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The Self-Flagellation Of The First-Person Beauty Piece
New York, 2:28 AM
Tue Dec 8
68 posts in the last 24 hours
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The Self-Flagellation Of The First-Person Beauty Piece |
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12/15/08
Yet I trust that many of you fearsomely intelligent and sexy ladies in this thread nevertheless do find yourselves picking up the women's mags from time to time. My completely innocent question is: Why?
There must be something very different in women's relationships to their mags. What is it?
12/15/08
Not to get too philosophical, but I think part of it is just the "post-feminist" backlash against the angry, supposedly anti-sex brand of feminism so dominant in the 90's.
I mean, honestly, after a decade of grunge and baggy flannel, pencil skirts and talking about lipstick became a welcome relief. More than that, it was the ultimate reward for embodying the promise of 70's feminism - we were educated, had high self-esteem and ambitions, so we could indulge in a little retro glamour.
Women's mags were like an escapist treat, vanity without irony for women who could compete in the business world but still liked to get a manicure and gossip about dating.
But, as always, it's been taken to a non-ironic and extremely consumerist extreme, at least partly driven by the anti-PC and anti-feminist wave of the American male.
Not only are they degrading, but women's magazines are now completely repetitive and dull.
12/15/08
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12/15/08
Karen: God. My hips are huge!
Gretchen: Oh please. I hate my calves.
Regina: At least you guys can wear halters. I've got man shoulders.
Cady: [voiceover] I used to think there was just fat and skinny. But apparently there's lots of things that can be wrong on your body.
Gretchen: My hairline is so weird.
Regina: My pores are huge.
Karen: My nail beds suck.
12/15/08
My toes are fat.
My hair is awful. It looks like..well, HAIR!
I hate my lopsided 'tocks. (thats buttocks)
Your boobs are bigger/rounder/perkier/etc. than mine.
I hate her because she's sooo much better-looking than me.
= i hate me.
12/15/08
"in recent years"
Unfortunately, not a new phenomenon.
I've been reading some sewing fitting books for "real people" and there's photo after photo of very brave women with lots of lumps and bumps in nothing but leotards and tights. Even though it's for a practical purpose, it's difficult to imagine men being portrayed the same way -- as a compendium of problematic body parts that require solutions.
Then there's all this discussion about how you must analyze your shape: Are you short-waisted, slope shouldered, low-busted, sway-backed, fat of thigh, how big are your arms, as compared to the "ideal"?
Again,the purpose of this extended physical study is so that a sewer can alter patterns to create a flattering line, which ultimately is empowering, but women are required to study themselves in a way that men simply aren't.
When men are measured by a tailor, their flaws are glossed over, the goal is to make the guy look as good as possible with as little indignity as possible. Traditional men's clothes usually provide a protective cover.
So it's not surprising we're insecure. And the anxiety about appearance is used to control women.
12/15/08
12/15/08
For the rest I refuse to believe that all malez are so cliche and think short tight skirts and huge heels are the penultimate of sexy.
12/15/08
12/15/08
This is one, very narrow, very done-to-death, very tired definition of "sexy," and yet mags and ads and the media are still peddling it like OMG EVERY WOMAN'S DEEPEST DESIRE IS TO CAVORT ABOUT IN A VICTORIA'S SECRET COMMERCIAL.
Blegh.
12/15/08
Okay, if they're full of holes, then yeah okay. But my old underpants are comfy and they do not complain about Period Time.
12/15/08
12/15/08
P'raps the Eds blinded her - so that she wouldn't flinch.
But she can't look like the Grinch, 'cause she can't pinch an inch.
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[www.bbc.co.uk]
12/15/08
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12/15/08
I feel like that sentence is more honest if she says she doesn't feel sexy because she has a brain that accompanies her legs, feet, hips and breasts. No woman with a brain can ever compete with the composite of body parts and photoshop artistry that has become the beacon of sexuality in out society.
12/15/08
Rock right the **** on.
(I am also amazed at anyone that can be that erudite on a Monday.)
12/15/08
12/15/08
Couldn't agree more, except I'd like to add quotation marks to "sexy" - as in, sexy = tighter, skimpier, shinier, etc. As in, sexy people = people who talk about orgasms and blowjobs a lot.
12/15/08
12/15/08
oh yeah i know the type! people who constantly talk about blowjobs and orgasms~~ these people think they're sexy when they should just wear a sign around their neck in big capital letters that screams "PAY ATTENTION TO ME!"
12/15/08
12/15/08
It's odd. Among my friends, those who talk the most about fluffy hancdcuffs, flavoured condoms and and vibrators tend to be the ones that are less comfortable with the nuts/bolts/fluids of sex.
12/16/08