Adios Barbie

Supermodel Diversity Does Not Include 36-Inch Hips

8 Naked Supermodels = Body Diversity by Sarah Menkedick at Change.org
This just in! Diversity has apparently been reduced to the millimeter of difference between Kate Moss and Amber Valleta’s naked hips!  Love Magazine is patting itself on the back for issuing eight separate covers for its third issue, each with a different naked supermodel holding [...]

Dove: Redefining Male Beauty

By Sharon Haywood
Is male beauty found in ripped abs and bulging biceps? Is a man deemed attractive by the car he drives? Or by how much money he earns? If you look at commercials geared toward men as an indicator, you would have to deduce that square jawlines, snazzy sport cars, and a thick wallet [...]

Transgender Beauty in India

By Sharon Haywood
For women and men alike, self-image and self-esteem are often intimately linked. For transgendered people, positive self-image and high self-esteem can be elusive at best. In India, the combined efforts of activists and businesses attempt to alter this reality via the country’s first-ever transgender beauty pageant. The force behind the search for the [...]

Dove and Diversity: Not Just for Women

By Sharon Haywood
Ads for cars, beer, and action movies typically dominate the costly airtime during Super Bowl.  But during The Big Game of 2006, it wasn’t another Bud Light commercial that captivated viewers. Instead, the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty reached an estimated 90.7 million football fans via a 45-second spot that promoted Dove’s Self-Esteem [...]

Huffington Post: Former Miss Argentina Dies From Cosmetic Butt Surgery

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Associated Press) — A 38-year-old former Miss Argentina has died from complications after undergoing cosmetic surgery on her buttocks.
Solange Magnano, a mother of twins who won the crown in 1994, died of a pulmonary embolism Sunday after three days in critical condition following a gluteoplasty in Buenos Aires.
Close friend Roberto Piazza said [...]

Hair: The Tales and Fables of our Follicles

In light of all the talk about the politics of Black hair and Chris Rock’s Good Hair documentary, Newsweek dedicated a whole week in October to what they coined “A Week of Follicular Coverage.” To launch the series they wrote:
As personal as our hair is, it’s also the subject of some very public and political [...]

Body image gets animated: What The Simpsons and Family Guy say about beauty

By Guest Contributor Tessa
Originally posted at About-Face
For a long time, I have believed in the power of empathizing with a fictional character to transform the way we feel about ourselves. But how does this relationship play out when that character is not human, but cartoon?

Lisa from The Simpsons
In The Simpsons, Lisa Simpson [...]

Cougars: Unfortunately Coming to a Town Near You

Today in reference to Demi Moore, someone jokingly asked me, “What do you have against cougars?”
My response?
“I’m all for cougars, but let’s just call them what they are, grown ass women who own their sexuality, are comfortable in their skin and deserve to be celebrated and not demonized as desperate predators.”
Then I woke up. As [...]

Meet the Real Woman on Glamour’s p. 194

What happens when the editor-in-chief of a woman’s magazine actually shows a real woman as she really is? She gets nearly 1000 comments on her blog that express joy and relief. Unlike Lucy Danziger from Self Magazine, let’s hope that Cindi Leive, Glamour Magazine’s editor takes heed to what her readers (not her advertisers) really [...]

Finally! The truth about “happily ever after” revealed.

Fairy Tale Heroines Return To Dark Roots In Modern Setting
By Intern Katy, Jezebel.com

After observing her daughter’s recent interest in Disney’s Fairy tales, artist Dina Goldstein was inspired to create the “Fallen Princess” series, which shows the famed Princesses in dark modern-day dramas.
Goldstein’s work depicts several of the Disney heroines in depressing scenes straight out of the 21st [...]