Adios Barbie

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 [...]

Media Causing More Men to Pursue “Ideal” Body

Bikini season’s fast approaching, and while women may worry about what they look like, a new study suggests men are becoming just as concerned about sculpting their own bodies. University of Florida researchers have found that men with lower self esteem may be trying to compensate by bulking up fast. As muscularity’s become even more [...]

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 [...]

How Does It Feel? Men and Body Image

by Chris Godsey
Brad Pitt is a beautiful man. I’m a male, I’m straight, and I don’t mind admitting that Brad’s body, especially in “Troy” is an impressive sight. Same with D’Angelo, in that powerful, sexual “Untitled (How does it feel?)” video from some years back; he’s a put-together dude, and there’s no reason to deny [...]

The Audacity of Young Black Women Who are Low-income, Obese, Abused, and ‘Precious’

About a week ago, I began reading an article in the New York Times Magazine called, “The Audacity of Precious”.  I was so pissed by what I read in the first few paragraphs I couldn’t finish the piece at that time.
When Precious’s plight lands her in a special school, she blossoms: the audience’s initial rejection [...]

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 [...]

Girls and Dieting: The More Things Change the More they get Worse

Jeffrey Azslow
The Wall Street Journal
September 2, 2009
One day in January 1986, fourth-grade girls at Marie Murphy School in Wilmette, Ill., were called down to the principal’s office.
A stranger was waiting there to ask each girl a question: “Are you on a diet?”
Most of the girls said they were.
“I just want to be skinny so no [...]

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 [...]