bodies

Both Linda Jay and a colleague of mine, Dr. Caroline Heldman, drew my attention to the new Minnie Mouse-themed line at Forever 21. The line is a collaboration between Disney and the fashion outlet and the mouse has been re-modeled, so to speak.

What must one do to Minnie to make her an acceptable fashion icon? Starve her down to a stick figure, apparently.

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Hope and Kristi P. sent in another example of the way the idea of a “curvy” shape is associated with non-White bodies. This Levi’s ad for their Curve ID jeans shows models whose skin color gets progressively darker as they move from less to more curvy styles:

Notice also that curvy here means primarily having a larger butt. All three models are show in size 27 jeans, which generally are equivalent to about a size 4 (though of course, sizes vary greatly) — certainly larger than the average runway model, but still very small.

Question: does anyone have examples of non-White men depicted as uniquely or systematically “curvy,” or is this applied only to women?

These vintage Lucky Strike cigarette ads posted at the Stanford  School of Medicine collection tell both women and men that they can lose weight if they reach for a smoke instead of a sweet

I’ve never seen any contemporary cigarette advertising using this idea to sell to men; but we have and do see the “slims” meme in advertising cigarettes to women.

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Dmitriy T.M. sent in a post by Irin Carmon at Jezebel about Playboy memorabilia up for auction, including images of centerfolds with editorial comments for the Photoshopper to fix various problematic aspects of the photos. The marked-up images gives us a peek into the process of creating a centerfold, as well as the scrutiny applied to literally every aspect of the models’ bodies, which are found wanting in a dizzying array of ways, with their blatant imperfections resulting from being actual living humans.

This one includes instructions to fix her large pores and soften her laugh lines (see the top left):

The rest of these images are *definitely* Not  Safe for Work, so beware:

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Nickey Robare and Maile Martinez, of Reel Grrls, put together a video discussing coverage of several celebrities who have recently lost weight, including the way that changes in body size are linked to changes in personality, with women becoming nicer when they get thinner:

Thanks to Nickey for sending it to us!

A reader associated with WOW/WGSGO, two feminist groups at Louisiana State University, sent in an image a friend took of a banner that is currently on display at an apartment complex near the campus in Baton Rouge, presenting two supposed LSU fans and one University of Alabama fan (in anticipation of tomorrow’s football game between the two teams):

As the sender-inner points out, the banner “is obviously sexist, fat-phobic, and caters to a male gaze and sports rivalry through objectification of women.” Individuals from WOW and WGSGO have repeatedly called the apartment complex to ask that the banner be taken down, so far to no avail.

It’s a perfect example of how fat bodies are both themselves stigmatized and used to stigmatize others. In this case, not only is this individual woman being mocked, but marking her as an Alabama fan serves to mock and denigrate all other fans by association. Because, as we all know, the campus with the hottest (according to conventional standards of attractiveness) chicks wins!

Michelle N. sent us a video by the ever-fabulous Sarah Haskins, this time on the use of scientific imagery and language in skin care commercials. Michelle says,

In these advertisements, complex, scientific-sounding language is used to obscure the actual simplicity of the beauty product and the “conditions” they aim to correct (body-aging anyone?)…Since when do we refer to lotion as a “serum”?

El sent in a really interesting example of the re-fashioning of a real body into one believed to be more appealing to consumers. In the video below, real footage of gymnast Shawn Johnson is shown alongside the video game designed to allow Wii players to “play” her. El notes:

…the video Shawn is significantly thinner and long-limbed whereas the real Shawn has a short muscular body. The real Shawn’s leotards are red and blue, while the video image is wearing a pink leotard. In addition, the hair of the video version is blonder.

There has been a clear effort here to feminize the image of Shawn and to make her body conform to less athletic ideals… While Shawn’s name and fame is used to sell the video (presumably primarily to little girls), the video sends the message that Shawn herself must be altered, even though I would guess most people buying the game are fans of Shawn, know what she look like, and admire her as she is.

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.