Rgale

http://www.therebelution.com/blog/20...ion-of-beauty/

Check this out! How real is our idea and ideal of beauty?
How is it achieved?

Vulgano Brother

Thanks, Rgale

That is why live music is so important.

krossum

just for kicks... apply this idea to "Pro-Tools" and our favorite modern recordings.

reality is beatiful; not manufactured perfection.
-Kelly

Yoder

Anything that is idolized is a construct of the ego...hence, it is not real.

Manny Laureano

It's a question of maturity, isn't it?

Even though that girl had to be enhanced to look that way, I know that women who look like the ultimate product do exist. They are as rare as can be but they do exist. Now would a person of mature mind spend his life looking for that girl and want her as the woman of his dreams? I think not. I hope not.

Should anyone looking at an ad with a woman like that expect to be able to look that way if they don't already? I hope not.

Are girls any more likely than boys to see a depiction of physical "perfection" and not want to become that? Yes, probably a bit moreso than boys who'll look at a muscle magazine and want to look like the latest steroid-created wrestling phenom.

The teen years are a time laced with personal insecurities and rare is the teen who is so secure and happy with him/herslef that they won't want to emulate a particular body look. So, my wish for any teen who sees something like that is that they feel unhesitant to admire a manifestation of physical perfection whether it's that ad or Michelangelo's David but that they are okay with not only who they are but also their potential.

If you have a kid who's overweight is there anything wrong with getting down to a healthy weight? No. Is there something dreadfully wrong with a girl starving herself to get into a pair of 00 sized jeans? Obviously, yes. But I blame the fashion industry less than peer pressure. I sincerely believe that teens deal with the competition of the girl next door more often than wanting to look like a supermodel.

Where the fashion industry is most offensive is in promoting the unhealthy, skinny look which is driven more by male fashion designers bent upon making girls look like young boys instead of voluptuous women. Think of the sex symbols of yesteryear and they were all voluptuous. In the nineties the look took a nosedive to produce the so-called "heroin chic" look. Calista Flockhart was the posterboy.. er.. girl for that underfed look though without the dark drugged out quality.

Girls also have to deal with the fact that the same fashion designers create clothing that only fit a certain body type. The fad of recent years with the hip hugger style and flab hanging over the beltline is wickedly disgusting. But adolescent boys will do anything to see a little skin and happily support anything that brings them closer to flesh no matter how bad the girl looks. A few years ago a gril showed up to my youth symphony auditiond as a helper wearing the pants and shirt wth the midriff showing and I had my exec. director tell her not to come back if she was going to dress that way. I've had girls show up to rehearsal with that outfit and just about have the pelvic bones showing. What are they thinking? Are they thinking?

Give me a girl with meat on her bones, a nice smile and a flattering dress.

ML

silverstar

There's a reason I stopped reading all the 'teen girl' and 'fashion' magazines when I was 15 or so.

I realized that pretty much 90% of them were ads about makeup, clothes, products to enhance this and that...and the other 10% wasn't worth my time reading anyway. I also realized that after reading them, I felt horrible about the way I looked or how I dressed. They know how to play on the insecurities of teenage girls and make them feel like they are somehow inadequate. At least that's what reading those magazines did for me. After I stopped reading them, I felt better about myself and I didn't fret about if I was 'in-style' or 'thin enough' to look good.

I love that Dove (haha, that rhymed!) is doing this campaign for real beauty. Kudos to them.

Lara

Rgale

I think that Lara has a very good point, as does Manny. The business people have found many ways to make young people feel insecure at a time when you do anyway, and they exploit that to the max- it makes them a lot of money.
Older people respond to this too. Is there anything sadder than a lady of 50 years or more trying to look like her daughter?

Richard Oliver

I'm 49. When I was a callow youth, adults dressed, looked like, and behaved like adults more than they do today.

I work in a grocery store. I see "all of you" in a setting that is revealing.

Regards,

Richard Oliver

Veldkamp

Yes, Sophia Loren (72) posing in the Pirelli Calender...