Today (and every day I hope) is Love Your Body Day

Today is Love Your Body Day!  Here's the deal (official press release from NOW):

For Immediate Release
Contact: Mai Shiozaki, 202-628-8669, ext. 116; cell 202-641-1906


Unrealistic Images of Women Make Love Your Body Day More Important Than Ever

October 15, 2009

For years now, advertisers and fashion magazines have airbrushed photos to turn models into the latest beauty ideal. Women and girls are constantly bombarded with these artificial images -- fantasies they can't possibly live up to in real life.

This Photoshopping of models and celebrities has really gotten out of hand lately. Self magazine felt the need to digitally slenderize singer Kelly Clarkson before putting her on the cover of its "total body confidence" issue, even though Clarkson has said that she is comfortable with herself just the way she is. Model Filippa Hamilton recently revealed that she was fired by Ralph Lauren for being too big, despite being a size four. Hamilton is the same model who appeared in a Ralph Lauren ad that was so aggressively retouched that she appeared emaciated and completely out of proportion.

If models can't catch a break, how can the rest of us hope to have a healthy self-image? Starting at younger and younger ages, eating disorders, low self-esteem, and a preoccupation with appearance plague women and girls, sometimes with disastrous results. "In my teenage years, I was hospitalized for anorexia," said eating disorder survivor and NOW Action Vice President Erin Matson. "I remember a fellow patient winning a modeling contest while she was on a pass from the hospital. The only way to end the glorification of unhealthy beauty stereotypes is to stand up proudly for real women's bodies."

That's why the NOW Foundation is celebrating its 12th annual Love Your Body Day on Oct. 21. This campaign is a giant shout out to the fashion, beauty, diet and advertising industries: No more fake images! Show us real women, diverse women, strong women, bold women. And to the women and girls who are targeted by messages telling them that the key to success and happiness is manufactured beauty, we say: It's okay to "Be You" -- the true you is beautiful.

Many different kinds of Love Your Body events will be held across the country on Oct. 21. Contact the NOW Foundation to learn more.

More Information:
Kelly Clarkson Photo Retouched to Make Her 'Look Her Best', Janet Mock People Magazine
Size 4 model: I was fired for being too fat -- Former Ralph Lauren model Filippa Hamilton is 5' 10" and 120 pounds, Today MSNBC

German women's magazine to ban professional models via Feministing

Reposted from 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.
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.

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.
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.

Posted by Vanessa - October 06, 2009, at 10:14AM | in Body Image , International

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Why does this "Anna Rexia" Halloween Costume even exist?

Why on earth does this Halloween costume have to refer to anorexia? It just looks like a skeleton to me. X-Rays, Zombies, bones--all that is ghoulish enough to fit with Halloween.

The description for this costume is the worst part: "If Anna Rexia doesn't want to put it in her mouth there is nothing you can say to change her mind. You can stop trying to sell her on the point that there aren't any carbs and it's all protein because Anna Rexia just doesn't want anything to do with it. Make no bones about it this girl is as disciplined as they can get. Anna Rexia costume is anything but bare bones! Costume includes headband, choker neckband, removable "Anna Rexia" badge and ribbon tie belt. If you're starving for attention, this costume will be sure to put you on top of the world."

It seems that the prevalence of anorexia has turned it into a common cultural fact, so part of our collective consciousness that, as with ads, we're almost immune to how serious (and unnecessary) it is.

Gross. And not in that fun Halloween way.

Parents' role in fomenting kids' eating disorders

What do you think about this take?

http://www.channel3000.com/education/21154458/detail.html

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Vanity iPhone app

Seems like so much effort to "find out" if someone's beautiful by some inane mathematical standard... I mean, won't I just know if I find someone particularly striking?  And do we really need to spend more time making ourselves feel not-good-enough?  Aren't there so many better things to do with one's time, even *on* the iPhone itself?!

At least this app doesn't pretend to be about anything other than what it's about (it's not a Photoshopped ad that pretends to be real beauty), but rating oneself about *anything* on a scale of 1-10 seems really shallow and hurtful to me.  People are beautiful and amazing to be friends with because they're complicated, interesting, ever-changing, alive.  Calcifying human beauty with a score doesn't represent anything real or truthful, yet that human want to please and be at the top drives our curiosity to see what score we "are."

The score is meaningless anyway!  Go get an app where you can note all the great things about yourself, keep track of your talents, get loving messages from your friends--oh wait, I think that's called Facebook.

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France Mulls "Health Warning" for Fashion Photos

...and more fashion and health intersection...  France mulls over the idea of slapping "health warning" labels on digitally-altered photos of models.

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London Fashion Week stylist resigns over designer's decision to use size 14 models in show

via dailymail.co.uk

My reactions:
1. Hooray, someone used normal sized women to display fashion!
2. Ick, women on the runway still look like mannequins. Who cares what size we are when we're still objectified and obsessed with looks?
3. Who is this dude who resigned and what is *that* about?!
4. Why isn't the headline "Fashion Designer Uses Normal Sized Models"? Is the fact that that's *not* news, good news? Have teeny steps actually been made in an altered public consciousness? Or is there no attention being paid because nothing has changed and no on cares about a drop in the bucket?
Lots of mixed feelings here, folks. Help me out.

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Mixed messages don't get more confusing than this

I just came across a Fox newsflash about a Shape Magazine article, called "Country's Leading Ladies Discuss Body Image, Confidence and Jessica Simpson!"

In this piece, Martina McBride, Julianne Hough, and LeAnn Rimes talk about their concern for young women who base their beauty ideals and self-esteem on "what they see in TV or in magazines." They also talk about how hard it is to maintain self-confidence and be a star under scrutiny.

But wait, yup, their photo on the cover of the magazine shows them in bikinis, looking teeny and flawless (next to other cover article headlines about losing weight and looking good). These women are famous because they are *musicians,* yet their appearance is just as important to their success as a model's. While they recognize that being ostracized over appearances can be really hurtful, they also contribute to the social norm that being worried about 'being beautiful' is important: “I’m 26 and I’m still a little self-conscious about my looks," Rimes admitted. "When I was a kid, I had psoriasis over 80 percent of my body. Luckily, I’ve found a medicine that helps control it, but I never know when it will stop working or if I’ll have to deal with it again. It’s still a struggle, but as you get older, I think your perspective changes."

So while the stars try to be candid and encourage women to feel confident, they are simultaneously icons on the front of a magazine who fall into the same shape and size as the prescribed ideal.

Is there any way for celebrities to break out of this mixed messaging? Is there any way for everyone else to stop our collective obsession with looks?

Bingeing on Celebrity Weight Battles

From the NYT Fashion & Style section...

Bingeing on Celebrity Weight Battles by Jan Hoffman

The tagline is: "The dieting sagas of the stars might be more frustrating than inspiring to overweight women"--and I'd add, to everyone, regardless of size. These stories are meant to inspire health but they promote self-loathing and an unhealthy obsession with appearance. How can we encourage a healthy weight for heart care, diabetes, etc. separate from unhealthy cultural standards of beauty?

Film Clip: "Beauty Mark"

Brought to you by the Media Education Foundation, this film clip of the month is from "Beauty Mark," a movie that "explores the harmful factors that can lead to athletic bulimia and distorted body images."

*Note: Hit the small "play" button at the bottom left hand corner (not the big one in the middle of the image) to get the video to play.

Barbie's 50, and never looked...er....worse

Check out this article from the BBC, What Would a Real Life Barbie Look Like?

The line that makes me the most sad is from Sarah Burge, a woman who has tried to become a real-life Barbie through plastic surgery: "At the end of the day you don't see a personality from across a room do you." Honestly, I would disagree.

Read, Watch, Check Out

I've been stockpiling some links definitely worth checking out...

Double standards turn up at, yup, the dry cleaners
NEW YORK REGION | February 05, 2009
At the Cleaners, One Woman Seeks Gender Equality
By CARA BUCKLEY
Women's shirts often cost much more to launder than men's, even if they are smaller and made of the same cloth. Janet Floyd is out to change that.


Where media, pharmaceuticals, and women's health intersect (and I love that this is in the Business section, and not Fashion or Lifestyle for once!)
BUSINESS | February 11, 2009
Advertising: A Birth Control Pill That Promised Too Much
By NATASHA SINGER
As part of a settlement, Bayer is running ads that clarify the side benefits of its birth control drug, Yaz. Regulators say earlier ads played down the risks.


Very much in line with articles and books written by my contemporaries on the pressure on girls and women to be perfect...
According to new research at UC Berkeley, Pressure to be a supergirl is causing teen mental health crisis

*I'm excited to say that more on this topic will be coming up as well: An interview with Liz Funk, author of Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Lives of Overachieveing Girls, will be posted here during her virtual book tour March 12th.

Weight bias videos by the Rudd Center

The Rudd Center has recently released videos on YouTube about weight bias at home, school, and in health care. Check out the preview trailer, or watch the full length weight bias in youth full video and the weight bias in health care full video.

When watching the preview, I was really struck by just how confused we are about weight and health. While we campaign for tolerance of people of all sizes, shapes, genders, races, and ethnicities and encourage youth to love themselves as they are, we also campaign for help against obesity as a medical problem that causes many other health issues, in a way demonizing obesity (and its "hosts") even more.

How can we look out for our actual health without becoming wrapped up in how we look and how we are treated because of our appearance? How can we expand our definitions of beauty to include the myriad types of people that there are, while still promoting health?

I'm glad that these videos address the often unacknowledged weight bias that hurts many children and adults - even in an ideal world where everyone eats and lives healthfully, we hopefully will still be able to revel in our diversity.

"Bulimia is Curable" guerrilla toilet stickering

Hey all. I just got word about ProMädchen's (ProGirl) in-your-face guerrilla campaign that targets sufferers of bulimia by stickering the inside of toilet lids. Way to go right to the source.

What do you think? Know any other projects like this? Let me know.