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As a child, I used to watch grown-up ladies writhe in envy of skinny supermodel Twiggy. I watched the same grown-up ladies chuckling with delight over the self-deprecating antics of plus-size comedienne Totie Fields. In those days, Totie and Twiggy exemplified how the media turned famous females into fat-and-skinny caricatures: Size was the main feature of their fame, and the media played it so relentlessly that hundreds of millions of females felt hideous and ludicrous. That was ages ago. Yet virtually nothing has changed. The media still obsesses over the size of famous females, only now it does so behind a vaguely feminist false mask of concern.
Agreed
Well-said!
Ugh.
Love your article
I just wanted to commend you on your honesty regarding this topic. I am a therapist in the Austin area and I recently began doing teenage girl empowerment groups. Just yesterday I showed them one of Jean Kilbourne's videos and they were floored! I found that by showing them that THEY are being influenced both conciously and subconciously, they were more willing to look at the meida from an concious consumer perspective. The weight issue was a huge discussion topic and the awarness of how images are made was very influencial for them. So I hope we can start educating more women, young and old, about the influnce the meida has on them.
A little junk in the trunk is
A little junk in the trunk is what's popular today, and it's skinny girls who are traumatized and made fun of, as boys chase girls with curves. Many older women (relatively older compared to young girls, say 30+) and those in the public eye still have unhealthy weight issues when it comes to their desire to be skinny; they probably also find it hard to believe that the general consensus among boys today is that skinny is out. Today's unhappy skinny girl, trying as hard as she can to grow curves, crying herself to sleep at night because it's simply not how nature made her, is yesterday's beautiful girl who thought she was ugly because everyone called her chubby. The media constantly bombarding us with pictures of women like J-Lo, Beonce, and Jessica Biel aren't helping.
Does it really matter what is
Does it really matter what is more "popular today?" The point is the size of a woman's body is center of public conversation and is used to sum up her entire being.
There's also a bit of a difference between what you call "a little junk in the trunk" or "curvy" and fat. Flat stomachs and thin thighs will always be "in" and clothing is still designed for Twiggy. Girls will still go to extremes to be thin.
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