“Three of the nominated films this year have 26 men and one woman [in featured roles] — ‘Slumdog [Millionaire]‘ and ‘Milk,’ and ‘Frost/Nixon.’ You know, we accept it. It’s not unusual. But we would go nuts if three of the nominated films had 26 women and one man. It would be a very, very unusual thing.
“We’re still not telling everybody’s story in our country and that’s where we are,” she said.
The Learning Channel (TLC), owned by Discovery Commmunications, has a new reality TV series called “Toddlers & Tiaras” about little girls and boys competing in beauty pageants.
The show’s description, from its official site:
On any given weekend, on stages across the country, little girls and boys parade around wearing makeup, false eyelashes, spray tans and fake hair to be judged on their beauty, personality and costumes. Toddlers and Tiaras follows families on their quest for sparkly crowns, big titles, and lots of cash.
The preparation is intense as it gets down to the final week before the pageant. From hair and nail appointments, to finishing touches on gowns and suits, to numerous coaching sessions or rehearsals, each child preps for their performance. But once at the pageant, it’s all up to the judges and drama ensues when every parent wants to prove that their child is beautiful.
(Emphasis mine)
WTF????!!!????
For more jaw-dropping, check out the photo gallery with the before-and-after photos of the children (needless to say, they looked so much better BEFORE):
“The Swan.” “I Want a Famous Face.” “Dr. 90210.” “Extreme
Makeover.” “Nip/Tuck.” The list goes on. These are a few of the TV shows that have
examined, and promoted, the bene?ts of plastic surgery in recent years. University of Southern California professor Julie Albright believes the shows are driving women to go under the knife to conform to a heightened de?nition of beauty, one that is increasingly dif?cult to attain.
[...]
“Women are being taught to access power and status through their looks, “ Albright believes. “Before women might buy a Louis Vuitton purse to show off their ‘status.’ Now they might buy new breasts as a sign of their success.”
At the very least, these shows act as an advertisement for the plastic surgery industry, Albright says. At the most these shows impose unrealistic beauty standards that make people question their own bodies while giving them an instruction manual on how to change their appearance.
This kind of sexualization of ‘tween girls – defined as those between the ages of 8 and 12 – in pop culture and advertising is a growing problem fueled by marketers’ efforts to create cradle-to-grave consumers, a University of Iowa journalism professor argues in her new book.
“A lot of very sexual products are being marketed to very young kids,” said Gigi Durham, author of The Lolita Effect. “I’m criticizing the unhealthy and damaging representations of girls’ sexuality, and how the media present girls’ sexuality in a way that’s tied to their profit motives. The body ideals presented in the media are virtually impossible to attain, but girls don’t always realize that, and they’ll buy an awful lot of products to try to achieve those bodies. There’s endless consumerism built around that.”
Every morning I have a ritual: scanning the press (American, British, French and Italian) for news about the beauty industry, mass media, and advertising. Recently, I jumped on the Google Alert bandwagon and now my job is far easier: emails about “plastic surgery,” “dieting,” “airbrushing,” and “KGOY” (Kids Getting Older Younger) neatly make their way into my inbox, sending me off in unexpected directions, making me check out sites all over the blogosphere and from small newspapers I didn’t previously know about.
This morning, I received an alert about “breast implants” that directed me to a blog – Boy Culture – which had a post about unretouched photos of Madonna from a Steven Klein photoshoot (original post here). By digging through the site’s archive, I found a previous post with more photos from the same photoshoot (you can find it here).
Now, what impressed me the most was not Madonna’s unsightly appeareance – the blog author doesn’t spare compliments, saying, ” Madonna looked like sh*t in a freezer.” I didn’t gasp at the uncomfortable poses, age-inappropriate outfits, or at her wrinkles. No. What shocked me the most about these photos was a palpable sense of vulnerability: she looked raw, exposed, weak, offering herself up to the photographer’s lens. Her eyes just about killed me. They seemed to be pleading, “I’m 50, please make me look good.”
I remember how fiery and feisty she was throughout 1990s. Then came a revolution in Hollywood and a newfound cultural obsession with teen stars. And Madonna, chamaleon-like, kept reinventing herself to appeal to a young public. And she hasn’t stopped. Now at 50, after a career of extraordinary commercial success in the music world, and iconic status for many followers, she is still selling herself as a sexual object. And looking increasingly out of place.
When I saw the photos, I though of an Ariel Levy quote (from her book Female Chauvinist Pigs):
“There is a disconnect between sexiness or hotness and sex itself. [...] Our interest is in the appearance of sexiness, not the existence of sexual pleasure. [...] Passion isn’t the point. The glossy, overheated thumping of sexuality in our culture is less about connection than consumption. Hotness has become our cultural currency.”
Why? Because I remember Madonna’s controversial statements in the 1990s, her provocative music videos, her book Sex, her album Erotica. Back then, she was talking about sexual pleasure. For marketing purposes, sure, but still, her message was about sex itself – just think about her video for the song “Justify My Love.”
Well, now I feel she is virtually indistinguishable from other musicians thumping sexuality in a completely superficial way, merely selling the appearance of sexiness for visual consumption, as Ariel Levy would say.
At 50, she should have known better.
ADDENDUM:
I’m eagerly awaiting for a day when girls will have a young positive female role model who is not a singer or an actress. Someone known for her intellectual acumen – not her body. Somebody fostering a real change in the world. (I nominate Naomi Klein).
Most depressing quote, about a 13 year old who wants to get breast implants:
(Announcer, V.O.)
And Jemma doesn’t just want bigger breasts. She wants them to look like they’re fake.
Feeling incredibly sad and outraged for 2 main reasons:
#1 – these teenage girls want to go under the knife at an age when they are not yet fully aware of the long-term repercussions of such serious surgery
#2 – for big media, who, by deciding to broadcast a program about teen plastic surgery, without the participation of experts weighing in, are essentially normalizing this behavior, making it appear a viable option. Totally irresponsible on their part. Where is Germaine Greer?
American researchers are convinced the weekend bombardment of music videos containing images of skinny, semi naked models in sexual poses is damaging teenagers.
Once, music clips were a pure form of entertainment.
Now it seems it’s almost impossible to find a family-friendly clip.
…Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard, says …”It always concerns me when the images of very young people or children are sexualised. I think a childhood should be a childhood that should be replicated in our media and in the way in which we live. We should let boys and girls grow up with all the special innocence that childhood has,” says Gillard.
“I love the fact that you have real breasts,” Oprah gushed to Kate. Kate took this as a compliment. Oprah went on to describe the difference between what happens to real breasts when a woman lies on her back and fake breasts when a woman lies on her back.
