It was an interesting last couple hours of work today. I was browsing through CNN.com and MSN.com's news headlines when I fell upon the Sports Illustrated Top 25 Swimsuit photos. I was curious to see what type of swimsuits made the cut.
The first couple of photos were decent ... for a supermodel, but as I got to picture 3, they became topless (with long hair perfectly placed). By picture 5, a skinny tan supermodel was wearing nothing but an iPod to cover down there and her arms to cover her breasts. Wait a minuet! How can this be a swimsuit? It doesn't stay on and if it gets wet, well ...
It then dawned of me (and I should have realized it since it is Sports Illustrated) that the pictures were not about the best swimsuits. They should have really named the article "Top 25 photos of almost naked womenwho might be wearing swimsuits that don't fit so men can have something pleasing to look at."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/gallery/featured/GAL1157160/1/index.htm
Is this how women should be portrayed? Is this how society has grown to think women should look like. It was disgusting. I thought about how many men (and maybe women) purchase SI just for the swimsuit edition because of how skinny and beautiful the women are; but is this true beauty?
Is this how women should be portrayed? Is this how society has grown to think women should look like. It was disgusting. I thought about how many men (and maybe women) purchase SI just for the swimsuit edition because of how skinny and beautiful the women are; but is this true beauty?
Not only are women supposed to be tall, skinny, tan, and a sex symbol ... they are supposed to be always put together. How many times do you look through a magazine as see that the people who are all dolled up get great attention, but if the media sees a celebrity wearing scrubby pants, t-shirt, no make-up and hair in a ponytail, they criticize her.
Even the First Lady can not go on vacation and step out of Air Force One in the August Arizona heat in shorts without raising a media stir; just because she isn't "perfectly pulled together." Come on! With the issues going on around the world, the media has nothing better to talk about then if Mrs. Obama should be showing that much thigh.
As we all know, the media is ridicules and shameful for making us women feel ashamed for our bodies because we don't look like their model. Where has our confidence gone? Where is the confidence in our own beauty that we will teach to our daughters and nieces?
I typically don't look at the celebrity fashon magazine, and when I do, it is for a second while waiting in line at Safeway. But while on MSN, my curiosity was sparked again. The headline showed a woman smiling with the text, "What is wrong with this woman and why is she creating so much controversy."
I figured that even though the picture was of an attrative woman, I couldn't be shocked by what was wrong with her after looking at the SI swimsuits. As the next webpage loaded, I was shocked to see that nothing was wrong with her. In fact, she was and probably will be the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen in a magizine.
The article that went with the picture was discussing how this woman, on page 194, has been raising a controversy because she isn't the typical skinny perfect supermodel found in Glamour magazine. Yeah she is wearing underwear that can't really be seen and her arms are positioned strategically over her chest, but this woman is 20 and considered a 'plus size' model. She let herself be photographed and published in one of the top publications not to be a sex symbol but to show the supermodels are not a true reflection of the everyday women.
The everyday women doesn't have a 6 pack stomach with their hip bones protruding out. The everyday women's thighs might touch, their stomachs hang, their bottoms can be big, and their breast might droop. The everyday woman is more beautiful than any supermodel with an iPod.
This picture (and article with readers comments), has really inspired me today. I can't stop looking at the woman on page 194. She is more beautiful that I could imagine and has really made me feel comfortable with my post-Syrah body.
I URGE all of you to read the article that is in the above hyperlink (under the picture) to hear about how the woman on page 194 might have just created a paradigm shift in how women are portrayed in Glamour magazine ... maybe in the media in general.
