Skinny/Fat Jessica

So apparently Jessica Simpson is trying to get her own reality tv show called “The Price of Beauty”.  The premise of the show is that she’ll embark on a road trip around the world asking women what they think is beautiful and why.  First of all, you know there are going to be ugly people on that show.  Second, you cant road trip around the world, that defeats the purpose of a ‘road’ trip – where an automobile is involved.  Is she retarded? seriously..

- Walt Whitman, ‘Song of Myself’

This is really an interesting piece- It talks about the Women’s Movement and its rise and fall as well as how it is viewed and portrayed in society today. Rothenberg also touches upon the female empowerment and about her observation of young girls wearing t-shirts that say things like “As long as I can be on top”, “Bitch”, “Dirty Girl”… etc. I found it to be helplful in understanding what I posted about in “Measuring Self-Worth”. Even though it does raise some interesting issues and points on the matter, it leaves me pondering if Rothenberg actually proposes a solution. So if you have some time, please read it and let me know what you think – it’s very insightful.

Snatched from the Jaws of Victory – Feminism Then and Now

I was at a party recently and in the course of otherwise reasonable events that took place, one in particular from that night has bothered me ever since.

I was sitting and chatting with some friends when a couple of girls (presumably NOT from my school) drunkenly stumbled through the room. Now don’t get me wrong but on any other Saturday night, this would have seemed like perfectly normal behavior, except on this night these three girls decided to wear wife-beaters that they made themselves with the phrase “Fuck a Ho” written across the front.

I started laughing at what I assumed was a poor, drunken fashion decision on their part (maybe i was laughing from the embarrassment that I was feeling for them or perhaps from being drunk, I don’t know) but i quickly became annoyed when one of the girls asked my friend J.* to take a picture of the three of them together. Seeing the facial expressions of the girls during the picture it quickly became clear that they were not the least bit ashamed of what was scrawled across their chests… ho no (accidental spelling mistake, but i like the pun) they were actually wearin ‘em loud, they were wearin ‘em proud! I just could not believe that this was happening! As a gender studies major and someone who took a class called ‘GirlPower’ (for crying out loud), something like this just seemed like an affront to everything I had been working to understand/undo. So I took the initiative to question them:

“Excuse me? Aren’t you ashamed to be wearing a shirt like that?”

“Well…” one of the girls began “this shirt isn’t saying that I’M a ho and that you should fuck me.”

“But you’re wearing the shirt!” I retorted “Isn’t that suggesting something?”

Her eyes narrowed, “No, but are YOU suggesting something?”

“Look” I said, trying to be as calm as a person can be in a situation like this, “I’m not trying to suggest anything. All I’m trying to say is that I would not wear a shirt like that because it’s demeaning to women.” Oh great, now I’ve gone and done it… I used a big word…

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, whatever. That’s not what the shirt means at all. You don’t get it. It’s just a saying, you know, like ‘Hey! Fuck a ho!’” With that she and her friends proceeded to walk towards the door. I wanted to say something back to her, but before I could she had already stumbled out of the room. The truth of the matter is, I didn’t know what she was saying. I have never and probably never will use a phrase like that.

I now think about the younger girls of my generation who listen and sing along to songs like Nelly Furtado’s “Promiscuous Girl” without even knowing what the word promiscuous means; young teenage girls who walk into Victoria’s Secret and see g-strings with the words “Private Lessons” written across the crotch. But these girls don’t know how to tune out media that demeans women. I remember a particular slogan on a t-shirt sold by Abercrombie & Fitch that read “Who needs brains when you have these?” across the front. I was confused by this; was I supposed to feel empowered? The only thing that the message on the shirt was doing was reinforcing the idea that women are only as good as what their bodies suggest, and it undermined women’s abilities to be smart and capable.

*SIGH* On that night I’m sure that somewhere, some guy now thinks that because those girls wore the ‘Fuck a Ho’ shirts that it is ok to refer to women in derogatory terms (or heaven forbid, actually follow what the shirt says)? I took a deep breathe and tried to rationalize what had just happened, but I couldn’t make sense of it; whatever went on through their minds as they got dressed that evening, I could not figure out.

So, as much as I am trying to be sympathetic to the responses that people are making to my post on “Fat Teens Can’t Hunt” I think that it’s gotten to a point where I need to address and clarify where I’m coming from so people stop thinking I’m some stupid tart having a good laugh at the expense of overweight people.

I’ve definitely fallen to pressure before, I think we all have at some point in our lives, and you know what – it sucks to be made to feel different (albeit, probably for some stupid reason), but I think that if you’re able to accept yourself and feel comfortable in your own skin, then why should you care what other people see you for?

First off, I’m not trying to criticize anyone for wanting to go on the show, I’m just saying that in a holistic approach, the show just sounds like a shitty way to make fun of overweight people. Second, if you’re going to make an argument that you’re going on the show to ‘experience’ a different culture, I somehow can’t help but think that this is not the way to go about doing that.  Worst part about the show is millions of people will watch as you starve to the point where anything looks good enough to eat…

Why would you even put yourself through that? So you can lose a couple pounds? What will you really walk away with? Are you going to feel proud that you’ve actually proven the title wrong and that you indeed CAN hunt? It absolutely astounds me what is considered entertainment anymore, and even more so the people who are willing to put it all out there, and for what? Vanity? Fame? Revenge?… have you no humility?

I’m not asking that you to agree with me, but I’m asking that you do understand where I’m coming from.

“As an actress, they pay me not to eat…” – Marcia Cross, ‘Desperate Housewives’

VH1 recently came out with a list of celebrities who in recent years made headlines not by how talented they are but rather by the massive amounts of weight they dropped in a short period of time. Celebs are often scrutinized and under speculation by the media for having eating disorders or drug problems – but considering the pressure of being in an extremely image-conscious public, being skinny is more than just a trend for most celebrities, it has become an obsession.

VH1′s 20 Skinniest Celebs:

20.) Keira Knightley

19.) Ellen Pompeo

18.) Kate Bosworth

17.) Hilary Duff

16.) Lindsay Lohan

15.) Teri Hatcher

14.) Ashlee Simpson

13.) Kate Moss

12.) Mischa Barton

11.) Janet Jackson

10.) Anna Kournikova

9.) Sienna Miller

8.) Heather Miller

7.) Thandie Newton

6.) Carson Daly

5.) Daniel Day-Lewis

4.) Orlando Bloom

3.) Victoria Beckham

2.) Mary-Kate Olsen

1.) Nicole Richie

I remember watching a documentary over Thanksgiving break on HBO called THIN. The documentary was previewed on People Magazine’s Website and followed the lives of anorexic and bulimic girls in their recovery to becoming healthy. The pressures to staying thin are ever increasing and with pro-ana and pro-mia websites, it’s hard to not think about what lengths these girls go to to look like their favorite models/celebrities. Thinspiration is often a word thrown around in the world of eating disorders, and the celebrities that are role models are often victims of eating disorders themselves. People magazine devoted a cover story to the subject – claiming that “Drastic thinness has become the beauty ideal – and it’s having an alarming effect on girls everywhere”. It seems that the pressure put on celebrities carries the notion that whoever is thinner gets the job.

When Nicole Richie started losing weight, tabloid magazines praised her new look, but as fast they are to praise, they are to criticize. Within a few weeks, tabloids started printing articles about Nicole Richie looking unhealthy and being too thin. The comedy that reporting on body size has is that is somewhere in between too fat and too skinny is where the ‘perfect’ body is – a supposedly ‘acceptable’ size. But the problem with this lies in the fact that not everyone is shaped in the same way. Being different in this case does not carry a negative meaning, it does not mean that you are ‘less’ than anyone else, because if we were all the same then imagine what a boring place the world would be.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!! : -)

In 2004 the clothing company Old Navy began offering the ‘Women’s Plus’ line of clothing (up to size 26) in its stores.  Out of the blue last week, Old Navy decided to remove the plus-sized clothing from its shelves and to only make them available online.  Old Navy stores will only carry sizes up to 20 and according to the San Jose Mercury News, Robin Carr, spokeswoman to GAP said that “We really wanted to showcase the plus collection and felt that the best place to do that effectively was online.”  It seems that just when the public was beginning to accept plus sized fashion, a comment or action like this just happens to set us back.  Plus sized woman are everywhere and shouldn’t be excluded from shopping in stores, and while there is a certain appeal and convenience to shopping online, let’s face it, there’s nothing like going into a store to try on clothes.  This experience shouldn’t be limited to smaller women and whether or not the company plays this off as a market ploy we all know that the real reason is perhaps something more…