January’s Big Media Round Up
January 2010 started off with a bang for the fatties, and I’m not just talking about Mo’Nique’s Golden Globe win and the semi-scandal over her hairy legs. Because of V Magazine’s wonderful size issue that featured fashion spreads with plus-size models, there was a slew of media (and not just blogs!) discussions about the unrealistic sizes portrayed in the fashion world. Despite the attention being given to the curvier models, it is shame that the fashion industry still considers a size 12 a plus-size.
First Lady Michelle Obama, my personal hero and working mother icon, is heading up a new National Obesity Movement, which will be a multi-layed initiative aimed at making school lunches healthier; giving children more opportunities to be active (Does this mean we’re tossing out this ridiculously handled No Child Left Behind initiative which has left no time for gym and only focuses on teaching children to past the statewide tests?); ensuring that health food is available in all communities; and giving families better nutritional information so they can make better food choices. Hmmmm? I like the ideas presented but I really dislike the name. National Obesity Movement, because it could be used negatively against any chubby to obese person. It also continues the false impression that those who are thin or within their “normal” weight ranges are healthy. This is not accurate. It feels as though this is going to turn into another fatty vs. skinny battle. I would appreciate this movement more if this were called a National Health Movement or a Healthy Living Movement, because it would be more inclusive. I don’t think Americans need yet something else to divide us.
Tyra Banks, with all her flaws, has always been a warrior for building up girls’ self-esteem. Recently, the daytime talk princess has launched a plus-size teen modeling contest. Tyra’s Fiercely Real Teen Model Search is open to girls ages 13 to 19, 5′9″ – 6′1″ tall, and size 12 through 20. I think it is a wonderful idea and girls need to see more body alternatives than what was presented at Sao Paulo’s fashion week.
Sigh! Those damn magazines are at again–giving us yet more proof that women should not compare themselves to women they see in the media! WWD reports that:
A KARDASHIAN REALITY: The new issue of OK magazine claims to have an exclusive on Kourtney Kardashian’s “body after baby,” but the package might not be as exclusive as the magazine proclaims — and Kardashian might not be as slim as she appears on its cover. The reality TV star contends she never spoke to OK for the cover story…. “They doctored and Photoshopped my body to make it look like I have already lost all the weight, which I have not,” Kardashian told WWD. She also spoke out to her Twitter followers: “One of those weeklies got it wrong again…they didn’t have an exclusive with me. And I gained 40 pounds while pregs, not 26…But thanks!” It also seems that OK has built the lower half of Kardashian’s body for its cover, as the original images were cropped at the belly. An OK spokesman declined comment. Just another dramatic day in the life of a Kardashian.
The most disturbing turn of fat events was all the attention being paid to Jennifer Aniston’s newer and seemingly more fuller figure, which was revealed at the Golden Globes. Ironically, the gossip and fashion rags always praised her “old” body as being slim and athletic but not disturbingly skinny. In other words, another body type we should envy and aspire to. Jen’s fuller and sexier bod was dubbed her “revenge body” by Life & Style magazine. It was pitting the curvier and now sexier Aniston against a now slimmer and seemingly tired looking Angelina Jolie. (I’m a mother of two with a part-time nanny, and I’m constantly exhausted. Can you imagine how hard it must be to have six kids and travel around the world as part of your job? You’d look tired too!) I hate this cooked up media war on so many levels. First off, Jennifer and Brad have been over for 5 years. Trust me, a man with six kids, a hot common-law wife, and an even hotter career doesn’t have time to sit around to pine about the ex he left. If he’s not seen with Angie and the kids, he’s usually seen palling around with George Clooney. (Do they ever look like they’re having a bad time? Ever?) And with her slew of boy toys, I’m sure Jennifer is is glad to be single and without kids. (Have you seen the studs she’s rumored to have been seeing? Bradley Cooper, Gerard Butler, Jon Mayer?)
Secondly, why is what a woman does with her body always have to do with a man? Again, where’s the stories about Gerard and Jon beefing up to impress Jennifer or Brad Pitt hitting the gym to keep Angelina from thinking about her first hubby? This sends the message that no matter how successful, confident or attractive a woman may be it means nothing if it isn’t to impress a man. Finally, I am just over the whole Angelina vs. Jennifer thing. Sure there is societal evidence that women from as young as preschoolers dabble in relational bullying against other girls, but it isn’t always the case and the media should really stop encouraging such behavior.
Filed in: Entertainment, Miscellanous
Rakisha White
4 responses so far ↓
the gossip and fashion rags always praised her “old” body as being slim and athletic but not disturbingly skinny.
I have only one data point, so my analysis isn’t scientifically valid, but my husband looks at photos of Jennifer and Angelina (and of other celebritneys) and says, “Too thin! Too thin!” He can’t be the only man who thinks this way.
We live in Wisconsin. He looks approvingly at the Milwaukee roll on the plumpish waitress at the restaurant and says, “She’s cute. And it’s obvious she likes to drink beer and eat. Who wants to be with a woman who doesn’t like to eat?”
(He married me even though I don’t like to drink beer. Alas. But I do like to eat.)
The gold digger´s last blog ..In which I plan Primo’s funeral
Ha, I think I love your hubby. I’m not a beer drinker myself, but I do like to drink wine and eat. Thanks for commenting! Please continue to follow. I’m working on a longer post about the Kardashin who gave birth a couple of months ago.
Rakisha, my husband rocks! And he loves wine. 300 bottles in the basement.
I’m embarrassed that I know as much about the Kardashians as I do. Chalk it up to when Primo and I were dating and I was up in Milwaukee visiting him and being bored without a library card and access to a TV (which I have been without most of my life), so CABLE! TRASH TV! and a $10 subscription to OK! magazine currently. (Hangs head in shame.)
BTW, NOBODY gets Jen’s body on 15 minutes a day. I work out way more than that and I take migraine drugs daily that kill my appetite and I still do not have her figure. Sheesh.
PS Thanks for stopping by my blog! Don’t know if you’re interested, but my everyday blog that my outlaws may or may not know about is http://class-factotum.blogspot.com/. Gold-digger is the double-secret probation blog that Primo finally agreed to. Class factotum is my four-year blog that used to be on journalspace until jspace crashed about a year ago. Primo told them about it when we started dating – bad move, because they realized our political views are different and that’s BAD – and when jspace died, he implied to them that I had stopped writing. All they have to do is google.
the gold digger´s last blog ..In which I plan Primo’s funeral
Don’t feel bad, I spend $3 a week on Life and Style magazine. I’m also a pop culture junkie, which I blame on my ten years in journalism.
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