Today's Examiner has an article about Glamour's plus-size model spread.
Interesting step...and maybe one day we can stop calling "50% of women in this country wearing a size 14 (the average size of a plus size model)," plus size.
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Friday, October 9, 2009
Plus Size Models Get Naked for Glamour Magazine
Today's Examiner has an article about Glamour's plus-size model spread.
Interesting step...and maybe one day we can stop calling "50% of women in this country wearing a size 14 (the average size of a plus size model)," plus size.
Friends Don't Let Friends Fat Talk
Fat Talk Free Week starts early at Lululemon Athletica in San Antonio. (Fat Talk Free Week is a five-day effort to draw attention to the damaging impact of fat talk and the “thin ideal” on women, starting October 19.) What will you do for Fat Talk Free Week?
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Wednesday, October 7, 2009
It's time to challenge casual sexism
Check out this article from the Times UK about challenging the casual culture of sexism that we all accept.
I love the author's point that we all stay silent because eh, what's the big deal--we want to be cool, not uptight. And when we do speak out, we get the response, "Geez, why can't women take a joke?" We can take a joke, but sexism isn't funny.
Now go read this really articulate, awesome article!
Addendum: I was just reading Lucinda Marshall's blogpost on "Objectifying and Belittling Women In The Name Of Breast Cancer Awareness," when I got to her line, "At the risk of being called a humorless feminist [this campaign is] sophomoric and deeply insulting to both men and women." There it is folks. The humorless feminist is a total stereotype, a dirty joke. Our aversion to standing up for everyone's right to act as a full human being (yup, that's my definition of feminism) is our own obstacle.
And in the meantime, this cancer awareness campaign is a perfect example of casual sexism, where the physicality of boobs as objects is used as the attention-grabbing aspect of their ads. But what else are companies to do than concoct a sexy message to garner support and awareness? Perhaps if the general public were to make some noise and let them know we don't need ads like this to care about the *people* we're losing to breast cancer, companies wouldn't need to rely on sashaying body parts to get the word out.
I love the author's point that we all stay silent because eh, what's the big deal--we want to be cool, not uptight. And when we do speak out, we get the response, "Geez, why can't women take a joke?" We can take a joke, but sexism isn't funny.
Now go read this really articulate, awesome article!
Addendum: I was just reading Lucinda Marshall's blogpost on "Objectifying and Belittling Women In The Name Of Breast Cancer Awareness," when I got to her line, "At the risk of being called a humorless feminist [this campaign is] sophomoric and deeply insulting to both men and women." There it is folks. The humorless feminist is a total stereotype, a dirty joke. Our aversion to standing up for everyone's right to act as a full human being (yup, that's my definition of feminism) is our own obstacle.
And in the meantime, this cancer awareness campaign is a perfect example of casual sexism, where the physicality of boobs as objects is used as the attention-grabbing aspect of their ads. But what else are companies to do than concoct a sexy message to garner support and awareness? Perhaps if the general public were to make some noise and let them know we don't need ads like this to care about the *people* we're losing to breast cancer, companies wouldn't need to rely on sashaying body parts to get the word out.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
German women's magazine to ban professional models via Feministing
Lately, Europe seems to be eons ahead of us regarding their recognition that the fashion and media having a significantly unhealthy effect on women's body image. The latest is Germany's most popular women's magazine's announcement of their intention to omit professional models from their pages in an effort to combat unrealistic social beauty standards:
The editor-in-chief of Germany's bimonthly Brigitte told reporters that, starting next year, the magazine will feature a mix of prominent women and regular readers in photo spreads for everything from beauty to fashion to fitness.I like this sentiment; we should humanize models not just as "more realistic" subjects of voyeurism. I just worry these kinds of efforts (cough, Dove, cough) often end up having some contradicting issues to contend with - like if the new magazine's campaign consists of shaming underweight women, that's not very productive either.
Andreas Lebert said the move is a response to readers increasingly saying that they are tired of seeing "protruding bones" from models who weigh far less than the average woman.
"We will show women who have an identity -- the 18-year-old student, the head of the board, the musician, the football player," Andreas Leberts said in Hamburg, where the magazine, published by Gruner+Jahr, is based.
Either way, it's interesting to see how fast the efforts to combat body image issues and eating disorders are spreading among the fashion and media industries on one continent, while others (ahem) seem to be at a standstill.
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