I believe that women's bodies being perceived as objects to be scrutinized and critiqued is tied to the abortion issue. 

If her body can be subjected to public scrutiny, than it is also fair game for public control.

i'm not a very good english speaker...what is meant by train? cabooze is another word for backside, right?

Well, if that's all you're wearing down the aisle, yeah, they probably will stare at your butt. But if you've got a train, (and, you know, a big ole dress) your butt will actually be shapeless, because there's a giant piece of fabric over it.

But heavens forfend we use logic instead of a bad pun and massive amounts of sexism!

That's particularly disturbing in light of the fact that the company is owned by Sara Blakely - according to Wikipedia, she's the world's youngest "self-made" female billionaire, and she's done it all on the backs (or butts) of fellow women. It's just another reminder that women are as active in the policing of women's bodies as men are.

I hate the patriarchy.

Heaven forbid that we think about anything else at a wedding but the bride's backside, never mind the event itself, never mind the emotional meaning of it, we're all just looking at THAT.

I notice as well that the 'ideal image' of the woman in the full dress in the corner is an illustration rather than a photo, one in which she is (of course!) white, blonde, and impossibly slim. Don't worry, ladies, you only have this impossible image to live up to! Never mind your fleshly inadequacies, this cartoon expresses how you SHOULD be. 

Pah. Yet another reminder of a 'bride-zilla' culture, where women are told that their wedding is the best day ever, full stop, and has to be absolutely perfect and is the culmination of their dreams... and then criticised for trying to have the perfect day. And of course, told that they will be endlessly judged on 'their' day (what about the groom?) and have to have every accessory possible to make it 'perfect'. Call me a cynic, but what happened to the simple ideal of a special day where you express a commitment to the person you love?

I already don't like/boycott spanx because I wrote them in 2006 about their use of the word nude, and they never wrote me back.

Capitalism itself must be indicted in this critique. Eliminating capitalism will not eliminate the gaze entirely, however any criticism of the patriarchy should not go without drawing attention to the fact that it is the capitalist system which both enables and accelerates the process through which the human body is commodified.

I also saw this and could not believe my eyes. It's a whole mini-catalogue that is all about SPANX for your wedding. I think it also features the memorable slogan "Say I do to Spanx" or something along those lines. Inside, there are pictures of whole wedding parties revealing their shapewear and people are encouraged to talk about wearing SPANX on their wedding day (including some grooms!) I think this makes a great keepsake to lament the state of our culture in decades to come.

 And while we're decrying male gaze and the objectification of women, let's also acknowledge that it's still a point of cisgender/heterosexual privilege to be able to become married in this culture, that despite the ridiculous pressures and anachronisms that weddings represent for women, they are still a source of advantage. 

It is all about the bride's wedding day performance and nothing about the actual marriage, which is where the real trouble begins. It's like parading prime buffalo at auction and once the proceedings are over, leaving the animal to fend for itself; or worse yet, consuming it until there is nothing left, which is how some women feel after years of marriage - utterly consumed, caboose and all. ;-)

The whole ritual of stepping up the acts of compliance with patriarchal beauty standards shortly pre-nuptials seems baffling until you put it in the context of our culture.

After all, (heterosexual) marriage is the absolute apex of patriarchy - a woman walks down the aisle, on display as something about to be auctioned off, and is "given away" by one man to another. Our society's obsession with ritualistically preparing for that moment begins not with putting on Spanx, but with gender training at birth. Little girls learn they need to be pretty, at puberty they learn they exist to be scrutinized by the male gaze, and their goal is to win the pretty contest enough to be "purchased" by one of the gazers.

Is this really any different than products which  cater to the male body?  Male bodies are judged on a daily basis as well.  You can hardly watch television after a certain time of night without seeing an ad for PX90 or some other such product to produce an "acceptable" male form.  Axe body spray, anyone?

It's not just weddings, apparently women are expected to strap themselves into these "modern" corsets every time they leave the house. I saw a photo feature in a local newspaper recently, in an ongoing column where the writer is a fashion spotter, stopping interesting people on the street and asking to take their picture and talk about their personal style. The commenters include a woman (or someone posting as a woman) who says things like "Poor thing, she might look nice if she had a decent bra and some Spanx." 

Let's get a woman president and start to leave the ugly patriarchal past behind...