posted by Women Undefined
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 10:48am CDT
Writing regarding current women's issues, sports analysis and commentary, with a dash of political posturing!
Wow.
This isn't right: she's 6'2 , weighs less than 100 pounds, and shows up to audition for Tyra Banks' ANTM in a corset. Um...wat?
Time for this show, which has tried so hard in recent season to break color and beauty norms in the fashion industry (emphasis on tried), to hang it up. When you have women auditioning in a corset and websites joking about the new contestants putting fashion industry photo-shoppers out of work, its time to stop.
There is nothing positive, empowering or fierce about this next clip- it is just sad . And not sad because she is so thin, for she is clearly naturally born that way. It is sad that her uncommon figure is fetishized, packaged and sold as the "extreme conditions" of next season's models. ANTM is using her to sell their show, which makes me sick. For not only is ANTM saying only skinny women need apply, now they want everyone to know these very "elite" skinny women are going to be subject to humiliation and scorn for being so skinny.
It is as if they are hanging up flyers for a traveling road show, so big and bold the letters on this poster appear. Is there a bearded lady to come on next? What will Miss Jay say then?
ANTM knows the criticism of the fashion industry: that women are too skinny, eating disorders are rampant, that the industry reifies an "abnormal" sense of beauty and body size. Of course, instead of adjusting their standards, ANTM not only reinforces the very beauty standards Tyra herself has railed against, they package up a picture of one gangly woman and run an entire media campaign on the idea that, yes, the fashion industry only likes the super tall, super skinny, super pretty women- and now they'll hate these women too- all in the most freak-show manner possible.
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