Danziger's appearance on a Women at NBCU breakfast panel last Wednesday shows she really needs to learn when to cut her losses — we don't need to hear her say that "Kelly liked the picture" for the eight zillionth time, or that "we did not make her look skinny, we made her look better." But the real kicker is her explanation for whittling Clarkson away in the first place. She says,

[P]eople like to say, "Oh, the media is the problem." I would say that, if we're really honest, the reason some of these magazines get bought by people is because they want to see that image. It is a consumer-driven market. If you put something on the newsstand and they don't like it, it won't get bought.

She goes on to say we could "debate [...] all day" whether magazine Photoshopping or a consumer desire for unrealistic images came first — but it's clear which side she falls on. And even though she thinks her consumers demand Photoshopping, she still claims that Self doesn't really use it that much. The magazine is "as honest as they come," she says — except, presumably, for the whole Kelly Clarkson thing.

Danziger's argument that she's just giving her customers what they demand echoes Cosmo editor Kate White's "contribution" to the whole Ralph Lauren Photoshopping mess last week. In her (rather superfluous) appearance on the Today Show, White said,

I think women have to protest - and back it up. Because sometimes women say they want real girls in stories, but often those stories don't rate as well. Or if you put a heavy celebrity on the cover it might not sell as well. So women have to complain, and then back it up with their actions. Their pocketbooks.

Both editors neatly pass the buck to magazine readers, whose appetites they claim really dictate how teensy a cover girl must be. This is pretty disingenuous, especially given that women's magazine editors set themselves up as tastemakers in so many other areas. They sell ads — and get free shit for advertorial features — largely by convincing companies that women will buy the products they recommend. They position themselves as trendsetters at the forefront of fashion — not followers who just report on what women are already wearing. Especially in the case of Self, they give health and lifestyle advice, and while they sometimes feature reader opinions, they don't base all their tips on workouts readers already perform. Women's magazines are completely in the business of telling women what to wear, what to buy, what to eat, and what to do, and the idea that women tell them what to put on the cover is ludicrous.

Moreover, it's hard to even evaluate Danziger's claims about readers' tastes, since they don't really have very many options. There is no mainstream American women's magazine that features un-Photoshopped models of all shapes and sizes. There's Bust, but with its smaller budget and bimonthly publication schedule, it's not a real competitor. Really, the major women's magazines represent something of a cartel of unrealistic female images, and women searching for an alternative will have a hard time "voting with their pocketbooks" — there's nothing to vote for.

Of course, it's true that Danziger and White are in the business of selling magazines, not making us all hate our bodies. Their reluctance to experiment with, say, not Photoshopping probably has as much to do with fear of the unknown — and perhaps fear of advertiser response — as it does with misogyny and sizeism. But as I've said before, women's magazines are in financial trouble, and the old formulas clearly aren't working so well anymore. In fact, the biggest ad gains this month were reported, not by Cosmo or Self, but by Southern Living and Real Simple, which sport food, not models, on their covers, and which credit their success to helping women actually do stuff. So maybe it's time for editors like White and Danziger to stop making excuses about what consumers want, and give them some actual choices.

3 Minute Ad Age: October 20, 2009 [AdAge]
Top 5 Monthlies: Giving Women What They Want [MinOnline]

Earlier: Kelly Clarkson Slimmed Down On Self Via Photoshop

Ralph Lauren Fires Photoshopped Model For Being "Too Fat"

Above is the original ad for Tom Ford's fragrance. And we all know what the Terry Richardson ads looked like.

One of my favorite paintings of Minter's is from her 1989 series of pornographic imagery. I love how the dripping paint looks like cum.

She was sort of attacked by anti-porn feminists at the time, accused of perpetuating the objectification of women. In her book she says that she approached these pieces by asking herself:

What images have women never touched? What images have women never really explored? And does it change the meaning of these images if they are explored by women and not men? I was trying to explore areas that hadn't been explored and I didn't have any kind of fully formed motivation, which was my downfall. I was just asking questions, but everybody wanted me to come with the answers. I learned that there are no answers when it comes to talking about sexuality. It will spit in your eye; you cannot program it; you can't make rules about it. It is very messy and very untidy.

But one of the best aspects of her book is the inclusion of the seminal "Coral Ridge Towers," a series of haunting black and white photos of her drug-addicted mother, who rarely left her bedroom. Minter took the photos in 1969 for a class while an undergrad at the University of Florida, but never allowed them to be seen until 1996.

We know that, sadly, ads are deceptive because 1) clothes tend to always look good on a professional model and 2) un, Photoshopping, anyone? But seriously - these girls look sophisticated and chic and we really want that dress that Moss herself is wearing. We could do without the fedora (isn't that over already? And if it isn't, why not?) and we're not really sure what to make of the sheer number with the embroidery (and the prominent nipple display), but the rest looks smart. Even the snarksters at The Telegraph agree:

She was spot-on. Heavy on black - which, as every girl and woman knows is THE most flattering colour - the clothes mixed 1920's flapper, Biba and disco diva influences in a manner that was both sassy and sophisticated. Great mini-dresses - which also worked as tunics over wide trousers and leggings - were embellished with fine black sequins and beads. Long, 'hippie' dresses were bias-cut and patchworked in floral and black lace.

Um, how about instead you just hire models who actually live the Self lifestyle? Athletic girls who eat? These kind of girls actually exist! And you wouldn't have to pay someone to do away with their visible ribs and non-existent thighs. Better yet: Run the photos of these scary-skinny girls unretouched. Please. And let's just see what readers think of the models' bodies. Would readers run away from the glossy pages forever? (Run at a steady clip, of course — since of course they're hip to the importance of fitness from reading Self.)

The Other Kind Of Photoshop Fraud [Portfolio.com]

• Marc Anthony's wife, Jennifer Lopez, and ex-wife, Dayanara Torres, appear together on the cover of September's People En Español — thanks to the magic of Photoshop, natch — and Marc is not happy! [Page Six]
  
• Kanye West: "Only white people and older black people say 'bling' now." So what's the new term? Dizzimonds? Help us, Kanye! [Page Six]
  
• Tyra Banks' younger brother Devin, an Air Force cadet, leaves for Iraq next week. We were going to say something about America's Next Top Gun but it seems sorta inappropriate. [Page Six]
  
• Marilyn Manson's former keyboard player says the rocker used earnings to buy stuff like Nazi memorabilia instead of paying the band. In all fairness, a lot of the cash probably went towards makeup, too. [Page Six]

• Dina Lohan is being sued for fraud. Some guy claims he lent her $400,000 to jump-start Lindsay's music career. Uh, money well spent, dude! [Page Six]
• The Hills' Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag refuse to be in the same room together, making it hard to promote the show. Or easier to promote? Everyone loves drama. [Page Six]
• Jake Gyllenhaal may play Joe Namath in a movie about the sports star's life. Jake, in a fur coat. Are you ready? [Liz Smith]
• Last week, Britney went to L.A.'s Chateau Marmont to eat, and the only table available was next to Victoria "Posh" Beckham. Britney "didn't want to sit next to her, so she stormed off." One town, so many egos! [Gatecrasher, 2nd item]
• Lez(abel) blind item! "Which Sapphic starlet employed her lover as an "assistant" to explain why they always went out together?" [Gatecrasher, last item]
• Bobby Brown has beefed-up security because he thinks bin Laden is after him. [Rush & Molloy]
• The Beatles' song "All You Need Is Love" was sold to Proctor & Gamble for a Luvs diaper commercial. Surely someone will suffer a horrible karmic blow for this. [Rush & Molloy, 3rd item]
• Andy Samberg thinks Justin Timberlake would be a great Saturday Night Live castmember, and we agree! [People]
• Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown is accusing Eddie Murphy of "not doing the right thing" regarding their daughter Angel. [People]
• Paris Hilton, size 11, is launching a shoe line. The footwear will be "chic and trendy." Perhaps they forgot to add "tacky," but isn't it a given? [TMZ]
• Posh is not sure the million-dollar mansion in Beverly Hills she had David Beckham bought is good enough — she wants to be in Malibu, on "Billionaire's Beach." [DailyMail]

Photodropping 100 Pounds Away From This Model [Back In Skinny Jeans via Dethroner]
Related: Evolution Of Beauty — Dove Campaign For Real Beauty [YouTube]