Misogyny

[poliphilo]

OK- so it's wrong for women to be overweight.

And it's also wrong for them to be underweight. So wrong that Milan has banned skinny models from the catwalk and there are calls for them to be banned universally.

I don't know whether our society hates women or fears them or a bit of both but, whatever dark things are stirring in the collective psyche, what's happening out in the light is that women are getting bossed about- as usual.  Ooh, they don't know how to look after themselves, the sluts; let's teach 'em.

Sit up girls and take notice; daddy has something to say;  You've got to eat up everything on your plate or you don't get to go out to play.  Yes, even the broccoli. Especially the broccoli. I know it's tough, Samantha, but it's for your own good!

Comments

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

So, ban the scrawny female undead model, but what about the MALE designer, who has an option whether to make clothes for real women or continue to dress beanpoles? Work from the source, people, work from the source out.

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite sure how to respond to this, really - on the one hand, I absolutely agree. Because there are societies where it's preferred a woman be fat, to the point where relatives will make a girl eat and eat so that she'll have the perfect body.

On the other hand - the reason those models are unhealthily (and let's face it - most of them are not "naturally" that thin, no matter what they say. Yes, some women tend to be waifish, but these models by and large push it with dieting and so forth) thin is because our society has beat it into our heads that "thin" is perfect...the thinner the better. It has severely skewed our own perceptions of ourselves, to where we see ourselves as fat even when our weight is quite acceptable for our height.

It's not healthy to be overweight. It's also not healthy to be underweight. And....being extremely underweight due to bulemia, anorexia and/or drugs is more likely to kill a woman sooner than being overweight. You have only to take a look at Nicole Ritchie these days to see how heartbreaking and frightening it is when someone has bought into "thin is better" so much that their brain no longer recognizes they are slowing killing themselves.

I'd have to say that having the fashion industry putting their foot down about severely underweight models is a good thing - not just for the model's sake, but for the thousands of girls and women out there who try and emulate the bodies they see in magazines, who vomit up food and starve themselves to try and attain the unattainable, and end up dead or in the hospital and spend the rest of their lives struggling with an eating disorder.

[intotheraw.livejournal.com]

What I find especially odd about the Milan ban, is that designers started using super skinny models (I think Twiggy was the first) so that the women would be unattractive, and not draw attention away from the clothing. The idea is still somewhat present on the catwalk, with women wearing bizarre hair styles and makeup, to try and remove the woman from the clothing, and for the clothing to speak for itself (this is why they walk funny too, so you can see how the clothing moves, and supposedly, ignore how the woman moves).

I guess it wasn't expected that men would find these twigs so attractive that people would want to look like them, forgetting the high end clothing, and just going for the not quite dead look.

I have absolutely no interest in fashion, but I am mildy curious to see what sort of models will be allowed in Milan, what the new idea of beauty will be. Somehow I doubt Willendorf will be represented!

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

I have such mixed feelings about this. Anorexia and bulimia are terrible diseases; however, I feel that there is an out-and-out war on thin women in society.

I get so angry any time I get to "go eat something" by strangers. What the hell do they know? Still, I feel guilty. They thin-shame me!

It's abusive to make anyone feel guilty about the way they are. I'm afraid this war on the unhealthy waif look, which is based on a standard that doesn't apply to all bodies very well, is going to thin-guilt instead of showing women to enjoy the bodies they have, big or small.

It's just not the way to go about it.

[four-thorns.livejournal.com]

wait, milan too? i know they did this in madrid, but milan is on a different scale altogether in the fashion world...

[beentothemoon.livejournal.com]

could I paraphrase this (and cite it if you'd like) in my newspaper blog?