A Bigger Model

       

In 2006, Italy's fashion bosses manifested that they would crack down on the use of ultra-thin models on the catwalk.  Only a year earlier, Spain barred models below a certain weight from a Madrid fashion show.  Flaminia Spadone, aid to the minister of the Italian National Fashion Chamber, said "the ministry would really like to follow the Spanish example and impose a limit on the body mass index, which takes into account the model's heigh versus weight.

Despite the initial push to limit the use of ultra-thin models, very little change has yet to take place.  Designers are still claiming that their clothing looks better on slimmer women.

Information Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,235448,00.html

Australia's Small Breast Ban

According to the Australian Sex Party (ASP), the Australian Classification Board is now banning depictions of small-breasted women in adult publications and films.  They banned mainstream pornography from showing women with A-cup breasts, apparently on the grounds that they encourage pedophilia, and in spite of the fact that this is a normal breast size for many adult women!

This is just another thing the media does to push images of women farther and farther from reality!  These kind of limits make it difficult for those of who are real to accept our natural bodies if they don't fit with these specific standards.

Sorry mate, save the silicon for someone else.

Information source: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/28/australian-censor-bo.html

Onslaught

I have watched this video over five times, and each time it gave me a creepy feeling.  This video really made me think about about how prevalent beauty campaigns are in the public sector.  Even if you tried to avoid media that promoted these kind of standards, you wouldn't be able to surf TV channels, drive down the highway, or go to the movies. I just wish campaigns like this were half as prevalent as the campaigns that promote unrealistic female beauty standards!

I love what Dove is doing in their campaign for Real Beauty, everyone should feel comfortable in their own skin!

Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei6JvK0W60I

Un-Thinspiring

While browsing MTV today, I came across a story about celebrity Cheryl Cole, upset by that fact that someone had featured her on a "Thinspiration" website.  After looking deeper into these websites, I came across one.  With the mission statement, "One moment of gratification is not worth a lifetime of being overweight," I quickly realized this site was created to give girls and women inspiration to fast or very strictly diet.  One of the "Thinspiration" sites had over 5,000 followers!  In correlation to many pro-ana or pro-mia sites, this site is another example of how niche communication has become problematic in the sharing of information.  Full of hundreds of pictures of underweight celebrities, normal girls, and models "Thinspiration" urges already stick thin girls to stay on their already unhealthy trajectories...

I cant tell which is worse for U.S society, this or http://foodpornstar.tumblr.com/...

Information Source: http://thinspiration-pictures.blogspot.com/

I'll Take a Little Less Bitch...

Described by the New York Times as a "profanity-laced diet book," "Skinny Bitch" has sold more than 245,000 copies and rising.  Described as a "no nonsense, tough-love guide for savvy girls," this diet book is to the point in a less than gentle way.  Salon magazine claims that "Skinny Bitch" "preys on the insecurities of dieters and people with eating disorders." "The only thing this weight-loss book will help you lose is self-esteem."

What does this say about us and our perception of ourselves, when we accept "harassment" (from a book, not even a person) in order to achieve a desired body image? 

Information Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/books/01skin.html

Focus On The Animals Peta...

Peta's 'Turn Over a New Leaf' Campaign, what do I say about it...how clever you are Peta, dressing your model in lettuce leaves instead of clothes so we can see her slender frame.  I get it, vegetarians are on average thinner than meat eaters but doesn't this take away from a person's motive for going vegetarian in the first place?  Peta is using sex and female body image distortion to manipulate womens's perception of an organization whose primary goal is to save animals.  I feel like this Ad simply manipulates female body insecurities and uses eating vegetarian as an excuse to eat less or diet.

Lets make it less about our own bodies and more about the animals Peta...

The Critical Website

Today I checked out 'The Skinny Website,' www.theksinnywebsite.com, a website dedicated to updating people on the weight loss and weight gain of celebrities.  With categories titled 'weight loss,' 'weight gain,' and 'scary skinny,' viewers are able to view images of female celebrities, are updated on their current weight, and have the choice to comment on their skinnier or heavier figures! Are we crazy! How can monitoring female celebrity's weight benefit the average viewer of these images, many of who weigh 30 pounds heavier!

This is one of the ways that newfound communication through technology has taken a turn for the worse, not only can girls and women view an overabundance of images of thin women but can circulate their opinions regarding these images!  Where are the men on this website? I guess no one cares whether or not George Clooney packs on a few pancakes...

In the words of 'The Skinny Website,' what do you all think?

Information Source: www.theskinnywebsite.com

QuickNothing

The thing that really bothers me about this Ad featuring Kim and Khloe Kardashian is the fact that they are both pretty big icons in promoting beauty standards.  So why are these celebrities endorsing unnatural and perhaps harmful ways to slim down?  Money. I could see any one of my teenage cousins, who watch Keeping Up With the Kardashians, looking at this advertisement and thinking that this product could make them be more like Kim or Khloe.  Not only does this advertisement promote an unhealthy lifestyle in the fact that it educates people into thinking they can cut corners and still look slim but it promotes unrealistic beauty standards through unnatural means.  

What ever happened to eating well balanced meals and exercising?

Cereal or Appetite Suppressant?

In this UK Special K advertisement, we see women courageously fighting off the temptation of chocolate and sweets for the more weight-conscious Special K.  The already slender women in this video are able to last from breakfast to lunch on a bowl of cereal with a smile on their face the entire time.  It's like they are proud of the fact that they can walk by a chocolate display and not give into the temptation.

The disturbing thing about this video is the fact that these women make it seem that if you can't control your cravings for sweets or live off of a bowl of cereal until lunch time you are a failure.  It seems as though this commercial is manipulating women into believing they can avoid all temptation with this product.  I don't know about you but bran flakes alone won't stop me from wanting a donut once in a while...

Video source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9Yr32mupsg&feature=player_embedded

Are They Promoting Gang Rape or Clothing?

This Dolce&Gabbana campaign from 2008 looks more like a shot promoting a gang rape rather than the clothing worn by the female model and scantily clad male onlookers.  While this ad is supposed to convince readers to wear D&G's clothes, all it tells me is that in order to get a male's attention, I must parade around in a bathing suit and heels, lube up my legs, and lose 30 pounds.  In so many of today's print Ads, the visual media depicts men looking directly at women's bodies.  Not only is this ad a bad representation of female standards of beauty but it is even worse in promoting sexual violence against females.

No wonder women feel objectified!

The Photoshop Effect

Many of you have probably seen this Dove film, but it stuns me every time! The fact that average women cannot be used to market to other average women astonishes me.  According to Newsweek magazine, the retouching of photos has become so mainstream, it is not only expected but DEMANDED from publicists.  However, magazine editors do not feel that they are misleading the reader because they assume the reader knows the images have been altered.

Do readers actually know the extent to which these images are altered?
Time Lynch, photographer/retoucher claims that over 99.9% of images in magazines are photoshopped! Yikes!

Video source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4y5b7INvqE&playnext=1&list=PL8BFA974695E9BCF0
Information source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP31r70_QNM