Don't Believe The Hype

This has got to be the stupidest quote I've ever heard

Regarding Katie Holmes and her (awesome) new short 'do.  (Although I like this incarnation better than the current one with bangs):

From a yahoo news report:

"New York stylist Harry Josh, who oversees the silky manes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Gisele Bundchen, says "there's an overwhelming boredom with hair right now. Going above the shoulder is so much fresher than keeping it on the long side, but there's very few people that are willing to take the plunge."

He thinks it would take at least "20 major people" to make the trend mainstream."

An "overwhelming boredom" with hair? Sweet Jesus the things some people spend their days worrying about.....

And "major people"?!  I can't even go there. 

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As for posting, I'm sorry I've been so out of it.  I keep seeing all these pop culture quotes and phenomena etc that eat away at me so much I nearly run to my computer in the middle of the night, but the truth is, I'm flat out exhausted these days from trying to work on two new books and being a mommy.

New Year's Resolution to get back on track, though, so stay tuned!

The Perfect Woman

I came across this photo while doing research for the presentation I give to schools, conferences and youth groups.

And I can't decide which is more disturbing:  That a woman would do this to herself thinking it's fun, and hysterical and good for a laugh....

Or that someone has posted it online with the caption "The Perfect Woman?"

"Prosti-tots".....whoa.

Dude... I know I was kinda out of it last winter.... but have you read these stats?

From last Feb:

"In a recent Newsweek Poll, 77 percent of respondents say young women celebrities like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan have too much influence on young girls. Eighty-four percent of those polled say sexuality plays a bigger role in American popular culture than it did 20 or 30 years ago and 70 percent say this is more of a bad influence on young people today than a good influence. In the February 12 Newsweek cover, "The Girls Gone Wild Effect," (on newsstands Monday, February 5), Deveny and Kelley examine whether there really are harmful long-term effects of overexposure to Paris Hilton and whether we are raising a generation of what one L.A. mom calls "prosti-tots," young girls who dress like tarts, live for Dolce & Gabbana purses and can neither spell nor define such words as "adequate."

Thanks fer nothin', Pamela Anderson!

"There's only one way to keep your shape--put on your bikini every day, or at least every other day, so you can keep an eye on your weight."

She's so reasonable that Pam!  EVERY day would have been totally loco.  But every OTHER day.... well, darn, that's just good sense.

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This might possibly be the worst advice I have ever heard.

Jennifer Garner and Women's Bodies after Baby...

I've got no real beef with Jennifer Garner.  I like her fine and all. 

What I don't like is when there are articles ABOUT her that go like this:

"She debuted her postpartum figure at the 2006 Oscars wearing a beaded designer gown.

Such an outing isn't stress-free, Garner says.

"I usually feel like, `No matter how many girdles you put me in, you will not be able to zip this.' They always say to you — as though it's something that should make you happy — `This is fresh from the runway.'

"But what I think is, `That was made for some 14-year-old girl from Russia! It was not made to go on my body.'"

What a jumble of sentiments those few lines evoke in me.

FIRST... "Debuting" one's post partum figure?! COME ON. So now moms are supposed to worry about finding the time to get a new figure in addition to caring for a crying baby and trying to get some sleep (um, can you tell I'm speaking from experience here?).

And as for Jen's comments.  Well, I'm glad she has the guts to tell it like it is.... but I don't like her putting herself (and in a meta sense, all women) down by talking about girdles and shit. She don't need no girdles!

What about portly male stars... like say, um, oh, I don't know, her husband, Monsieur Ben Affleck, perhaps?  There's been a few instances where he's looked more than a little doughy.  Think he had to wear a girdle?

(and for the record, the etymology of the word "Girdle" is also something I take issue with.  It sounds too much like Girl....But I guess I'd probably have to take on the ancient Greeks or something to right that wrong).

Hedi Klum's body is NOT worth dying for....

Due to the baby and all, I'm kinda behind on my posting....

But I saw this thing in the Feb 2007 issue of Glamour and saved it.  So now I finally get to post on it

When 2156 readers were asked if they'd rather have a body like Heidi Klum's but die at 40, or be morbidly obese but live to 100, 81% chose the Heidi option...  only 19% wanted to live to 100.

Of course, it's an unfair question.  Obesity has lots of health problems associated with it like diabetes, and 40 is a pretty young age to think about dying.  So it's just flawed from the get go.

But I doubt that's what most of the responders were thinking of when they chose being mega hot instead of being mega old.  I bet what most people were thinking about, perhaps even unconsciously, was which look/sate of being is more valued in our culture... and how one would lead to a fantasy life, while the other would probably be more like a living hell.

Gwen Stefani: feminist pioneer/pop icon or....not?

I recently came across a post on a celeb gossip blog comparing the old Gwen (grrrr!) to the new Gwen (Diva!).  It made a bunch of interesting observations about her transformation from someone aiming to bust thru stereotypes and blaze new trails for young women.... to some one who comments about her post-baby weight loss and appearance in national magazines.

On her baby weight:
"...I was a little chubby when I was younger, and I didn't want to be that person forever. I became a swimmer at school -- but only because I wanted to be skinner! I'm extremely vain. I like wearing cute clothes."

On plastic surgery:
"...I've thought it over but I'm not at that stage yet."

Now, I actually believe that how a woman feels about herself in a post-baby state can be a very feminist/political issue given our pop culture climate and messaging. And we're all a little vain and want to be considered cute... no harm in that.  But the comment about needing to be skinnier in order to achieve that... instead of feeling, i dunno, powerful and maternal and strong and sexy and cute is where I take issue.

Thoughts?

Kelly Osbourne, Playboy, Hef (that looooser) and Posh Spice

"I can't see it happening somehow - we don't airbrush to that extent."

Hugh Hefner on Kelly Osbourne's desire to be in Playboy.

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Hmmm.... Let me say straight off that I am no Playboy fan.  I don't buy into the argument that if a woman is choosing to do it, it's liberating.  But that aside, it still bums me out immensely that an 80-year-old slime bag (that would be Hugh Hefner) gets to have some sort of final say about what vision of the female body is appropriate to be considered sexy.

Why is Kelly any less desirable or sexy than the blonde, surgically-enhanced, homogeneous images Playboy often promotes? Why can't Kelly be lauded as sexy and enviable instead of being indirectly ridiculed for the amount of air brushing it would take to make her "presentable?"

Meanwhile, Hef says that he's "inviting" Posh Spice to pose for the mag.  Posh--who's clearly has eating/body issues.  And that's going to end up influencing what some men think of as attractive and what women feel like they need to measure up to....

Yeah see, I don't like that....

Young women and diet aids

Sorry for not posting yesterday.. I literally couldn't find anything I wanted to  comment on.

(Not sure if that means I'm getting soft... or if things are looking up out there... but either way.  Here's some news:)

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According to the University of Minnesota's Project EAT (Eating Among Teens), the use of diet pills in high school-aged females went from 7.5 to 14.2 percent between 1999 to 2004. Researchers also found: "By 19 or 20 years old, 20 percent of the females in the study used diet pills....21.9 percent of females use 'very unhealthy weight control behaviors,' which include laxatives, vomiting, skipping meals or diet pills."

Renee Zellweger on body image...

"It's disheartening [when the media focuses too much on all the weight she's gained and lost for her acting parts], because it is a reflection of what it is that we value, and it is a superficiality that does not deserve the focus of energy that it gets. It's boring -- and it sends wrong messages."

From a new Reuters article....

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Holla, Renee!

She's succinct--and she nails it. 

All the hoopla about her weight loss sends the wrong messages about which traits and values are important in a girl/woman.

We all know that today there are limitless opportunities for girls and women... and yet our pop culture continually sends the message that being thin is of the utmost importance by the topics/traits/people etc it continues to hype, right alongside all the positive messages.

Me and Renee, we might have to team up on this issue....