Tuesday, March 11, 2014

The unkillable skinny ideal

It is striking to me how, despite a lot of campaigning against it, the omnipresence of super-thin fashion models is still king in the world, seemingly invulnerable.
They claim it's because it is easier to make clothes "hang" well on thin models, and perhaps it is, but there must be more to it, because it seems to me it's a minority of people who really like that kind of thin, and most of them work in the fashion industry.
It is like it is an idea, a self-destuctive idea from our collective subconscious, which has attached itself like a leach.

For instance, this one, from an ad on my Kindle Fire, she's probably envied by many women, but she strikes me as more... Scary, than anything else, yea?


By the way, in the wonderful and funny collaboration between Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, Good Omens, they present it as one of the more effective ideas which the main demon has introduced in the world. He has created a line of food producs ("Mealz" or something), which is addictive but contains no nutrients whatsoever. And a newer line which is the same plus suger and fat, you bloat up while starving to death.
A fan walks up the demon (in human form) and thanks him heart-feltly for his products, they have changed her life, she says. He describes her as skeletal and estimates with satisfaction that she has about two months to live.

I think the lesson is not so much to blame or attack the fashion industry or the food industry or anybody else, but to realize that we have deep destructive impulses, including self-destructive, and recognize them and see the for what they are. This all takes time and work, perhaps even therapy for some, but I think it's the only way to really change things.

7 comments:

Roger B. said...

Her neck is too long and her head is too far to the right, and looks too small for her body. I suspect that that's only the most obvious photoshopping that has gone on here. Imagine meeting someone who looks like this, someone's distorted view of what a 'perfect' human being should look like. Scary indeed.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

And she barely has breasts, and the shape of her skull is too visible, to my taste.

Anonymous said...

They want someone androgynous, who is still somewhat good looking in that sexless way, to fade into the background, like a blank in Scrabble, or like the way Jason Bourne's averageness allowed him to be invisible.

P.S. What if there wasn't any Photoshopping and she really looks that way. I thought the whole point of domai was all women are beautiful (yet oddly almost all domai women are mid-20s and white).

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Though I don't think I ever said that, I was always looking for more variety in race, age, and type for Domai. But it was surprisingly hard to find.

Chris Brown said...

Like a store mannequin basically, but one that can move, but I mostly agree with you.

Chris Brown said...

Though I don't think I ever said that, I was always looking for more variety in race, age, and type for Domai. But it was surprisingly hard to find.

You could make a lot more dough branching out - there's a market for GILF, Asian, black, etc., and if you can stomach it dudes, too, though personally I'd rather not tap that market.

Ken said...

You could make a lot more dough branching out - there's a market for GILF, Asian, black, etc., and if you can stomach it dudes, too, though personally I'd rather not tap that market.

The problem is finding people who are attractive and prepared to pose nude at a price that Eolake and others are prepared to pay, considering that the demand for soft porn is much lower. Which is probably why there are a lot of Eastern Europeans.