Because let's face it: The younger generation is fucked. Eight-year-old girls are getting pedicures and bikini waxes — won't these become life-long habits? Next come the boob job at 16 and lipo in the early 20s. Some people make fun of rappers for spending their money on cars and bling but at least you can try and pawn your diamonds, sell your Benz. What kind of investment is Botox? What kind of lessons are young girls learning when our culture focuses so much on looks? One can only imagine the psychological ramifications on today's young girls who are faced with padded bras, thongs and looking up to whitewashed or size 00 celebrities. And what of the young women who can't afford $100 a month in beauty products? Are they actually better off, in a way? (What are the chances they'll see it that way?)

This study was done in conjunction with the documentary America The Beautiful. It's so frustrating that this film is rated R when The Dark Knight is PG-13; meaning that millions of kids saw the Batman film when they really need to examine their priorities.

Don't get it twisted: It's fun to play with makeup and haircolor. For plenty of girls, it's not even about attracting the opposite sex. But the overwhelming focus this culture has been placing on looks has got to be damaging to the younger generation. (Don't forget: Girls today think being called sexy is the ultimate compliment.) It's clear that we need to make a change: How do we even begin?

Botox And Blush Obsession Seen As Cause For Alarm [Reuters]

Earlier: Waxing
Teen Girl Gets Lipo To "Prevent" Eating Disorder
How Many 8-Year-Olds Have To Get Bikini Waxes Before We All Agree The Terrorists Have Won?
Young Girls Today: Tramps In Training?
America The Beautiful Reveals Ugly Truths
Today's Teens Believe It's Better To Be Sexy Than Clever

[Photo via Megan* on Flickr.]

The FDA proposed a ban in 2006, but there are still lightening products being sold, many on the black market. (The European Union banned hydroquinone, known to cause leukemia in mice, from cosmetics in 2001. It is sold in the United States as an over-the-counter drug, but with a concentration not exceeding 2 percent.)

In Jamaica, blogger Francis Wade writes, "Some… firmly believe that bleached skin is also a sign of beauty." But the hydroquinone in bleaching products can be incredibly damaging. "It's not too hard to pick out someone who has applied these chemicals to their skin," Wade explains. "The color of the epidermis takes on a reddish, purplish tinge and often it has a different tone from skin on the neck, hands and chest." He links to a stomach-turning video in which a woman who has been using bleaching creams "for years" is shown to have very damaged, burned and disfigured skin. Users risk liver and kidney damage as well as skin cancer. Why do people do this to themselves?

Vanessa Walters notes: "This legacy of slavery or colonization, where lighter-skinned or white people were given visible privileges over hundreds of years has resulted in societies where the lighter you are, the higher your status socially and economically." She continues:

Advertisers may not be aware of how younger girls are influenced by images of women being airbrushed ever lighter, skinnier, blonder. L'Oreal have denied that their actions were deliberate, but nevertheless yet another message, that the whiter you are the more successful you will be, has been sent.

Mighty White [Guardian]
Beyoncé Knowles: L'Oreal Accused Of 'Whitening' Singer In Cosmetics Ad [Guardian]
Skin Bleaching [Moving Back To Jamaica]
Skin Bleaching [YouTube]

Skin-Lightening Cremes Sold On Black Market Have Serious Health Risks [Medical News Today]

Earlier: 'White Beauty' Has An Ugly Message

Roberts packed a lot of material into the film (he says he had 900 hours of footage). Some memorable moments: Seeing Seventeen, ElleGirl and CosmoGirl editors explain why they only use thin, pretty models. Grade-schoolers looking at images from magazines, music videos and skin cleanser commercials and proclaiming that the "perfect" women make them feel "ugly." The sequence about dogs getting face lifts. An interview with a perfume producer claiming that phthalates — known carcinogens — do not get absorbed into your body when you spray yourself with fragrance was intercut with a scientist proclaiming, "Bullshit." Eve Ensler saying something about how a woman shouldn't get plastic surgery to "tighten" her vagina (Eve: "Get a bigger dick!"). The news that there are about 600 substances found in cosmetics that are banned in Europe but allowed in U.S. products. Oh, and then there was the part where the filmmaker called the American Board of Plastic Surgery and found out that all three of the doctors from Dr. 90210 were not board-certified, but had been performing cosmetic procedures anyway.

And then poor Gerren, such a bright beam of light in the beginning of the film, becomes convinced that she is obese and needs breast implants. Part of that was on the Today show this morning:

In any case, the reviews are mixed — some of the complaints seem to be that "there's nothing new" in the film. But when you compile all of the evidence together in one 105 minute oeuvre, you see that our society is literally sick. Roger Ebert says the film carries "a persuasive message" and is "filled with astonishments." I only wish that it didn't have an R rating; every teenage girl in America should see it. Roberts says he'll make an "educational" PG version for schools when it comes out on DVD; until then, if there's an under-17-year-old in your life, take her (or him!) to watch it. And start a discussion.

America The Beautiful opens today in New York.

America the Beautiful [Time Out New York]
America the Beautiful [Variety]
America the Beautiful: A Well-Intentioned, Scattershot Look at the Image Conscious [Village Voice]
America the Beautiful [RogerEbert.com]
Gorgeous, Tall And Age 12 [NY Post]
America The Beautiful [Official Site]

This theory is a combination of hearsay, projection, speculation and the anecdotal, and may be complete hogwash. But think about it: those girls who had, by some miracle, achieved the alchemical combo of pretty, groomed and confident by middle school (or whenever sexuality became An Issue), whatever their other problems, seemed to have a certain unconscious assurance that never wavered. They were Pretty Girls. However life may batter and bruise them, whatever the ill-effects of such a definition, that is a part of their identity, their self-perception, the way everyone sees them. Even now, it's jarring to run into one of these girls on the street and realize that she'd not some Helen of Troy, but just a regular person - just as I'm sure it's disorienting to find me over four foot ten.

Most of the girls I know, whatever they look like, don't think of themselves as Pretty Girls; they divorced themselves from such considerations at a young age and developed personalities apart from appearance. If they turn out to be 'conventionally' attractive? That's incidental; they are not Pretty Girls. A Pretty Girl, mind you, is not always "the prettiest"; but taking her attraction for granted is a god-given right, whether it's a confidence administered by parents, by boys, by adoring friends. I was friends with a Pretty Girl in high school. She wasn't mean; on the contrary, she was incredibly sweet. But unlike the rest of us, she knew herself to be attractive, and this gave her a serene assurance we found maddening. While we were scrambling to be the funniest, the strangest, the smartest, she didn't feel the need for this further definition. She had a place in the world.

When you are not a Pretty Girl — and let me re-emphasize that this has virtually nothing to do with one's actual appearance — you do not take easy acceptance as your due. You don't assume the someone will buy your drinks, that you'll get an easy promotion, that other women are threatened by you. It is relaxing, in a certain way. You also don't fear time as much; as Moe put it, "beauty only involves deterioration" whereas the concretes you painfully develop in lieu of that temporary, easy assurance are good to the grave. But at the same time, a Pretty Girl's self-assurance is an amazing and rare thing, and something which, paradoxically, we could probably all stand to learn from. Entitlement should not be the product of beauty, but entitlement has its own inherent rewards; acting as though good things are your right (within reason) is probably healthier at times than the ten minutes of disingenuous self-deprecation we're all conditioned for in its stead.

My boyfriend told me the other day that I mention being unattractive a lot, which I found shocking, because I wasn't aware I even thought about it, let alone gave voice to such things. And when I think about it, I know I'm perfectly normal-looking, and even clean up well. But at my core, I'm still the awkward, miniscule 13-year-old who developed an adult persona in lieu of that inborn confidence. It's probably the same reason I'm a good debater, do a really good Snow White impression and rule at Trivial Pursuit: Nostalgia edition. But when I see some confident Pretty Girl breeze into a party and commandeer attention through sheer force of confidence, it still wows me, and there are times when I wish I could go back 14 years and learn the secret to their enduring power. I do believe it's a genuine difference, the sort of thing men could never understand (my boyfriend stared at me blankly when I advanced this argument). We may at times hide in pretty shells, but Pretty Girls? Another species altogether.

Eh, we've previously discussed Unilever's hypocrisy. Meanwhile, it is important to reiterate that this ad is incensing for the same reason that the lack of black models in magazines and on catwalks ought to fill you with rage. As long as human beings believe that "fair" means "beautiful" — that dark is ugly and unfashionable — magazines and beauty companies are going to appeal to us with images of white skin. The more we see white skin in magazines and on catwalks, the more we'll believe that it is the ideal. I've posted about this before, but please: Watch this video by Kiri Davis, (fast forward to 3:40 if you have to) in which young children point to identical black and white dolls and proclaim the white doll "good" and the black doll "bad." It's a 2006 recreation of a 1950s test, with similar results.

Skin-Whitening Adverts Ignite Race Row In India [Independent]

Related: A Girl Like Me [Google Video]
Earlier: In India, Fair Is Handsome & Dark Is Doomed
Indian Women Whiten Their Skin, Fight The Patriarchy
Skin Deep

Here's the White Beauty commercial being aired in India:

Botox For The Résumé: One Woman's Makeover [WSJ]

A new survey says that American women spend between $10,000 and $23,000 in their lifetime… on hair removal. Yes ladies, from puberty to death, we deal with getting rid of body hair — by shaving, waxing and creams — for about 53.6 years of our lives. We spend a cumulative amount of 58 days in our lifetime just removing hair. Maybe you're just not one of those women who feels comfortable having hairy pits. Or hairy legs. Or retrobush. But do you ever think about why? Is it same reason some women get plastic surgery? Because they want to be a "better" version of themselves, because they think Mother Nature somehow delivered a less than perfect product? And where did we get that idea?

Cosmetic Surgery Procedures To Exceed 55 Million In 2015, Study Predicts [Science Daily]
Women Spend Up To $23,000 To Remove Hair [UPI]

Earlier: Hairy Pits: Appealing Or Appalling?
Plastic Surgery: Where Do You Draw The Line Between Deformity And Vanity?

Heldman states that self-objectification can lead to all or some of the following in women: depression, low self-esteem, less faith in their own capabilities, which leads to diminished success in life, low political efficacy, disgust and shame about their bodies... the list goes on. (To me, the most interesting side-effect is "low political efficacy", which is just a fancy way of saying that women who objectify themselves do not believe that they can create change, and thus rarely or never get involved with politics.)

Dr. Heldman, bless her soul, tries listing ways to combat self-objectification, but most of them seem fairly implausible, particularly if you're a television and movie lover. A "radical, personal solution is to actively avoid media to self-objectify, which, unfortunately is that vast majority of movies, television programs and women's magazines," Heldman writes. "My research with college age women indicates that the less women consume media, the less they self-objectify, particularly if they avoid fashion magazines. [Emphasis ours.] By shutting out media, girls and women can create mental and emotional space for true self-exploration." I guess the only solution is for women to make our own un-self-objectifying media to combat the other kind. Tina Fey and Diablo Cody? We are looking at you.

Self-Objectification — Seeing Ourselves Through Others Eyes — Impairs Women's Body Image, Mental Health, Motor Skills, And Even Sex Lives [Ms.]

Earlier: Memo To Women's Magazine Editors: White Women Hate Themselves After Reading Your Magazines

At first Cohen suspected the modern phenomenon of having your entire body tended to was a result of the hairy, free-wheeling '60s.

But a friend pointed out that the exposed body nowadays is a far cry from the exposed body of the 1960s. That was the era of hairy underarms and legs, frizzy unkempt hair, and bra-less breasts that sagged under macramé T-shirts. Compare this to the perfect orbs that protrude like hothouse melons from the tank tops of 70-year-olds. "Let it all hang out" has been replaced by "let it all be nicely exhibited." Walt Whitman (and his hippie successors) sang the "body electric;" we sing the "body electrolysis" — also, siliconed and liposuctioned.

Body Service [The Smart Set]

Earlier: Is There Such A Thing As Too Clean?

At first I thought Weldon was just being an asshole, because all children are beautiful to their parents, but then it got me thinking — how often do you hear a mother tell her son that he's handsome? Very rarely. Strangers hardly ever come up to a male child and comment on his looks, while a female child, nearly from the day of her birth, will have all manner of people chattering about her appearance (true story: a total stranger once came up to my aunt and told her my 3-year-old cousin was "unfortunate looking."). [True story: At a wedding last year, during a post-ceremony toast, the father of the bride went on and on about how lucky his son-in-law was because his daughter is "so beautiful". -Ed.]

Are parents just making their daughters narcissistic by telling her she's attractive? Are they setting her up for disappointment if she's not that attractive in reality? Or are they buffeting her against possible future low self-esteem?

Looks Aren't Everything? Don't Kid Yourself [Times of London]

Earlier: •Bikini Waxes, Highlights & 'Tramp Stamps': That's What Little Girls Are Made Of
•How Many 8-Year-Olds Have To Get Bikini Waxes Before We All Agree The Terrorists Have Won?

These "personalized viewpoints" of beauty are what seemingly makes the world go 'round, but for people with body dysmorphic disorder, their overly personalized/distorted thoughts about their own looks often drive them to obsessive plastic surgery, eating disorders, and other bodily harm.

As pointed out in an article in the current issue of Scientific American, doctors used to think that body dysmorphic disorder (when a person becomes "pathologically preoccupied with an imagined or barely noticeable defect in his or her appearance") was caused by a combination of nature and nurture. As S.A. puts it, "Psychological factors such as low self-esteem, coupled with society's restrictive definition of physical beauty, are likely to play a role in the disorder." But more recently, psychiatrists and psychologists have found that people with BDD might have "unusually acute perceptual abilities," specifically an "overemphasis on visual details," which helps explain why they "worry so much about minuscule deviations in their features." Maybe so, but whether anyone is pathologically focused on details or robotically-concerned with making a model of "universal beauty," they're missing out on the more intangibly human aspects of attractiveness: a sexy laugh, a sparkling eye, a warm demeanor.

[Image via Mathemetician's Pictures.]

Related: Would You Rather Be Fat Or Blank? [NBC News]

According to Williams, Krupp's "main mantra is a call to simple, unfussy elegance: loose hair, lighter makeup, restraint of embellishment." Williams has also taken her "frumpy, mid-calf skirts to the tailor to be shortened to knee length." This is advice that could be used by professional woman of any age, but her book has been packaged to play on women's fear of aging in a youth-obsessed culture.

An undercurrent to Krupp's schtick, and something she discussed when she was on the Today show, is that if you look old, no one will hire you. She wants to inspire fear in the hearts of baby boomers, telling them that "If you're wearing clothes that are dated, people are going to think your ideas are dated." But you know, wearing presentable, flattering clothing makes a better impression on employers no matter WHAT age you are, or, for that matter, what gender.

Staying fit, wearing flattering clothes, getting a haircut. These things make most women feel better about themselves whether they are 15 or 55. There's a way to grow old gracefully, to look your age and still look good. And anyway, like Charla's really a good role model for aging gracefully. With her bleached blond hair and Botox, it's clear she'd rather look like Heidi Montag than Anjelica Huston.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Eileen Fisher [Salon]

Earlier: How Not To Look Old Author Doesn't Look Old, But She Does Look Stupid
Standards Of Beauty

'Family Ties' Stars Hold Family Reunion [NBCNews]

As refreshing as it would be to see fewer emaciated Eastern European teens and more healthy, powerful, glamazons, isn't fashion about exclusivity? The masses may be able to comment on The Sartorialist and buy an Isaac Mizrahi dress from Target, but fashion itself is not democratic. Isn't a brand's quality, high price and limited supply park of what make it special? Don't high fashion lines want to be just-out-of-reach to the average woman? And therefore, doesn't it make sense that the models would embody an out-of-reach ideal? Then again: How would you feel if a major player like Gucci, Zac Posen or Marc Jacobs suddenly started using "real" women — beautiful but with healthy, closer to average bodies? Would you go out of your way to support a designer who dared to exhibit a new ideal?

Rise Of the Real People [Newsweek]

Chamorro already has a convertible Mary-Kay Cadillac in pale pink, something Valdez hopes she can earn someday herself. But first she needs to sell $18,000 worth of cosmetics in four months. Valdez pitches her wares to 19-year-old Mary Lee Mejia, who admits she can't afford to buy the $22 lotion she craves. So Valdez recruits Mejia onto the sales team — which means Mejia has to cough up $108 for a sample kit.

Valdez works to support her children after leaving her husband of 33 years, a construction worker who once beat her so hard he broke her jaw. It's hard not to root for her — and it's also hard not to see that with her success comes with exploiting her poor recruits. Hennessy-Finke notes that Valdez often helps the junior sales team members, giving them free makeup kits and covering start-up costs. "Her generosity binds consultoras to her and helps her feel better about using them to achieve her goal." On one hand, Altagracia Valdez is working toward the American dream: Self-sufficiency, success, a new car. And on the other hand, her work exposes an American nightmare: Why is it that an impoverished woman can be so easily convinced that a new lipstick or handcream is all she needs to turn her life around?

Climbing A Ladder Made Of Lipstick [LA Times]

As for her own looks, Ms. Lewis admits that she's had a facelift, but won't tell Julie Bindel, the article's author, what else she's had: "I have clearly put my face before my body," she laughs. Why is she such an advocate for surgery? "Women are under incredible pressure to look a certain way from a very early age," she says. And she even has passages about labiaplasty and hymen reconstruction in her book. "Women already have a full plate of image concerns regarding impending wrinkles, and sagging size and shape. The power of suggestion that they may not be 'normal' or 'good enough' 'down there' is just one more thing to fret over." But, she adds, "There are women who can benefit from vaginal procedures for incontinence and overall changes after childbirth, and due to aging. That can add to their confidence." As far as hustles go, Ms. Lewis' isn't bad: If you're thinking about going under the knife, it makes sense to want to talk to someone who's been there. But wouldn't it be just as good — or better — to consult with someone (say, a licensed therapist?) who could remind you that looks aren't everything and it's character-building to work with what you've got? And, since she's forced us to go there: Does anyone think Ms. Lewis' plastic face looks "perfect"?

The Knife Consultant [Guardian]
Earlier: Pimp My Vadge
Pimp My Vadge: A Woman's Opinion
Pimp My Vadge: The Pornographer's Opinion
"Every Girl Inherits The Princess Gene Which Dictates Her Desire For A Strong Male Role Model To Cosset Her" [Daily Mail]

"People would put whitening on their skin and over time, it would eat the skin away, causing all sorts of scarring," says Kevin Jones, curator at the FIDM Museum in L.A. "And the way they covered that up was to apply thicker amounts of the makeup, which would then exacerbate the situation. It was a horrible process, once you got started you couldn't stop."

Sure, but we're totally sane and safe now, right? Well, in 1930, Lash Lure, and eyelash dye, caused 16 cases of blindness and one death. The FDA started monitoring these things in 1938, yet a third of lipsticks contain lead, says a study released in October 2007. And in November, US marshals seized 12,000 tubes of Age Intervention Eyelash, a product designed to make lashes long. They suspected the stuff could harm your vision. (The FDA oversees cosmetics, but after the fact; removing items that prove to be unsafe. Unlike drugs, cosmetics are not required to have clinical trials before they hit the market.) So from piercing (ears) to courting skin cancer to altering your posture, how far are we willing to go to look more alluring?

Suffering For Beauty Has Ancient Roots [MSNBC]
Related: Potentially harmful cosmetic eye product seized [MSNBC]
Earlier: Is Your Lipstick Poisoning You?
Oldies But Goodies: Savage Tan
Fashion Victims

John Clapp, director of the Center for Alcohol and Drug Studies and Services at San Diego State University, says, "We're not exactly sure why." But Boston University senior Peter True knows exactly why: "They have to be that faded to go out wearing those ridiculous clothes," he says. "They have to drink more if they wear less because they have to lower their inhibitions to be seen wearing that out." Well someone is learning something in school!

Julie Ketchie, another doctoral student researcher, says, "There are these girls walking down the street, and you can see their butts hanging out of their skirts." She notes that it reminds her of Halloween. Everyone knows the appeal of a party. You've been studying, you need to blow off steam, you need to meet people and laugh. But what is the point of theme parties like "Naughty Schoolgirl" or "Lingerie"? Is it just all in good fun? Are they plots cooked up by frat boys to get girls half-naked? Does it allow the women to feel like they're in power, like they have something that guys want? And what lessons do intoxicated women in micro-minis actually learn?

College Parties Getting Hotter, Boozier [ABC News]
Earlier: Is "Slutoween" Actually Scarier Than Halloween Ever Was?

The point is this: There are no "rules," only an urging to be the best we all can be. If we get fired up about misogyny and the unrealistic expectations placed on women but then allow comments like, "she's huuuuge," doesn't that make us part of the problem?

One thing we grapple with, and will have to work on, is whether it is as offensive to say someone is "too thin" as it is to say someone is "too fat." Some celebrities — and we all know who they are — shrink down to "skin and bones." Is it horrible to call that out? Especially when we'd never say a star "looks like she's never skipped a meal" or "is a tub of lard"? In any case, this is a (relatively) open dialog. We welcome your thoughts and comments, even about our asses.

Earlier: This Year, Let's Call It Quits On The Nasty Nit-Picking
No Airbrushing—We're Not Fucking Around

How Not To Look Old: Author Charla Krupp [Time]

"Talk", of course, is the operative word here. Nyhan stresses the importance of not just tossing a young daughter a flippant, "You're beautiful just the way you are!" but actually asking her how she feels, and what makes her feel that way. But if you ask me, taking a vested interest in her life outside her weight is just as important.

When I was growing up, my dad never told me what I could and couldn't do, but he did let me know that he thought that, in his opinion, YM magazine portrayed women as stupid. (Not to mention trashy.) My dad's opinions meant something to me. I never read YM. When I was growing up, my dad talked to me non-stop about his love of the music of Diana Ross, Laura Nyro, Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, and Carole King. My dad's opinions meant something to me. That was the music I listened (and still listen) to, and those were the women I thought were really cool. But most importantly, both of my parents didn't sit down and drill me about my "body image" — they were too busy asking me my opinions on what was going on in the news, what I was learning in school and nurturing everything from my interest in politics to my love of musicals. And guess what? I was too interested in life to be interested in what I weighed. Mr. Nyhan, buy your daughter a copy of "Tapestry" and once she's old enough to speak, sit her down in front of the evening news with you: She'll turn out okay, I promise.

Dads Can Do Plenty To Help Their Daughters With Image Issues [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

Members of a consumer organization called Which? posed as curious buyers and contacted the customer service departments of three leading brands. The researchers asked about Olay Regenerist Serum, Garnier Nutritionist Omega Skin and L'Oréal Dermagenesis. Then they showed the transcripts of their conversations to experts at Sense About Science, a charity that promotes accuracy in science. The scientists found that the companies were often, in a word, bullshitting.

When the undercover researcher asked if Regenerist was natural, a customer service rep at Olay said, "Pentapeptides are fragments of molecules. They're found naturally throughout the body so they originate from the body." The actual scientist from Sense About Science says:

"This can't be right. Laboratory-made pentapeptides may be chemically indistinguishable from those that occur naturally, but be clear that they're not extracting them from real cells."

"This does not answer the question and does not explain what the acid does in any mechanistic sense. And it is an acid in all senses of the word."

Skin Cream Science Is Branded As 'Waffle' [Times]

It is not binary: you can have a personality and an arse that doesn't take up two seats on the bus. If you can retain your wonderful, cheerful, sweet, fun personality and be beautiful is that not better? Or, Anna L from Kent, is your sweet personality inextricably tied to your being a size 16... like Samson's strength is to his hair? I don't suggest that British women take the money from your education fund and put it towards plastic surgery. Nor do I suggest you take the hours per week dedicated to cultural and intellectual pursuits and use them for beauty treatments. Just take the time you dedicate to sitting on the sofa eating femur-sized Toblerones while watching EastEnders.

Oh Please, You Lard-Butt British Frumps Have Got Off Too Lightly [Times]
Earlier: Man Named "Tad" Insults Women On Both Sides Of Pond
Related: American Beauty? [Times]

The survey also revealed almost half of the 3,000 women polled had already tried to subtly change their guy's style. And 55% of those reckon their boyfriend or husband didn't mind that they were trying to mould them into someone else.

One: Weight Two: Dress sense Three: Hair (or lack of) Four: Teeth Five: Height Six: Man boobs Seven: Nose Eight: Feet Nine: Legs Ten: Bum

Half Of Women 'Want To Change How Their Partner Looks' [Daily Mail]

He admits that beauty treatments are "vastly more expensive" in England, but puts the blame on proper English manners:

American women have no qualms about telling their friends, in no uncertain terms, when they look like crap, or have put on weight, or are dressed like a bag-lady. They talk of the top aestheticians with a reverence usually reserved for Nobel laureates and trade cosmetic surgeon business cards the way that boys in playgrounds trade football cards. In Britain, women are too polite to set their friends straight. For some reason, being seen to make an effort with one's appearance is regarded as shameful among British women.

So who is this misogynistic, sexist slug known as Tad Safran? "The author is a screenwriter (single) who divides his time between London and Los Angeles," the Times tells us. Single? You don't say! A quick search reveals that Safran was one of nine writers credited with the screenplay for a crappy animated film called Doogal, which IMDB user "stinkyuu" claims "was the all-time boringest movie I have ever seen in my short life." 'Nuff said.

American Beauty? [Times]

But there's plenty you can experience on the site for free, like the test, "How well does my vagina measure up?" In the interest of science, I got out a ruler and a makeshift dipstick in order to determine the length of my vagina, the width of its opening, and the length of my "erected clitoris."

I'm no stranger to putting my labia to work for this site. And though I'm not exactly sure if I measured everything correctly (there were no instructions on how to do so), after I completed the test, these are the results I got:

The quality of your vulva is of 77.5 points. Based on the answers that you have provided, your Vulva and Vagina is [sic] of average quality.

The Vagina Institute
'Honey! Your Vagina Needs A Mint' [The F-Word]
Earlier: Pimp My Vadge

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.

A little over a month ago, Dove released a commercial called Onslaught, in which a young girl is bombarded with images of women as depicted by the beauty industry and music videos — and in plastic surgery situations. It came on the heels of other videos, Evolution, True Colors and Hair. Now the women of "all-girl creative think tank" 3iying have responded, and they're not impressed. "If I hate my freckles, it doesn't mean I have 'issues,'" they write in BusinessWeek. "A healthy girl can love herself and hate her freckles. Self-respect doesn't demand that we think we are perfect, or that we love every aspect of ourselves."

The women of 3iying accuse the creatives behind the Dove ads of judging girls for putting time, money and effort into their hair.

Dove's hair campaign slogan is "Love your hair." I thought playing with my hair was loving it. If I loved my hair the way Dove wants me to, what would I do? Nothing? When girls love their hair, they feed it great products, play with it, invent new styles, and enjoy taking care of it. They don't do nothing.

Although they make valid points, are they right? "If I get a nose job, does that make me a loser?" The women ask. Maybe not, but which is more courageous: Going under the knife so that yo