If you have children — or even if you don’t have children, but you sense that something’s not quite right with the self-image and body-image messages the kids are being bombarded with these days — have a look at this powerful short video.

My web developer friend Guilherme (Zo’C) brought this video to our attention, and it’s really heartening to see the enlightened male viewpoint here and in his previous post, Dove Evolution, both about the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty.

Actually, you can be too thin

Meanwhile, in the news…

The Montreal Gazette just yesterday ran a story with that headline — Actually, you can be too thin — sparked by the organizers of this year’s Montreal Fashion Week who “have scored one small point for sanity in Canada’s fashion industry, by barring girls under 16 and overly skinny models from its catwalks.”

Organizers say knobby knees and protruding ribs and shoulder bones are out, which is sensible enough. The mystery is how they ever got to be in.


The title of the article comes from the famous Wallis Simpson quotation, words that women have (consciously or subconsciously) heard, absorbed, internalized, and abused themselves to live up to since the 1930s.

For the last 20 years or so, however, fashionistas have seemed determined to prove the second part of her aphorism is false. Even Simpson herself, who was seductive enough to coax a king off his throne, might be horrified at some of the wraith-like figures who sashay up and down today’s catwalks.

Does anyone else find it incredibly ironic? — we have girls literally starving themselves to death, trying to live up to a most peculiar ideal. And at the same time, obesity is epidemic! Whatever happened to just trying to be fit and healthy? Whatever happened to “Beauty is just skin deep”?

Thankfully, there are these small hopeful signs of change… and we’ll take what we can get, from whatever source, when the onslaught of advertising is so powerful.

As Guilherme says,

In face of models dying of anorexia and on the other hand, almost every woman that is not a model finding herself ugly, the Dove campaign for real beauty is not only a beautiful and brave advertising campaign, but is also an inspired humane one.


This Post Has 5 Comments

  1. That is true, is really hard to be happy with oneself.

    As most straight males, I don’t have any major concern with the way I look, but instead, sometimes is hard to get to be satisfied with intellectual achievement and other things like that.

    Anyway, perfectionism must be something most of us should correct little by little (but not in excess, of course, what could be tremendously contradictory).

  2. domestika

    You know what? It’s just plain hard to like yourself the way you are…

    Truth be told, I’m nowhere near heroine-chic, believe me! tho’ relatively trim and fit, what with all the dog-walking and outdoor garden work and such and especially after that recent walking program I was doing… But what I secretly just yearn to be is one of those fabulous Junoesque women, with broad shoulders and rounded hips and heavy breasts, looking just incredible in a size 18 with gorgeous confidence. And that woman I look at and envy? She probably wants to be a size 10 or something.
    Funny old world, isn’t it?

  3. Jennifer

    Yes, very good title. We are beautiful…thin is not in.

  4. silken

    thank you for sharing this and linking to the other blog. my husband sent me this video earlier this week…looks like we have some homework to do this weekend…

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