Hollywood & Body Image

Clara Oswald

Clara Oswald

Oswin!
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Jan 12, 2005
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Pittsburgh, PA
So, I'm at the grocery store today, and I'm in the checkout line and browsing the magazines on display. And I glance at the National Enquirer (I think it was). Now, I know this is not journalism with integrity and everything, but they have the cover filled on one side with pics of all these stars who are "all bones" and on the other the stars who have supposedly gotten fat.

But what actually had caught my eye on the cover and made me start looking at it was a picture of Gabourey Sidibe (from Precious). The captain was "Gabourey Sidibe now 400 pounds!" Well, I had to look at it a second, because my first thought (before reading the caption) was "Wow she looks really pretty!", so I had to think if they meant she was DOWN to 400 or UP to 400. So jokes on you, National Enquirer.

That aside, does anyone have any thoughts on this damned if you do, damned if you don't thing where stars are expected to be thin...but not TOO thin?
 
Now I admit to skimming through those "best beach bodies" or "who's fat and skinny" features they have on those rag magazine for fun. But really, it's such crap. I mean for me, i'm not fat by any means. However, for Hollywood standards, i'm a freakin' heifer. So what am I doing? I'm trying to loose some weight before I move out to Hollywood because I KNOW what they're unrealistic standards are. However, I also know not to go overboard on dieting and working out. However, other people do not. And that's half the reason why people have eating disorders these days becuase they want to look like what the media portrays as the perfect/beautiful body.

But then there's the whole trend of you're TOO SKINNY. So now not only are celebs being bashed for being too fat, they're being bashed for becoming too skinny because they were once "too fat". This standard of perfection is ridiculous. But, even though I sit here and type about it, I still try to become it. It's a sad circle lol.
 
i think its ridiculous & these days you can't even be sure what photos are even real or doctored. I remember back in 1999, right before Madonna's "Next best thing" was coming out & still flying high off the Ray of Light album, the National Enquirer had something like what you were talking about on the cover & among the the "FAT" stars was a pic of Madonna & the caption read "Madonna, FAT & 40" & in the pic, she looked like Cass Elliot (not to speak ILL of Cass...just the way the pic looked) & i thought HOW STUPID. Madonna was JUST on "Kickin it w/ Byron Allen" last night looking tight & svelt as ever so clearly the pic was FAKE :haha:

the body image machine is truly absurd. It even got to ME a few years ago as you might remember. right around the time when Callista Flockhart lost her cute feminine form for the SKELETAL look, suddenly Portal DeRossi & everybody else was rocking it & I was no longer a size 4 but a size 7-8 at the time & I honestly did feel like i was FAT AS HELL when seeing pics of them :( now i'm a 6/7 & IDGAF if ppl think that's "fat"...they can kiss my "FAT" ASS!

I read an article a a year or two ago saying that by TODAY'S standards, Elizabeth Montgomery, as she appeared on Bewitched, would be considered PLUS SIZE! :eek: wtf!? why? because she had CURVES? She stood at 5'6/5'7 w/o heels & she had hips & a bust but she was FAR from fat or even "plus sized" but that's how she'd be seen today. I ask this all the time...WHO is responsible for promoting these perceptions & what do they fantasize about? FETUSES!? :rolleyes2:

its bizarre too b/c back when Europe was the dominant power of the world (Middle Ages forward) women were DEFINITELY THICK and curvy & back then, if you were thick & curvy or "fluffy" you were assumed to be rich, lived & ate well. what would THEY think of how some women look today & how body image is such a driving factor. it just makes me think about how things have changed so dramaticly.
 
Well you look at Marylin Monroe and Jane Mansfield who were both beautiful woman back in the 50's and 60's, and they were both size 8-10. They had curves, but that was part of their sex appeal. If you even look back at the 70's and 80's, you had thin woman, but you also had woman with curves to them and meat. I think this all started during the "heroin chic" era in the 90's. Everyone wanted to be a waif, and it's stuck. But now woman want to be a size 2 with big boobs. The big boobs I think becoming popular because of Pam Anderson lol.
 
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