Oh, wow, the comments still keep trickling in about the Sun-Times editorial. I don’t have much more to say about the Dove ads right now, but I thought I’d bring back a couple of body-image-related entries from my old online journal. They both date back to 2001 and they haven’t been available online for almost two years but they’re in the new (and slowly growing) archives. Since these are four years old now I have to resist a terrible impulse to heavily revise them; I did edit them a little.
Imaginary Fat People is from July 2001. Part of it is about fat suits–that summer the previews for Shallow Hal were running in the theatres, America’s Sweethearts had come out, and Fat Monica was a big fat stereotype-on-a-stick, and it seemed a good time to say something. And Screw Shari is from May 2001. It’s a rant on this dumb survey I read about in Marie Claire, and it’s nowhere near as high-minded.
I liked book touring but I really, really like not touring, too. I know I’m still slightly recovering because there are some days when my routine existence suddenly feels like a big bouquet of retardedly simple pleasures. I get to go places using my own car! When I am done with work I get to come home! After dinner I can take a walk! And in the park by my home there are dogs, and flowers, and the Righteously Outrageous Twirling Corps practicing their routines, and everything. So I’m going to enjoy all that for awhile, if that’s okay with you.
I completely agree that imaginary fat seems to be the only kind people want to talk about. I teach 12th grade English, and for several years have used the article “Fat Suits: Hollywood’s New Minstrel Show”, which can be found in the archives at http://www.bitchmagazine.com/
My students are all familiar with the fake fat characters in their favorite comedies, and are at first resistant to the idea that we should even bother discussing “stuff that’s just for fun.” And we have some very awkward moments in the discussion where they backtrack and try to censor themselves, because I, their teacher for whom they (mostly) have a good deal of respect, usually fall into the size range of 16-20. I felt so proud of the exchange they had this year when one girl asked one boy whether skinny girls were what he really found attractive and he admitted that though it isn’t, particularly, he felt some pressure from his friends to act as if it is. It opened the floor for an incredible discussion of pop culture, gender, and sexuality. (My male friends have expressed a similar sense of relief when they see women who look like the women they love and are attracted to in the Dove ads, by the way!)
One student’s comment that I have ruined popular culture for her because now she “can’t stop thinking” when she watches t.v. makes me feel like I am really in the trenches fighting fat phobia, and I’ll use this editorial as a companion piece. Thanks!
Not to beat a dead horse or anything, but check out the article in Slate by Seth Stevenson. At first glance, he seems really pro-normal women and all, but I just couldn’t shake off the slightly patronizing tone while I was reading.
Then I got to the last paragraph where he concludes that the Dove campaign is doomed to fail because women will “come to think of Dove as the brand for fat girls”. Come on! I know we have rehashed this a million times, but since when are those girls anything but normal?
I saw the Dove ads at the local mall a couple of weeks ago and was tickled pink that once and a while we get to see the real world in advertising. Most of us wake up and see spouses and partners in undies that look more like the Dove girls than the size three and under set. My teen age boys and my wife were with me at the mall. I told the boys women like the Dove girls were in their future, so watch the snotty comments. They told me I was nuts. Then Mom told them the same thing. Because they are not willing to risk having to do their own laundry for the rest of the summer, she just got silent stares out of them. I only hope somebody does undies for men some justice in the near future. I am not sure, however, if the malls of America are ready for it.
I’d actually be amazed if any of those girls are truly “normal”. Last I read the average American woman was 5’5″ and wore a size 16. They all seem smaller than that to me. Maybe the tallest one wears a 16.
Wendy, this is an awesome site, which I just found after reading the Dove piece. I’ll be reading regularly now!
Wendy, thanks for the column! Funny thing about those big white undies and the readers’ sons who said no way would they ever have a woman in their life like that … it’s not the garments that are important but the woman who wears them. Doesn’t matter if I wear sexy undies or gramma undies, my husband still digs me. Married guys … mature guys… get this. It’s only the young and dumb that don’t.
Love your new format, loved your book and love that you’re catching a breather. And I also love that you still blog, now that you’re sorta famous. Peace and a great weekend to you … M
In all the discussion about the Dove ads, why has no one mentioned the fact the “firming creams” don’t work? I am disgusted by the backlash against the women in the ads, but I am furious at Dove. Selling women snake oil is not doing them any favors.
For those of you who’d like to continue posting about the Dove ads, could you please make your comments in the previous entries? I hate to see the discussion scattered all over the place. I wish there was some way for me to move the comments, but I can’t. Thanks!
I suspect Shari was a figment of some Marie-Claire writer’s imagination. (At least, I hope she was.)
BTW, glad the tour’s over… it must be very nice to be home and back in a routine again.
I just wanted to pipe in and say that I think that your article was fabulous, and well spoken – not to mention well timed. I am enjoying reading more of your blog online here, and I’m glad to have found it!
Wendy, I came home in the most foul mood, and ‘Screw Shari’ cheered me up immensely. Thanks! (See recent post for explanation.)
Hi Wendy, loved the editorial–I like the Dove ads even though the women are definitely on the skinny side of “real.” I’m wondering if you (and your readers) are familiar with New Moon magazine for girls? It’s a zine for girls and by girls ages 8-14, and it’s ad-free–no impossibly skinny models! The deadline for nominations for our annual “25 Beautiful Girls” issue is coming up on October 1, so if you know a girl who’s beautiful for who she is and what she does, please let us know about her. Thanks.
Dove ads.
a co-worker told me about them–making a point of telling me he thought they were grand!! just to show me how progressive he is– his wife is waif thin, all (multiple) his mistresses are ‘big girls’
Dove..their product stinks regardless of their marketing stradegies.
Hey I just read an interview about you in BITCH magazine. You seem really down to earth, friendly, and modest. I enjoy reading it and because of it I will purchase your new book very soon.
Don’t ever stop writing!
xox
I think Shari is real–why not? Doesn’t our media tell us women that we are primarily valued for our appearences & sexual attractiveness? And I think Marie-Claire printed her comments w/o a shread of irony. There are some women’s magazines that don’t reinforce sexual objectification & treat their readers as if they have brains. I can think of 2–“Bust” and “Bitch”.
I have promised myself that today, I will post a comment on each of my favorite blogs, letting the owner know how much I appreciate them.
Hey, I ran across an article today in The Observer about a young lady who has amnesia, and after learning about her old self (shy, hedgehog-loving teen aith a weight problem), she has decided she does not want her memory back. She has created a new persona and had as her main goal weight loss.
The article was interesting and it somewhat saddened me.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1548780,00.html
After reading some of the comments from your Imaginary Fat People entry (which was wonderful BTW), I was wondering if you’d seen Starved on FX, and if so, what your thoughts were on it…
I felt, like the rest of Hollywood, this was written by someone (helloooo Mr. Eric Schaeffer) who doesn’t really understand anything about eating disorders, but rather, the stereotypes of them. (And what’s with all the GUYS with eating issues… um, hello?) Anywho, still trying to figure out what I think about it. Wanted your opinion, oh hep and groovy one. 🙂
Just wanted to tell you that after reading this entry … I FINALLY went out and bought your book. I have been reading Poundy for well … I can’t even remember how long and I enjoy the hell out of your sense of humor and honesty. Thanks for making me feel a little more human and like there might be someone out there who goes through the same kind of stuff that I do also.
Whatever you decide to do, I am so grateful that Poundy was here for the time that it was.
AND … I think that I am going to buy Dove products now, well, just because.
AND … Grape Ape and the Professor? Clearly dolts. Hope they are kicking themselves shamelessly for being asses.