Was wandering around the internet today and found this funny clip from funnyordie.com where Nicole Eggbert puts herself back into the world of Baywatch in her older, slightly heavier body.
Hilarious, right? As long as you don’t think about the fact that some people think this way all the time, it is pretty comical.
If you do stop to ponder the fact that many people would call Nicole fat at her current size, it seems sad and slightly ridiculous. She is still beautiful. She jokingly acts out of breath in the video but she still seems to be in good shape. She looks healthy enough. And like she said, real women gain weight.
But apparently we are not supposed to want to look like real women?
According to designers we aren’t. There ideal feminine form is so far out there that it seems alien. Recently, BoingBoing posted a photo from Ralph Lauren that showed a clearly photoshopped model with the comment, “Dude, her head’s bigger than her pelvis.”
Wow. Just wow. I’m used to skinny models, but that is just ridiculous. That’s what we are supposed to think is beautiful? Images like that are the ones that create the unrealistic ideas about what women are supposed to look like. That model doesn’t even look that small in reality.
Images like this create unrealistic expectations that we can never fill. If that is the standard we are aiming for then we will always fail. If you are trying to look like the photoshopped images in magazines and ad campaigns you will not succeed. You won’t. You will just ruin your self-esteem, your body image, and spend a lot of unproductive hours wanting to be something you never can be. You will end up hating your body for the few extra pounds it is supposed to have.
Instead I’d rather be a real woman, who gains weight, who carries weight, who doesn’t look like she needs a sandwich or two before she passes out. I’d rather learn how to be happy with my own body than spend years obsessing over how to get a body I can’t have. (Kudos to Khloe Kardashian for this. She seems pretty secure in herself and knows she can’t look like her smaller sisters.)
Some women gain weight. Some women don’t. Some women are tall. Some are short. People come in all shapes and sizes. When are we going to accept that it is okay? When we will we accept that we are all meant to look differently? When will super thin, something impossible to obtain without resorting to anorexia or photoshop, stop being the ideal shape for women?
When will it be okay to be a real woman?
(Side note: I do think media outlets like Glamour are starting to make strides in body image issues by at the very least finally featuring supermodels who are not superthin.)
Meals:
Moves:
1 hour walk/jog with two hills
1 hour lower body conditioning class
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oh my gosh i love that video with nicole eggert. and i agree, she looks damn good! that RL ad is freakish, i saw it earlier today. i don’t see how that is going to sell a stitch of clothing, and if it empowers someone to go buy that outfit then i really question their thinking. hooray for STRONG bodies.
I’ve read the Glamour article. Loved it! What’s sad is, what size do you think Nicole is here? I’m guessing an 8, maybe 10. When the “average” woman is a 14? And she’s considered fat?! Honestly, if she’d stand up straight and wear a size larger bikini in this video, she’d look fabulous. NOT fat.
I’d rather be REAL, too! With curves and soft bits. :)
(Glad you’re having such a great time, but I’ll be soooo glad when you get back! Call me selfish…:))
I’d rather be real too. :-) That picture is shocking – it looks wrong.
Michelle
It’s really very funny she should be gain weight. Otherwise she will fly trough the air.
and am I too cynical or are the strides by places like GLAMOUR too miniscule?
it almost depresses me more when the ‘plus sized’ models are like the lollipop above after one or 2 big meals (read: a little stomach bloat :)) not truly plus sized or “real” at all.
see?
I am a curmudgeon!!
I’ll never understand this whole thing, I don’t think. That’s why I don’t feel able to comment on it. I just don’t get why it happens. Why do people want to see that? There is obviously a market for it, and I don’t know why that is.
The Glamour thing is cool. There’s a German magazine doing the same thing: http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-german-womens-magazine-bans-models-from-its-pages/
I guess it’s good that it’s being talked about? I just don’t know, sorry.
I just threw up in my mouth over that image. I use Photoshop forty hours a week, but I’d like to think my efforts benefits the greater good of mankind rather than solidifying its downfall!
Vom!
This just makes me sad for all of the women who suffer from body image issues. How can they love themselves when this craziness is held up as the ideal.
@Janetha
YES! STRONG bodies!
@Miz
I almost didn’t mention the Glamour thing and then almost put a huge disclaimer about how its NOT enough and the women are still gorgeous and pretty small and still MODELS and still photoshopped, but I decided against it. But no, I’m with you in the fact that they aren’t huge strides, but the fact that they are even slightly moving in that direction is progress. And you are NOT a curmudgeon!!
@Honey Bunches of Oats
Oh that’s cool, thanks for that link! I think more magazines will start doing it.
@BodyByPizza
I’m sure you do more to help mankind than those photoshop peeps. BTW, I love photoshop when its used for good. :)
I am totally repulsed by that Ralph Lauren picture. I like being a woman of substance!
Is that Ralph Lauren ad for real? They actually USED that photo as an ad? It hasn’t been altered to make fun of how ridiculously photoshopped models are getting? Goodness.
I love your thoughts on all of this, Mary. You’re right. We’re all real and we should celebrate our healthy real-ness.
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I love the video! Sadly there are people that are that shallow. She looks beautiful to me I would rock a bikini if I had that bod!
@Sagan, yep, the ad is for real. It was sent in to photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com, where they only show commercial uses of photoshop that have gone horribly awry.
It’s so real, Ralph Lauren sent DMCA takedown requests to both boingboing’s host, and blogger, claiming it infringed on their copyright.
I saw that Nicole video…. good for her! As for that thin model… to me, that is absolutely disgusting! That is just grotesquely thin! Something needs to be done about this! I saw a great Dove add where a very young girl looks at ads & TV & it shows a fast forward of all she has seen & what it can do to the thought process of a young girl! We need to get away from this super thing crap!!!!
As for Glamour, I wish they would put the “plus size” models on the cover or in the front of the magazine. A small step though but much more needs to be done.
Very funny video.. Nice refreshing way to make yourself fit….
That video is great!
It’s funny because we must be on the same page… last night I posted about my own body image issues, and while I didn’t mention the RL ad – it was definitely in my head.
That RL ad? Is a Bratz doll. Creepy. Who knew RL wanted to dress dolls?
That Ralph Lauren advert is just absolutely ridiculous. I mean there is skinny and then there is beyond annorexic. What kind of body image is being portrayed to young girls.
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