ADN80: Christmas starts early
I’m not sure when it became tradition that Christmas sweaters should be ugly, but it seems this is a big enough thing for people to have parties about them. And for whatever reason, white people are fascinated by them.
It occured to me as I drew this strip that sketching Thanh with some chub was vastly entertaining, and in fact I find her rather cute with the belly. I remember an old study that showed that men’s preferred weight for women was significantly higher than the weight women perceived men to prefer. You girls just keep that in mind.
On a related subject, Photoshop Disasters recently brought to light an…unusual Ralph Lauren ad featuring a model altered to be grotesquely skinny. A small hubbub ensued along with an apology, only to be topped off with the firing of the model in question, supposedly because she was overweight. But wait, it gets better. On Wednesday, PsD found yet another Ralph Lauren image ’shopped to be ultra thin. As usual, it’s time to attack the fashion industry and media portrayal of “beauty.”
To me, if girls look to runway models as role models for their health and their careers then I say it’s the price they’ve chosen to pay. No one’s twisting their arms and these girls aren’t victims. In today’s world, when we have a clear understanding of the digital falsehoods– from movie special effects to airbrushing to autotuning– that pervade everyday life, there’s simply no excuse.
Ideals are a good thing; they drive us forward and make us ambitious, so it’s okay to admire that size zero model. Just don’t forget you’re looking at a mirage.
October 16th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
The thing is though is that it’s not like girls are consciously *choosing* runway models as their role models. It’s more like looking in the mirror and feeling dissatisfied with what they see for subconscious reasons. The media surrounds us with images of beautiful people whose job is just that–to be “beautiful.” It’s basically their job to work out like crazy, diet, keep up an incredible skin regimen, have only the best hair stylists and make-up artists, use plastic surgery as needed–ON TOP of having themselves Photoshopped–things that normal people don’t have time or money for.
I know it’s all a mirage and that Kim Kardashian actually HAS cellulite and Jessica Alba doesn’t REALLY look that good post-partum, but damn, at 95 pounds, I still look in the mirror sighing, and wishing I had smaller pores, a six pack, nicer nails, smaller thighs, a better complexion, etc. etc. etc.
Basically, I’ve internalized all the bullshit, while still knowing better. Knowing better doesn’t make the dissatisfaction go away.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Frankly, dissatisfaction is normal and healthy.
October 18th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
popeye put it best: i yam what i yam
October 30th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
I would like to add that it’s not only women who internalize this thin ideal. I think man’s idea of “thin” can also be pretty warped. For example, I never thought Monica Lewinsky was that fat, but so many guys I know used to crack jokes about her supposedly ginormous “fat ass.” Healthy weight for women is probably more like what we see in Renaissance paintings, but by today’s standards thsoe women would also be “fat asses.”
October 31st, 2009 at 1:31 am
Well of course concepts of beauty by men and women are intertwined, thus both can be pretty shocking. Standards do change though, and I’m not sure that there is an ideal weight but an ideal weight range. I doubt that conventional appreciation of the female form– in the past or present– strayed too far outside this range.
Just my guess.