I've been meaning to post this for a while, but Other Things have distracted me from doing so. I'm here today to rectify this.
So. There's this show I love. You might have heard of it.
Project Runway is the kind of show that gets me all riled up. Some days, I agree with the judges. Some days, I don't. But I always want to hear what they have to say. Earlier this season (the show's tenth!), one of the contestants had an issue with his model. You see, she wasn't a size 2. She wasn't even in the modeling industry at all. The woman was somewhere around her forties or fifties, and according to the contestant, shapeless. As in, "fat".
The contestant then proceeded to design an outfit that didn't flatter her at all. Simply because she wasn't the kind of woman he designs for. He didn't know how to make something sexy and flattering for a woman like her.
Was I bothered by this? Of course. But I grew LIVID when the discussion of "real women" came up.
You see, real women have curves. There's even a movie that says so.
I, however, disagree. So does this woman:
Supermodel Heidi Klum, the future badass godmother of my children
Heidi and I think along the same lines--every woman is a real woman. Every woman and teen girl has feelings, dreams, and fears. Whether they're a size 2 or 20, they should be respected as human beings with a brain and a heart (unless they don't like Jensen Ackles. Because that's just unacceptable. Obvi). If you cut a bit of a Victoria's Secret model's finger, she's going to bleed. Same will happen if you cut a bit of my finger or anyone else's. I'm sick of listening to people exalt super thin bodies as the epitome of beauty, but I'm also sick of listening to people exalt curvy bodies as the epitome of beauty.
Ladies, we are all beautiful. Please stop hating on each other. Seriously. It's getting boring.
Now tell me: are you sick of the whole "real women" debate? Or is it something you just don't pay attention to?
I love your point here. Any woman is a real woman, no matter her shape or size. We definitely need to stop with the demonizing.
ReplyDeleteYes, I concur. There is no one size of a real woman. We're all real, for Pete's sake! On another tangent, I think it's unfortunate how body image in general---skinny, curvy, in between---is so often discussed as a way to define women. What about everything else? Argh.
ReplyDeleteGreat post.
ReplyDeleteI was a lot tinier in my twenties, but I was a real woman when I didn't have a curve anywhere and I'm still real now, last time I checked.
All it takes to be a real woman is to feel like one.