Does Ralph Lauren have a fetish?

Like most people in the world I tend to find models too thin. Does that make them bad people? No. But it does make me wonder why they are so popular.

This all came up because of the actions of Ralph Lauren. In his quest to display his clothing on models that (after airbrushing) could moonlight as pipecleaners, he pissed off Boing Boing (a blog) and garnered far more negative publicity than he could have imagined. But a female friend of mine specualted why all men are so enraptured by women of few dimensions.

Honestly, I am aware of no one that likes a woman so bony a dog would pass them up. It's something that has completely bewildered me. For decades I have seen fashion models and been unimpressed. Of all my friends from high school and college, I cannot think of 1 that considered the weight of a model as attractive. Even the lesbian women I know think that feminine curves look far better than the sickly look of near-anorexia. And as for my models, they all are just natural women.

So where does the pressure come from? Why must the fashion industry near-exclusively use women of a size sub-zero?

I have to believe that the designers are the biggest group of fetishists in plain public sight. That's the only explaination. The women they use, or airbrush, are so far from the norm that Janeane Garafalow (her politics) is mainstream in comparison. Obviously they just saw one Popeye cartoon too many. Especially Ralph Lauren.

When you think about it, only a group of people obsessed with a singular fetish could gather together to make the most unwomanly women objects of desire. They are not the women that get married every day, they are not the moms that raised us all. They aren't even the women that a normal man looks forward to seeing in Playboy.

Why is this important? Well some so desire to be accepted that they will do anything to fit what they see as the ideal of society. And that means becoming anorexic or bulemic. Neither is a state that is worth the false impression of beauty.

The same thing applies to those that airbrush out the "baby bumps" or actresses and models, or lightens the skin of women of color - like L'Oreal did to Beyonce. As Jo Swinson said

"Today's unrealistic idea of what is beautiful means that young girls are under more pressure now than they were even five years ago...The focus on women's appearance has got out of hand - no one really has perfect skin, perfect hair and a perfect figure, but women and young girls increasingly feel that nothing less than thin and perfect will do."

I don't care if Lauren has a fetish about pipecleaners. I don't care that he wants to make a living while celebrating his appraent fetish. But I do care when anyone is put into a place where they feel that they have to behave unnaturally to match the fetish in someone else brain.

Let me be clear, looking like a model - especially in a magazine - is not beauty. No woman should ever be compelled to feel like it is. Because any normal man (or woman for that matter) will always prefer reality over someone else's fetish.

And if Ralph lauren doesn't like my opinion, he can piss off.

Bones and just bones in Australian Miss Universe competition

When I saw the photo I just had to speak. My first thought was

“Wow, that’s what Olive Oyl would look like in person.”

That is Australian Miss Universe hopeful Stephanie Naumoska. If you look at her photo and think that she should have been competing for the poster-child for anorexia, I would agree. To say she is just bones would be only a modest exaggeration.

Naumoska is 5’ 11” and weighs just 108 pounds. There is no compliment or beauty in those numbers. The fact that she was allowed to even try-out for the pageant amazes me. Officials should have taken the woman to a hospital, or McDonald’s for emergency Big Mac’s.

I just don’t get it. Where is the beauty in having a figure only Olive Oyl might compare with? I suppose that somewhere in the world there exists someone who finds pipe cleaners sexual, but beyond that fetish is the reality that Naumoska looks horrendous. Because she is too thin.

There is no exaggeration when I say I have pre-teen nephews that weigh more than she does. I think I’ve owned dogs with more weight. I certainly would find such a woman repulsive to go out with. But isn’t there anyone in Australia with the guts and concern to say these things to this woman?

I pray that none of my readers every looks in a mirror or at this image and sees this kind of emaciation as a sign of anything but desperate need of food. Beauty cannot be found in a pair of jeans, and it certainly can’t be found with unhealthy diets.

Perhaps the worst thing about this situation is that there are some in the pageants and other industries that support and defend this kind of torture and slow death. One such foolish defender of anorexia, in my opinion, is pageant director Deborah Miller who said

“Naumoska, …had Macedonian heritage, which accounted for her extreme thinness.”

What the hell does that mean? I’ve never heard of such a thing. In fact neither had nutritionist Susie Burrell who went on record with the Herald Sun disputing the assertion. As far as I am aware a Macedonian is Greek. And Greek women are healthy, which Naumoska is not.

Suffice to say this woman failed in her bid to become Miss Australia. The only real question is how she got past the door for the competition in the first place.

Real curves kick butt

While I think the woman in the video is a bit too big, the point is clear. Real women rule. Stick figures don't work even in animation.

By the way APRES not only means after, as in the after image, but it also can mean bitter and harsh. Keeping that in mind the full meaning of the video really takes form.

Anorexia and Hi Glam dolls - revisiting a thought

Sometimes you can’t win for trying. While I am often passionate about my views, I am honest enough to admit my ignorance on some subjects. But having a view that is not popular on a topical issue can often lead to unique response from the internet.

Let’s look at my comments on the anorexic looking Hi-Glam dolls.

“But these Hi-Glam dolls are different. Yes they have various races covered. No they don’t represent women as anything more important than objects to be looked at because of how they dress. Yes it’s good they are dressed more substantially than a music video hoochie. But they are all anorexic. Seriously, they are proportioned like twigs.”

Now I do know a few throughout the internet agreed with my assessment. But when you are in a pool so big, sometimes you run into those that have a different view. And since I keep an eye out for where my posts are mentioned I do notice.

Thus I ran into these responses from girls (or women I have no idea) that love the dolls and dislike my thoughts.

Girl 1 : Cruel. It's the parent that chooses the dolls they give their little girls most of the time. XP to all those who don't understand crap 'bout the toy industry. espeically the doll market.
Note: It's best not to show me those articles cause it makes me wanna murder sumthing...

Girl 2: He did say "I don’t know much about dolls".

Girl 1: yeah, so why still insult them???

Girl or Guy 3: i need more anorexic dolls.

I like hi glam. they are a BIT essentric, but I do think barbie could benefit from slightly longer legs and a smaller waist. I mean, she IS a doll. why not make her perfect?

the 2nd article was gay and i stoped reading it after the second sentence, which said "i love anime" and they listed the silly violent cartoons they liked.

Now the poor spelling aside I find this interesting. My concern is the effect that these dolls are having on the young girls they are marketed to. It’s the same concern that has enveloped the high fashion modeling industry. It’s why Italy, England and Spain have all placed bans or made comments on the weight of models in their country.

But the above comments seem unable to understand my comments. Which I thought were obvious. Yet one wants to resort to violence over speaking honestly about the dolls, and another seems almost envious of their death-like looks.

Now I will bypass the fact that anime is a well respected art form loved by tens of millions. But the comment “article was gay” says a lot about the writer. I may be too old to know the latest slang that is out, but what is that supposed to mean? Obviously it’s an insult, but I generally enjoy a bit more in my insults. Perhaps a bit of depth and points of correction or disagreement.

But I digress.

Barbie is far from perfect, but her proportions were changed because she was so unrealistic. To be unable to accept the shape of a Barbie doll today as positive versus the Hi-Glam is to say that Marylyn Monroe was less sexy and attractive than Mary Kate Olsen or Jack Skellington.

Since it seems some did not understand my point before I will be blunt, direct and simple. I’ve lived across a good part of the globe, seen women of every race and ethnicity. I know guys in every country I’ve lived in, and between the thousands of people I have known in my life, not one has ever found an anorexic woman attractive. There is simply nothing to like or admire about someone that is scarcely more than a skeleton. It’s not appealing to anyone, it’s ugly in the most sick manner.

So I don’t know anything about dolls. But I do understand that anything that suggests a girl or woman should weigh as much as a softball and look like a corpse is unhealthy and wrong. It’s America and others don’t have to agree, but I will make my thoughts known.

If only one girl or woman decides to eat a hamburger and let it stay in her stomach then I’m pleased I wrote these posts. And if anyone disagrees they can go to hell.