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Women imagined in advertising => Gender, sex and society
sandysmilinstrange:
Here's a question for the best of you, though. Has anybody's self-image really suffered that much from airbrushed women or insanely gorgeous people in the media?
I mean, every now and then I think it would be cool if I actually had cleavage, but for the most part I like my body a whole lot. It is pretty. There are a few things I will probably always be a little self-conscious about no matter how things are portrayed in the media and there are a few things I will probably always love no matter what beautiful starlet is toting better ones than me.
It seems like if these ads are rocking people to the core of their self-esteem, it's kind of shaky to start off with. I hope I'm not sounding like a bitch about this, but celebrities and models are usually pretty as part of their job. I don't get paid for it, so it's okay if there are better looking people in magazines than me.
Now the gender role thing can sometimes be a little off putting for men and women, but a lot of other people have pointed out the reasons for this a lot more eloquently than I have, so I won't go much further into the issue for now.
TLT Thomas:
--- Quote from: BrittanyMarie on 28 Feb 2009, 18:55 ---What about the girls who are naturally skinny? And why should it matter so much why you, a dude I assume, think a lady is hot? The point is that women who are not "sexy" are not worth our time, and every girl who is not "sexy" is a terrible person for not trying hard enough. Some girls are skinny, and some of them are awesome, and some girls are fat, and some of them are awesome too, and some girls are in the middle, and some of those ladies are awesome as well.
--- End quote ---
Sexyness or hotness isn't that important to me when it comes to everyday women in society... I don't really use that as a judgment of character in real life. Sometimes I'm NOT big on the idea of a famous young lady trying to give herself a more sexy persona. (As in, "You were a hot, charming and exciting singer/artist/actress just the way you were, but you REALLY didn't have to pose topless in that magazine, it just didn't seem like something you'd want to do.")
And if a woman's always been a thin build, I don't fault her for that. I'm just talking about those celebrities who've always looked attractive with a fuller figure, but seem to have to slim down to stick-figure shape as if they have to prove something to themselves or their superficial admirers.
Eris:
As I grew up my parents were very adamant in their "your body is just the right size for you" stance, especially towards me. That's probably because my mother had a pretty awful self-image of herself throughout adolescence so she wanted me to not have to go through that. I am actually really, really glad they ingrained that message into my head because there have been many times that I have had to remind myself of that.
I have always been a small girl. I was always the shortest person in my classes, and fairly skinny. I am 5'4" and 50kg (110lbs?) and have been the same weight for years and am definitely not going to get any taller; this is it until my metabolism slows down or I have kids. People who don't know me seem to automatically assume that I am anorexic; when they see that I actually eat like a normal person they assume I am bulimic. The constant barrage of "oh you're so skinny! I wish I could be as small as you. How do you do it?" or the "Wow, you are so skinny, you need to eat more! Oh man, you better put on some weight or you'll look sick" really kind of irritates me because I don't see why people have to comment bluntly on my weight, but will whisper and mutter about fatties. I don't go up to someone who is overweight and say "Oh wow, you are so fat! are you morbidly obese?" nor do I go up to other skinny people and try and 'bond' with them that way.
I haven't had much of a body-image problem, and what I have hasn't been from advertising; it's been more from the accusing looks I get from people just by going about my daily business. I think the most I have been affected from all that is that I have never had a perfectly flat stomach like all the ladies on TV (probably because I am lazy and don't exercise) so that is one of my constant issues which bubbles up on occasion. In fact what I like about myself is that I am skinny, but I don't look boney. My arm and legs have muscles and are curvy and don't look like skin stretched over muscle. I look healthy to me, so I don't understand why people need to tell me to put on more weight. I do wish I had more curves sometimes, though.
The issue I have with airbrushing was brought up by est when talking about the photos of Jessica Alba. She is an attractive lady and looks fine in the first photo; when the photoshopped her up they made her look like she has no hips and big fake boobs. There is another photo on that page which I saw at photoshopdisasters where her head is too small for her body. Why fuck around with the person's photo if they are obviously attractive in the first place?
Eris:
I mean, look at this photo:
Surely this would have looked much better if the woman hadn't been airbrushed so that she ended up with fucked up proportions? I can understand smoothing out wrinkles and fixing up lighting/uneven skin, but is someone supposed to look at that photo and think it is a real person?
Drill King:
That dear is an example of a terrible edit job.
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