Posts filed under 'beauty'
These are Manolo Blahnik torture devices.
Check out this great article by Lisa Hix on the Collectors Weekly web site, Our Bodies, Our Stilettos. Did you know that “initially, high-heeled shoes helped keep women, who were seen as irrational and frivolous, powerless”? Thank you for this wonderful historical context. Personally, I can’t deal with high heels, let alone stilettos, because
1. I like to walk fast — as fast as men, and if they’re really slow bastards, faster.
2. Sometimes I need to run for a bus, and I’d really rather not be hobbled, stupid-looking, and injured doing that.
3. I’m totally hot without them.
4. I dislike “Sex and the City” and do not want to pay it homage.
5. I find that high heels are modern-day torture devices for women.
I’m not gonna tell anyone else to wear or do, but short girls, I really don’t believe you when you say you have to wear them because you’re short.
So there.
– Jennifer
July 23rd, 2010
Margaret mugs for the camera
“I didn’t mean to be a role model,” says Margaret Cho. “I just speak my truth.”
Well Margaret’s truth is blunt, brazen, and hilarious, and anyone who’s seen the comedian in action can attest to her role-model-worthiness.
From her humble beginnings in San Francisco to her current mega-success with the TV show “Drop Dead Diva” and her upcoming comedy album Cho Dependent, Margaret’s racked up a lot of life experience. While she’s had her ups and downs with body image and self-esteem, it looks like Margaret has finally emerged on top. And whether or not she considers herself a role model, we sure do.
Check out our interview with the insanely talented star:
About-Face: Are there any celebrities you admire for being strong role models, despite constant media scrutiny? You’ve said that Paula Abdul was a celebrity you admired and that watching the media tear her down about her weight was very traumatizing.
Margaret Cho: With Paula Abdul, that was actually the first celebrity that I recognized people talking about her weight incessantly.
She was the first person I think that made a real impact with her talent and then at some point, was under fire with a lot of criticism that was totally directed at her physicality, and had nothing to do with her talent or her music or anything. And so that’s when I started to see how distorted it was, and how unfair it was.
In terms of positive role models, I don’t think that there are a lot, because there aren’t a lot of images of different looking women in the media. They don’t really exist. And people get criticized when they don’t conform.
I mean, even women who are beautiful, like Jessica Simpson. People are so insane about the way that she looks, and she looks great. I don’t understand.
The cover of Margaret's fifth concert film, "Beautiful"
I think that the way that the Internet is now, and the way that people leave comments about the way that people look, you can be so nasty without ever having to be accountable for it. And I think that kind of environment is really destructive for young women and [their] body image in general.
A-F: What do you hope “Drop Dead Diva” will accomplish in terms of challenging beauty stereotypes?
MC: It’s just about providing images of different-looking people, which I think is important. And you have this dialogue about the body and a way to talk about it. And it treats women’s bodies with a lot of dignity and with a lot of respect and with a lot of heart, which I think is what our show does a lot.
A-F: As you’ve gotten older, how have you learned to build your sense of self-worth beyond your body image?
MC: Well for me it’s mostly personal. When I don’t eat, when I am anorexic, then I just turn to other things that are far more destructive.
I’m so hungry all the time that I’ll just drink alcohol or use drugs in order not to be hungry. And to me, all of the destructive elements in my life really just stem from my lack of eating and me wanting to be thin. That’s always what it’s about. I don’t have the same kinds of issues that other people have with addiction. Mine totally relate to my relationship with food and my relationship with my body.
So when I’m doing well, that means that my body image is doing well.
For me, I think it’s more about age and getting older and feeling good in my skin, which is really important.
A-F: Was there a moment you realized you were ready to move beyond focusing on your weight, or has it been a slow struggle?
MC: No, I think it was cumulative. It wasn’t really one thing. It was just, after a while, you start to make connections.
A-F: What has belly dancing done for your life?
MC: Well it’s a great art form and it’s a great way to celebrate the body for women, or for anyone.
Also, there’s a lot of bigger stars in Middle Eastern dance – they don’t want the stars to be skinny. That’s just really not the ideal look for belly dancers. The body type is usually voluptuous and bigger, which looks very comfortable. That’s a very wonderful ideal to have.
It’s a great dance form and it’s very traditional. And the aspects that I love, the kind of belly dance that I like, are sort of the more folkloric stuff, which is really beautiful.
But the ideal body is the one that’s much more voluptuous. And also older. There’s dancers that are very famous that dance well into their seventies and eighties, which is really cool.
A-F: I read on your blog that you love Latisse. What is your “beauty line”? How far are you willing to go in terms of societal standards of beauty?
MC: I don’t think I would get plastic surgery. … it never looks right. I just don’t think I would. I mean, I’m kind of curious also to see what it’ll look like. I’m curious about old age.
Margaret's upcoming comedy album, "Cho Dependent"
I use Latisse, which I think is a weird drug because it literally makes me grow eyelashes out of other parts of my face. That’s really weird. But I will do it. I will definitely do it for eyelashes.
A-F: Do you have any judgment on other people electing to have cosmetic procedures?
MC: No, I don’t have any issue with that. … And I have a lot of body modification with tattooing, and to me, that’s the way that I scratch that itch, so to speak. I don’t really have any issues with people who want to do that.
A-F: You participated in the making of a documentary film called Miss Representation by Jennifer Siebel Newsom [not yet released].
MC: I did an interview for it a while ago that was about women and identity and all those body issues and all of that was in there too.
A-F: I read in an interview you said you spent so much of your life trying to be skinny that you don’t remember your 20s. In another you said that living in Atlanta with the “Drop Dead Diva” cast is like reliving your 20s. If you could say anything to the 20-something Margaret, what would it be?
MC: Well I would probably just tell myself to eat something. Which is really, that was kind of all I needed in my 20s, and I really missed a lot of it because I was so concerned with all this other stuff which really ultimately doesn’t matter.
Thank you, Margaret Cho, for sharing your truth.
– Michelle
July 22nd, 2010
The Kardashian sisters peddle QuickTrim diet supplements despite "loving" their curves.
When the reality show “Keeping up with the Kardashians” debuted in 2007, I remember being very happy to see that Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian represented a curvier body type.
Thanks to the Kardashian sisters, young women could finally be proud of having hips, breasts, and a butt.
Unfortunately, Khloe Kardashian has been plagued by pregnancy rumors in the media lately, due to a slight weight gain.
Always blunt, Khloe “defended” her weight gain by admitting to US Weekly, “I’m not pregnant, I’m just fat.”
Though the Kardashians have always claimed to love and embrace their curves, they are now endorsing a weight loss supplement called QuickTrim. It seems as though the Kardashians have fallen prey to Hollywood’s narrow standards of beauty.
I think the Kardashians’ endorsement of QuickTrim sends a confusing message to young women. While the Kardashians claim to represent a curvier body type, by endorsing a diet supplement, they are just buying into Hollywood’s standards of thin.
Kourtney, Kim and Khloe Kardashian strut their stuff.
Maddy Bohannon hales from Menlo Park, California. She is senior at the University of San Francisco and will graduate with a B.A. in Communication Studies and a minor in Psychology. She is a self -professed human pop culture trivia dictionary (she’ll be happy to be your celebrity trivia lifeline on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”). In her free time, Maddy can be found flipping through the pages of celebrity tabloids and or enjoying all of what the wonderful city of San Francisco has to offer (AKA, the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market, Golden Gate Park, and Bi-Rite Creamery).
June 24th, 2010
The concept of Jessica’s Simpson reality show “The Price of Beauty” has great potential: an A-list celebrity—famous for being overly-scrutinized in the judgmental tabloids—travels the world, learns about what’s beautiful in other cultures and the lengths people go to attain this so-called beauty, and shares those findings with American girls who need some self-esteem boosting.
Jessica Simpson & friends meditate on VH1's new show "The Price of Beauty"
But after the premiere on VH1, I’m not impressed. The show’s trailer looks promising, but the first episode missed the mark.
In the show’s first episode, Simpson and her two friends, both of whom are in the music and fashion industry, travel to Thailand where they are led round Bangkok by their “Beauty Ambassador” (an obviously-westernized Thai model who fits all the American molds of beauty) and learn about what’s considered beautiful in Thailand.
They learn about ideals of inner beauty from Buddhist monks, get intense Thai massages, and go to a rural village in the north where women elongate their necks as a sign of beauty. The trio also learns that beauty comes at a price—they meet a woman whose skin was permanently burned and deformed thanks to skin lightening creams. Fair skin is treasured in Thailand—a contrast to the dark skin-seeking Americans—because it represents upper class. This part of the episode is the only touching and teachable moment of the show, and it is very poignant.
“The Price of Beauty” has all the ingredients of being a powerful program, but aside from the couple of remarks Simpson made about dangerous lightening creams, it doesn’t fully connect the dots. Simpson doesn’t say, “Wow, I bet fake tanning is just as bad for my skin,” or “Wow, beauty is really in the eye of the beholder because in our country no one cares about neck-length.” The lessons aren’t emphasized enough.
If the rest of the season is like this first episode, “The Price of Beauty” will be more about three famous friends and their escapades in foreign places than about beauty. Simpson and her cohorts represent the typical, ignorant American tourists. She wanders around Bangkok in short shorts, cracks up uncontrollably during Buddhist mediation, and gags loudly at the food served at a local market. While I want to applaud Simpson for all the soul-searching she’s doing to enlighten self-conscious girls in the U.S., she is embarrassing herself and offending other cultures.
I do hope this show inspires young people to realize what’s considered beautiful in one culture isn’t in another, and I also hope Simpson herself grows and I hope this show enlightens HER. Even though she has slight moments of clarity where she realizes her own dangerous and ridiculous obsession with beauty, she still wears impossibly high heels all over the country (even though she says they’re uncomfortable) and still remarks on how much she wants a boyfriend.
The show has the potential to represent a refreshing take on Hollywood beauty standards and hopefully young viewers will at the very least realize that one of the most seemingly perfect women in the world feels insecurities. I just hope in the next episodes, the show connects the dots and connects to its viewers. We all need to become more conscious of society’s beauty standards and really question why we consider beautiful things beautiful.
–Kate
March 25th, 2010
Right now, Karen has a scalpel to her face, and went under anesthesia thinking “When I wake up, I’ll be beautiful.” She’s deeply unconscious, and probably pretty bloody, as the well-reputed and trusted female cosmetic surgeon performs her “art”. She will receive an untold number of stitches and will be bruised for at least two weeks.
Karen*, who is in her early 60s, is my friend Sara’s* mother. Because Sara was my best friend growing up, it’s like Karen is my own mom. I grew up going to her house every day after school, and I saw and hugged her at her daughter’s graduations and wedding. I almost can’t bare the thought that she would want to change her face. Sara is, simply, distraught.
Karen’s face is one of the faces that has a permanent place in my mind, an unchanging, perfect face, just because it’s hers. I can’t even determine whether it is beautiful or not beautiful to others. Today she is choosing to change that face, and I really don’t understand her decision to be on the operating table today.
But really, this isn’t about what I think. I’m writing this piece about, and for, her daughter — my friend — Sara.
When Sara called me, crying, a few weeks ago, to tell me that her mom had her surgery date set for a facelift and eye lift, I felt a shocking jolt in my body. “I’m so disappointed in her,” Sara sobbed. “I mean, she always was my feminist mom. She was always telling me that my looks weren’t as important as my smarts. She’s so smart. She taught me to fight inequality. And then she goes and does THIS… it’s the ultimate ‘giving in’ to our messed-up culture.”
Sara went on, “And what if my mom dies in surgery, and I lose her because of this horrible choice she made? I’m not sure I could forgive her.”
Sara went on to tell me how alone she felt, how crazy she felt, in comparison with Karen’s friends, most of whom had already had “work” done, and are planning to help Karen recover. As if this is a routine thing, a rite of passage for the older generation. Will we, women in our early 30s, give in too?
Sara told me that she knows she’s made plenty of choices her mother didn’t agree with, but Karen supported her anyway, even if it was painful for her. So Sara knows it’s time to be a grownup, to vehemently disagree with but also support Karen’s decision, just because Karen is her mother and she is connected to her and loves her.
Sara asked me how I felt about Karen’s choice, as someone who would understand her feelings because of the work I do with About-Face, and as someone who loves Karen. I said that every day, I see at least one article, TV clip, or magazine cover about someone getting, or who has had, cosmetic surgery. It’s Heidi Montag getting 10 procedures in one day. It’s someone on Nip/Tuck. It’s Kanye West’s mom. It’s everywhere, and it starts to seem like “everyone’s doing it.” It’s become normal.
Except when it’s Karen. Or your own mom. For Sara, it’s especially painful when it’s someone you love who asks for your help recovering — who won’t be able to get to the bathroom herself, can’t be seen in public so she needs you to go to the store for her. Needs you to feed her for the first few days. Needs you to read to her because she can’t see due to eyelid surgery bandages. Needs you to be there when she changes her bandages the first time.
It’s one thing when someone had to have surgery to remove an infected appendix, or a hysterectomy to remove a cancerous uterus, or even cosmetic surgery to remedy facial disfigurement in a car accident. Or even breast reduction surgery due to persistent back pain. It’s another thing when it’s a pure choice, on an otherwise perfect face.
We’re told, and I imagine, that Karen will wake up slowly, swimming upward, to the surface of her consciousness, with her best friend there to greet her. Sara can’t be there because she knows she will cry uncontrollably if she sees her mother that way. Karen’s friend will call Sara to tell her everything’s OK.
But I’m not sure Sara will really feel that it is OK, when thousands more women (mostly white) are undergoing surgery today, for the sake of striving to finally, finally (or once again) be a certain kind of beautiful.
– Jennifer
* Names have been changed for privacy reasons.
February 3rd, 2010
The other day my friend and I were flipping through a recent Cosmopolitan magazine, and I was shocked by the comments coming out of my mouth:
“She’s so skinny!”
“Ew, what is she wearing?!”
“Her eyes look weird!”
With these exclamations, I was actually morphing into the person I despise–the person I imagine beauty magazines make you become: she who judges other women.
Magazines seem to always pit woman against woman, or at least encourage it. “Who Wore it Best?” articles in some publications call on readers to vote on which woman celebrity looks better in identical outfits.
Other magazines regularly ask readers to vote thumbs up or down on a celeb’s look—like, “Are these stripes flattering on Kim?” and “Does Eva Look Hot or Boring?”.
Around Oscar season, some magazines completely dedicate issues to Best and Worst Dressed lists, where we scrutinize the dresses and accessories famous women have worn.
It doesn’t stop with magazines. Reality shows, soap operas, romantic comedies–even kids’ movies (think the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen franchise)–often idealize competition between women, usually over men.
In shows like The Bachelor, Gossip Girl, and The Hills, there always seems to be an immediate enemy inherent in any other woman–often over a prospective boyfriend.
The Bachelor popularized reality shows in which many women compete against each other for one man's attention
Thanks to About-Face, I—and perhaps you as well—have become more conscious of beauty magazine Photoshopping, the ways advertisements objectify women, and portrayals of women on TV. I have learned to resist these universal practices.
But as my friend and I were scrutinizing the obviously-airbrushed Cosmo cover model, I was appalled by the other comments coming out of my mouth: hateful comments about the actress herself.
What was first a critique of the model’s impossibly clear under-eye area and unnatural waistline (thank you, Photoshop) became critiques of her eyebrows, her hair, and even what she said in her interview.
We should not only strive to resist becoming influenced by media messages, but resist becoming the women who judge one another, who compete with one another, who rip on one another’s hairstyles and career choices, and who compete for the opposite sex.
And sure, maybe certain actresses themselves share different values than we, and perhaps the women on The Bachelor DO need to chill out with all the competition over one guy.
But that still doesn’t permit us to pass nasty judgment about anybody. Because what starts as a simple vote on who looks better can easily translate into real life. And who wants to become that woman?
–Kate
January 14th, 2010
A previous version of this blog was originally posted at tallanna.com.
Naked and un-airbrushed Jennifer Hawkins on the cover of Australian Marie Claire
In 2009, a light bulb turned on. (I sure hope it was a CFL.) Someone in mainstream media — new or old, internationally or nationally — an editor, an assistant, maybe it was a PR rep, realized that “Oh hey! Not everyone is a size 2, huh? All the other ‘beautiful’ people in this industry deserve a chance.”
Dove was way ahead of the game with their Campaign for Real Beauty (launched in 2004). But last I heard, Dove doesn’t drive home magazine sales. Sexy things do. And naked sexy things will sell even more magazines.
And suddenly, we embraced the body — naked (or nearly so) and often un-airbrushed — while we also further embraced the plus-sized.
Glamour ran a spread of naked-and-not-insanely-thin models in November. You might remember that infamous picture of plus-sized model Lizzie Miller with tummy flab? (No! Not tummy flab!)
A couple months before that, model Natalia Vodianova bared all on the cover of British Vogue’s June 2009 Body Issue, an issue that vowed to look at how women — yes, even women thinner and more famous than you — felt about their bodies and how they, too, obsessively watch their weight and wished their butts were perkier. (But wait, if even the “perfect” feel insecure, is there hope left for the rest of us?)
And the trend continues on into 2010:
• Naked and un-airbrushed Jennifer Hawkins will grace the cover of the Australian Marie Claire in February.
• V magazine has dedicated its whole January issue, out on the 14th, to plus-sized models in all states of dress and undress.
If all bodies are beautiful, shouldn’t we focus equally on the thin and not so thin? The short and tall? The curvy and boxy? Despite the valiant efforts, we can’t assume that occasionally swapping out rail-thin models for those with some meat on their bones will, on its own, make 2010 the year the fashion, beauty and advertising industries suddenly changed their minds.
These women — underweight or slightly overweight — are still models. The images we digest are the results of teams of makeup artists, hairstylists, wardrobe assistants, lighting specialists and creative photographers that none of us “real” people have at our disposal.
Fashion spreads, despite the model and her size, are still perpetuating parts of a beauty myth — the glowing, perfect skin, the undimpled thighs — and the message that you are not good enough the way you are. (And that products have all the answers!)
Designers’ samples are still size 4 … or smaller. Runway models are still hired as emaciated hangers that catch your eye and on which designers can hang their art.
Shedding light on the fact that different body types exist — sure, it’s a step in the right direction. But for maximum impact, to make the change that communicates my body and my self are awesome just the way they are, we have to be able to prove that a different message and image will make the industries more money than what they’re making now.
What sells the most — whether it’s putting women down or lifting women up — will eventually win in the end.
–Anna Hennings
January 8th, 2010
Nancy Meyers
As one of the few successful female writers, directors, and producers in Hollywood, Nancy Meyers has been making movies for over 30 years. Her movies include many romantic comedies featuring middle-aged couples, such as Father of the Bride, Something’s Gotta Give, and the recent release, It’s Complicated.
I’d always just thought of these movies as fun holiday diversions, but a recent piece in the New York Times by Daphne Merkin, called “Can Anybody Make a Movie for Women?”, made me think perhaps more was at stake.
Merkin argues:
“[Meyers] rushed in where angels fear to tread to rescue the middle-aged and manless woman from her lonely plight. She has taken this sorry creature, who is bombarded with reminders of her vanished youthfulness everywhere she turns, and placed her in an alternate universe, where she is…desirable just the way she is.”
Even though I know how much women are pressured to look and act youthful, I was disheartened to read this belief. Merkin seems to think there’s an age between 30 and 40 where women reach their best before dates and instantly become saggy, wrinkly, undesirable hags.
If that idea is out there, then Meyers’ movies might play a more important role than I thought. Her movies tell older women it’s okay to be happy and competent, while also subtly telling younger women not to worry so much, because love can happen later.
- Nancy Meyers at work
In It’s Complicated, Meryl Streep plays Jane, a divorced mother of three who runs a bakery in Santa Barbara. One drunken night, she begins an affair with her ex-husband, Jake (Alec Baldwin), who is remarried to a much younger woman. Meanwhile, Jane is also pursued by her architect (Steve Martin).
During the movie, I noticed Jane’s relative security. While she worries about a sagging eyelid, you get the impression that she’s been getting along fine with her work, girlfriends, and kids.
Seeing her happy despite her single status, we get a different message from the traditional one that older women without men are pitiful “spinsters”. Instead, we see an example of how older women don’t need to rely on having men to be happy.
There were things that irked me, though, like how Jane and her friends demonize Jake’s wife and other younger women for “stealing” their men, and I didn’t notice a single important non-white character. Also, the characters’ happiness seemed partly due to their immense wealth.
But at the end of the day, as someone who’s feeling societal pressure to settle down and have kids at age 24, I felt like the movie gave me some license to relax and live my own life without worrying about hitting an arbitrary age where I will be doomed to live a lonely, miserable, single life. As far as fantasies go, I can definitely buy into one where I get to be myself and pursue my career goals, and when I’m pushing 60 maybe have a fling with a paunchy yet charming lawyer.
Do you think the focus on middle-aged women in movies like It’s Complicated is refreshing, or do you think these movies still tell women they’re incomplete without men? What do you think young women take home from watching these movies? Do you think the fact that the characters are usually really rich increases the pressure on women for financial and career success as well as romantic success?
–Jarrah
January 7th, 2010
Do you know what's in the products you use?
Are the beauty products you use hazardous to your health? The answer is, most likely, “yes”.
When it comes to personal care products in the United States, the FDA does little to protect consumers from harmful chemicals. But we can protect ourselves by researching the products that we purchase and use.
Here are some alarming facts from the Environmental Working Group’s study of toxicity in personal care products:
More than one-third of all personal care products have at least one ingredient connected to cancer;
57 percent of all products include “penetration enhancer” chemicals that can push other ingredients faster and deeper into the skin and into the blood flow; and
79 percent of all products contain ingredients that may have harmful impurities like known human carcinogens, according to FDA or industry reviews. Impurities are legal and unrestricted for the personal care product industry.
Skin Deep is an online database where you easily get an idea of how hazardous the products you use may be by performing a simple search. This database can also be used to find products with lower toxicity.
I looked up each of the personal care products that I use regularly, and was surprised to learn that my shampoo received a 9 (out of ten) rating on the hazard scale! I also learned the following about the substance I’ve been regularly massaging into my scalp:
Luckily, Skin Deep, as well as other websites like Best in Beauty, can help us find safer personal care products to switch to.
I’m glad that resources like these exist, but the fact that cosmetics consumers have so little protection is ridiculous. Why has the government cracked down on lead in paint, but not in lead in lipstick? Why do companies have to prove that chemicals are safe before being sold in Europe, while in the U.S., the responsibility falls on the consumers to prove that chemicals are unsafe before they have a chance of being pulled from the shelves?
Your beauty products go more than skin deep.
If you want to make cosmetics safer for consumers, or simply learn more information on this issue, check out The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. A summary of important info can be found in Unmasked: The 10 Ugly Truths Behind the Myth of Cosmetic Safety [PDF]. Here are some shocking facts from Unmasked:
INGREDIENTS BANNED FROM COSMETICS
United States: 10
European Union: 1,100+
Ingredients in personal care products in the U.S.: 10,500
Portion of chemical ingredients in cosmetics that have been assessed for health and safety by the industry’s self-policing safety panel: 11%
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics also produced a short video, which introduces some of their concerns.
What do you think about cosmetics safety? Will you change the way you choose and use personal care products in the future? Join the conversation by posting a comment. Feel free to share links to other helpful resources, and if you find these resources helpful, please share them with everyone you know!
–Sabrina
January 4th, 2010
I stumbled across this poster in a natural foods co-op in Santa Cruz–the kind of place where subversive media can be found in abundance. The poster features an image of Medusa, and the text on the poster delivers important messages regarding beauty:
Beauty must be defined as what we are, or else the concept itself is our enemy.
To see beauty is simply to learn the private language of meaning which is another’s life–to recognize and relish what is.
Why languish in the shadow of a standard we cannot personify, an ideal we cannot live?
CrimethInc.'s Beauty Subversion Poster
This poster was produced by the CrimethInc. Ex. Workers’ Collective, which describes itself as “a decentralized anarchist collective composed of many cells which act independently in pursuit of a freer and more joyous world”.
What do you think about these ideas on beauty? How are they similar or different from the ideas you are exposed to in your day-to-day life?
If you like these messages, you can download a free pdf of the poster, or purchase a set of them on the CrimethInc. website.
–Sabrina
December 24th, 2009
