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Pulpsmack -> RE: Female Beauty Ideals (7/25/2007 2:59:19 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: eyesopened
It is sad that society (and sorry but especially men), reward thin women and punish the fat.
First of all the over-generalized statement is reckless in the extreme. First of all define "thin". Is Ally McBeal "thin" or is she fucking skeletal? Now what about fat? Is Rosie O'Donnel Fat, or is that the bipedal version of livestock?
There is "skinny/skeletal" and there is "slim". There is "healthy" and there is obese. So depending on how fast and loose your definitions are I could say anything from I feel you are incorrect about all of it or some of it, to I feel you are dead on and that is exactly how it should be.
Now society's reward/punishment. How responsible is this? I wholeheartedly agree that society worships and promotes an image. But this reward/punishment seems absurd to me. Nicole Ritchie was a somewhat chubby girl, and America embraced her for what she was. Paris calls her fat and she goes skeletal. What was her reward? A societal intervention scrutinizing her body with a fine tooth comb for her dramatic weight loss. Some reward. Renee Zellwegger puts on some pudge and they launch an ad campaign with her new style of sexy. "Some punishment". It seems that while there is a promoted image, those who lose too much are criticized more and more harshly than those who gain too much, and the latter only has permission when they have great results they feed to the public and relapse (Kirstie Allie, Oprah).
And men? Well if most men find a woman sexy when she severs her right thumb and hobbles her feet, then you either suck it up and deal, or you roll the dice on your own merits. Outside this community (and occasionally within it) men who aren't overly sensitive, tolerant PC types who have nothing to offer the woman as an equal partner are considered something between less-attractive and monstrous. So we can either begrudgingly try our best Alan Alda/Phil Donahue impressions to score a little ass, or we can flip that convention the middle finger and either find others who aren't hung up on that, or we strive to offer something else that negates that "black mark." My sympathy meter on the "fat" woman (by my standards) who is angry at men because they don't find her as attractive as a thinner woman is some how stuck on "don't give a damn".
There is a perfect "Barbie" proportion for women of the various heights (which may vary with cultural subjectivity). It is an "absolute zero" reading. If the girl is a few pounds overweight, then she strays from that standard by a factor of 8. If she is a few underweight then she strays from the factor by a factor of -8. Anything above 20 is universally considered unattractive (by the subjective majority standard). Anything below -20 is universally considered unattractive (same reason). You can tweak that with cultural subjectivity, but you also have to figure in the laws of supply and demand (that make a girl of -12 unfairly as “desirable” as a girl of +8). A dark-haired Olive-skinned Italian might do fairly well for himself in Sweden for the simple fact that he is different and anybody who has an attraction to that set of features has a small pool to fish from. We have an obesity epidemic.
Fat/obese people are a dime a dozen here, thus they are devalued for the same facially neutral reason why a fair-haired, fair-skinned Swede's features are devalued in a racially homogenized region... it's plain and common. Thus, maintaining an unhealthy and unattractive skinny profile may seem more forgiving than a fat one, but that is merely because of the poor American diet. It was the reverse centuries ago in Europe when lean and starving was too common. Boo hoo... the worm has turned.
The proper answer to the riddle is: ladies, you aren’t that damn special, no matter what you wear or look like. Nivea or Skintimate or whatever fucktard ad campaign launched that said "treat yourself like the Goddess you are" should have the ad’s collaborators drug out in the street and shot. When enough of you stop propping yourselves up on pedestals (or allowing another to do it for you), and step out of the shackles of the 38 pair of high heels in the wardrobe, Barbie dream house then you will be free of the pressures. The problem with women (as any human being suffers) is they want to have their cake and eat it too. Women complain about the unrealistic pressures placed upon them by cosmetics, fashion, etc., yet they continue to sponsor them. A good argument might be out of coercion due to the body image assault, but that is nonsense. A woman wants the ability to wear a pair of sweats or scrubs to the grocery store and not be judged. BUT that same woman also wants to put on a pair of heels, a sleek dress and become the center of attention to confirm that she IS a sexy individual.
Blame society and its constraints thereof for forging the deadly weapons if you wish, but it is your own petty vanity and competitiveness that causes you to take up arms and wage war against yourself. Our society been corrupted from individualism to self-importance. When we feel we are that important we become competitive. When we become competitive, someone wins, someone loses, and bad feelings are bred between both. The good news is that you have the technology the accessories and the wardrobe to make you more beautiful than any time before in history (unless you happen to be aristocracy, then "the stenchards" have given you a bum steer). The down side is the same breaks have been given to everybody else and that competition, should you choose to remain in the race, becomes that much more fierce.
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