG collage or something.... some digitally enhanced, improved, sexed up version of a pregnant woman...implying that being pregnant isn't what makes a woman sexy.. it's being pregnant in a CERTAIN bikini clad, non-stretchmarked, not-at-all-tired, no-pregnancy-induced-adult-acne,boobs-still-small-enough-to-fit-into-a-triangle-bikini-top-with-no-underwire , still-with-a-come-hither-look kinda way. Cause yeeeah! I'm pregnant, and I still want to make all your fantasies come true, you lucky man, you.
What a load of offensive hooey (is that how you spell that word? It's a great word!) I mean, don't these ad execs have wives? Are they all 20something lad mag readers who have graduated to creating the same tripe that they consume? Because if they're actually caring adults, not Neanderthal sexists, I'm sure they don't hold their OWN wives to these standards. But hey, if it sells, they're willing to foist the message/imagery on the rest of us.
Another group of people I need five minutes alone with to set straight. Damn, my list is getting long....
About the skinny models debate!!!! (See the story here)
Reuters is now reporting that "India does not want waif-like young women sashaying down the catwalk and acting as role models for thousands of girls who are starving themselves to get svelte figures" which is GREAT. I just am still having trouble wrapping my head around why everyone is using this as a platform to suddenly speak out against extreme thinness marketed to girls when they let soooo many other images broadcast away in magazines, film, TV etc.
Apparently, The Times of India newspaper quoted Anbumani Ramadoss on Tuesday as saying that many girls in India's cities and small towns were suffering from osteoporosis due to strict dieting.
****
And while I think it's great that India's Aishwarya Rai won the Miss World title in the 1990s and changed things up a little... I am made uneasy by the fact that I feel like half the reason she won is because she looks more western than Indian. Know what I'm saying? It's like I wrote about on page 63 of All Made Up: A Girl's Guide to Seeing Through Celebrity Hype and Celebrating Real Beauty, how once Nigeria entered a contestant that conformed to western beauty standards--standards considered ugly and sickly in their own homeland--THEN they finally won.
