Posts filed under 'body image'
The Devil Wears Prada meets a drill sergeant in this best-selling diet book, Skinny Bitch. Does that recipe sound unappealing to you, too?
Blech. It smacks of chick-lit friendly marketing with that totally hip touch of sass (read: swearing). So what is it really? A vegan diet book. Apparently it’s light on the recipes because it’s chock full of “tough-love for savvy girls”. Huh?
Look, I’m cool with veganism. And I’m all about eating less-processed foods. But it is a bald-faced lie to tell people that veganism will make everyone—no matter their body type or genetic profile—skinny. There can be health benefits that come along with cutting out meat and dairy, but that does not automatically result in elongated torsos, designer sunglasses, and a Hollywood-ready little black dress (right, front cover?).
Also, reading the title feels like chewing on tinfoil to me. There’s a lame smugness to it—it assumes that all non-skinny women are jealous of skinny ones, that all skinny women are bitches, that becoming skinny automatically lends you an air of superiority. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
It’s dumb female-to-female hostility dressed up as faux empowerment, and to me, that goes down worse than last night’s barbecued seitan.
-A.I.
March 25th, 2008
I was Google-chatting with my good friend Rebecca the other day and we were rambling on about the Oscars. You know — our favorite dresses, favorite speeches, and so on. Out of the blue, she asks “Did you hear about Emma Thompson?” Apparently, Emma Thompson laid it down to the producers of her new movie Cassandra’s Dream when they asked Hayley Atwell to trim down her physique. Ms. Thompson used her leverage as a two-time Oscar winner and told the producers she would “resign from the film if they forced Atwell to lose weight.” Wow!
We’re hoping this story is true. Either way, we hope other high-powered celebrities heed this example of awesome-ship (of course, in an ideal world, this would never be an issue). After all, movies are supposed to be part of self-expression. When did this type of expression result in controlling women’s bodies?
–A.J.
February 26th, 2008
Once again Dove has spoken to the hearts of About-Facers. Their latest “Onslaught” commercial tells parents to “talk to [their] daughters before the beauty industry does” after showing clip after clip of advertisements, commercials, etc. parodying messages given to girls and women every day (or more acurately, every minute) by the beauty industry.
We hope you’re calling your daughter or sister or friend to tell her all about it. It’s wonderful to see an advertisement that doesn’t leave us feeling inadequate. Instead of telling us to get up and buy some product that will wipe out our bank accounts (not to mention our self-esteem), Dove tells us to take action and talk! Do it Dove. We hope you will keep it up!
–A.J.
February 18th, 2008
It’s the same price as a commercial scale, but this little beauty comes without the added price of low self-esteem. Now presenting Marilyn Wann’s handmade Yay! Scales, which replace numbers with affirmations such as “You’re hot!” and “You’re perfect!”
It comes in four great styles, including the Fat Scott Fitzgerald and the Plush Size. The scales are available through VoluptuArt, a very cool retail web site indeed. Take a look around for other body-positive gifts for yourself or the women in your life.
-A. I.
February 1st, 2008
Is it any surprise that girls who feel unpopular put on more weight over a two-year period than girls who see themselves as being higher on the popularity ladder? And what is healthier – being heavier and unpopular, or being popular and thinner?
In a study recently publicized through the Associated Press via the San Francisco Chronicle, young women (with an average age of 15) told researchers their height, weight, and where they saw themselves on the social ladder. Two years later, the girls were asked again for their weight. Girls who had previously labeled themselves as unpopular had more “excess†weight than the girls who saw themselves as being higher on the social ladder.
But the questions that I keep coming back to are 1) who is actually happier? and 2) who is actually healthier?
First of all, I would like to be able to say that there are more important indicators of young women’s happiness than their popularity. A girls’ perceived popularity in junior high does affect their self-esteem, which may therefore impact their health decisions. However, some girls are lucky enough to realize that it’s the quality of their friendships, the support of their family, and their life experiences that matter rather than the number of friendships. And in that case, these young women may well be much happier than the more “popular†girls. I would love to see this study accompanied by a survey of how the girls rate their happiness.
And secondly, weight is not the only factor in our health! Every body is made differently and thus every body deals with health, food, and exercise in different ways.
All of that being said, in order for women to be healthy, we have to look at more than just their food intake and exercise. Improving every girl’s self-esteem is integral to improving their health. The study is important in that it brings self-esteem into the weight debate, something that is sorely missing. However, this is just the beginning. We need to look at other factors when considering a person’s health than their food and exercise patterns. What does it matter if we’re overweight, happy, and healthy?
– H. B.
January 24th, 2008
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