> Maybe Jennifer Hudson will help people appreciare
> curves again.
>
> Today, Marilyn Monroe and Bettie Page would be thought
> fat; my daughter, who has that kind of figure, has
> real body issues.
The really weird thing about this allegedly new conception of female beauty is that -- despite this increasingly skinny female ideal put forth in "the media" -- bi and heterosexual men still seem to be more attracted to Marilyn Monroe/Bettie Page type figures. If classical sculpture is any indication, it would appear that this has been the case for a very long time.
I'd be curious to see a study on U.S. men and European men, but I'd guess their tastes are pretty similar to those of Brazilian men:
"Experts also agree that Brazilian men, whatever their class or race, have been much slower to accept slenderness as a gauge of feminine beauty. When they are looking for a sexual partner, Brazilian men are consistent and clear in saying that they prefer women who are fleshy in the rear — "popozuda" is the wonderfully euphonious slang term used here — and have pronounced curves.
"In the past, that standard was so firmly established that some Brazilian women resorted to breast reduction or buttock augmentation surgery, sometimes even transferring their own tissue from top to bottom." ...
Ms. del Priore, the historian, pointed to other fundamental changes, which she said have led to a rebellion against machismo and the patriarchal structure that she believes persists here.
"This abrupt shift is a feminine decision that reflects changing roles" as women move out of the home and into the workplace, she said. "Men are still resisting and clearly prefer the rounder, fleshier type. But women want to be free and powerful, and one way to reject submission is to adopt these international standards that have nothing to do with Brazilian society."
< http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/weekinreview/14roht.html >
The problem, then, isn't men per se, but a beauty culture that emerges out of capitalism -- one that establishes norms that both deny women's interests and het. and bi men's desires.
It's a shame that so much of the discourse around women's negative body images comes in the form of moralistic condemnation of the fashion industry for hurting women's feelings (often accompanied by some throw-away, new agey bromide along the lines of "every women is beautiful"). Moralizing is ineffective because it can easily be brushed-off as unrealistic and an attempt to circumvent actual beauty in favor of some other good, like public health.
What's missing, it seems, is a discourse that reasserts the old feminine body ideal. (i.e. Marilyn Monroe was just better looking than [some skinny celebrity]). I suppose it could be replied that the old ideal was just as oppressive (which may be true) but it was a hell of a lot healthier and, IMO, attractive.
-WD
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