....or is there a major disconnect somewhere in the world? Or, I guess I should say, in America? Or American/British/Australian/Basic-English-Speaking-Plus-Europe-Sometimes thought processes?
Now, it goes without saying that there is a disconnect in MY thought process. I cannot accurately see my own body, yet I can see everyone else perfectly fine. But I feel like it goes deeper than that. I feel like there is something more troubling, more confusing, more dissonant going on here. I feel like life has become one huge hypocritical mess.
High fashion model criteria states that a woman must be between 5'9" and 5'11" and wear between size 0 and size 2. That accounts for about 5% of the natural population (read: people without anorexia or other such eating disorders.) Take a look at an America's Next Top Model spread. Not a speck of fat in the place!
And that's what we consider beautiful, right? Because that's who we all aspire to look like. Everyone wants to look like the high fashion models. They get the guys. They get the free clothes. They can wear anything.
But then we have "Sexiest Woman." Okay, first of all, who is this according to? I'm not saying I don't agree, I'm just asking. Doesn't matter. So, supposing that these "sexiest" women are voted for, whereas models are selected by judges who clearly have something wrong with their brains, then shouldn't THIS be what we see in high fashion??
How are we supposed to know what to believe?? It makes no sense. Here we have an obvious contradiction. Go with the media? Or go with "popular opinion"?
It doesn't even stay the same with one person! Poor Mary-Kate Olsen! She gets bashed by the tabloids for having an eating disorder and being too thin, then they make fun of her for being "too big!"
How can anyone ever do it right? Can we ever agree?
You've raised an interesting point and it's so difficult to escape from the marketed image of desirability or success (sex appeal and slimness) these days. Bearing in mind, ANTM and GQ mag target different demographic. I agree with the disconnect. The marketed image, whilst not polar opposites, are really different - one is of curvier women and the other is not. I reckon that's also the same for men. There's "bulked up" and then there's "model slim", which is how my friend describes it.
ReplyDeleteAs for tabloid magazines :/ they make a living off writing outrageous and speculative crap. Pisses me off that stuff like the Sun paper is the most read paper in the UK - but that's unavoidable too.
But honestly, looking at media's portrayal of women is pretty bad for myself esteem so I try to avoid it.
I completely agree, and this is why I am so thankful I am raising boys. Seriously. I know that they will come with their own set of issues, but at least they won't have this (hopefully, so hopefully). You talk to *most* men and they think curvy, sexy women are hot. But then they see some rail-thin actress or model on TV and think that is hot. I can honestly say that I think Kate Upton is smoking hot and Gisele (not even going to try and mangle her last name) is not nearly as attractive. May other favorite is this new trend of magazines talking about "new moms" and how they have or haven't lost the weight. It's like they've run out of bikini pics to compare so now they are zooming in on post-partum bellies and boobs. Sheesh.
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