Friday, February 06, 2009

Too Fat, Too Thin, What's a Girl to Do?

Did you happen to catch this?

Is it a step in the right direction (that we're more accepting of a healthier size and newly critical of "too-thin") or do the results just represent more of the same judgment and criticism of women's bodies, when we should be focusing on something else? (e.g., Holmes reportedly was a Broadway success) What do you think?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

More body judgment. They're not concerned about Katie, they're interested in selling papers.

azusmom said...

OK, big ol' hot button issue for me, lol!
I used to be an actress. I lived in New york and L.A. I obsessed over my body, and always found it lacking.
I have my opinions about celebrities' bodies, just like everyone else. I think the ongoing trend toward thin, thinner, thinnest is disgusting and dangerous.
HOWEVER, by picking apart every female celebrity out there, we turn them into sub-humans. Objects. And that is VERY dangerous. That is what predators do; it's easy to harm a human being if you see them as being something LESS than human. In our culture, name-calling (whether it be "fat" or "bi**h, or what have you) is a way of putting someone in their "place." Of asking them "How dare you? How dare you be confident? How dare you take up space? How dare you walk around as if you're worthy?"
Picking apart these women (and men) turns us into bullies. It's petty, and I believe we are better than that.
I also think that if a person, famous or not, is getting dangerously thin, it is up to the people who know them and love them to take them aside and express concern. The fact is, if Ms. Holmes does indeed have an ED, then all this media attention will probably be seen by her as complimentary. It proves, in her mind, that what she's doing is working, and she should continue down the same path.

Kim said...

I think it is border line concerned and border line judgmental. I think we should be concerned about people we know they get too thin, but this just may perpetuate the celebrity obsession.

I Hate to Weight said...

women just can't win. we're too fat. we're too thin. it seems there's one weight that's exactly right, and if we fluctuate, we're open for criticism. horrible

Lisa and Jim said...

The "guess the celeb by body part" thing at the body is creeeeeeepy.

Maya said...

YES MelissaS!!! This was exactly my first thought...there is no winning. Some of us have curves and some don't...we're all humans and
we do change.

Femaleclaws said...

It's the same thing over and over. Too fat, too thin, nose too big, eyes too small, lips not plump enough, neck not long enough, wrong shade of nude pink, strand of hair out of place, OH NOES IT'S MAJOR NEWS.

Basically, it's making mountains out of molehills. That's why I can't stand celebrity mags and such. Nit-picking details and treating celebrities like they're "not human" - it's worse than high school.

Elizabeth Patch said...

self-acceptance is such a complex issue, and by obsessing about other people's weight (the stars)the media helps reinforce our own insecurities...as long as you remember that the point is to sell more "whatever" (views on a blog, movie tickets, magazines or newspapers)you can deflect it a bit, but still its hard to ignore the constant media blast to be something impossibly perfect

tulip said...

No celebrity magazine is interested in anyone's health - the point is to sell magazines, and it works because it feeds into all of our own weight obsessions, whether we are judging others or comparing ourselves. Katie Holmes' figure looks like every other socialite mom in the 10021 and 10028 zip codes in Manhattan. She fits right in. Comparison to anyone pushing a stroller up Upper Madison Avenue would not show her to be out of character. That is a whole socio-economic and regional culture that needs to eat a slice of bread once in a while. What is the point of sucking every ounce of fat out of your body until you have to start injecting your face to look human? If they wanted to criticize Katie Holmes, they could have picked apart her outfit. I think she's always been tall and slim, but what is up with the opaque black hose with that beautiful strappy short beaded dress in London pics?

danielle said...

Absolutely more of the same.

Over-analyzing women's bodies and dissecting their lives and habits is damaging no matter what. Do it to someone thin, if they were secure before you've certainly shaken that, and if they DO have a problem, it's just being made worse. Do it to someone heavy, if they were secure before you've certainly shaken that, and if they DO have a problem, it's just being made worse. Criticizing, analyzing, and judging what women eat are actions all rooted in the same place, whether that woman is heavy or thin.

Of course you can't win. The idea that there is a way to 'win' working within our hyper-critical cultural standards is just another method of perpetuating such.

Andrea said...

I agree with PegKitty, it's not about reassessing our focus on women's bodies, because it's just more focus.