When Glamour magazine featured this un-airbrushed photo of 20-year-old model Lizzie Miller in a piece about body confidence, letters and comments poured in from readers glad to see this picture of a ‘normal women.’
Every now and then I compose a post about beauty. We humans have a habit of taking what’s most beautiful about ourselves–the very quirks and idiosyncrasies that make us unique–and believing they somehow instead make us inadequate or unacceptable. In the public arena, women are all too often criticized for their physique over their ideas. Meanwhile, runways frequently celebrate a very unhealthy image of the body.
And now we have Lizzie looking absolutely stunning celebrated in a top fashion magazine! I’m posting her photo here because it’s such a gorgeous image and really captures the spirit of a beautiful woman who seems comfortable and happy in her own skin. Well done Glamour.
September 7th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
I’ve always been a fan of plus-size models! There’s a great site with many images of plus-size models here:
http://www.judgmentofparis.com/
They’re all gorgeous.
The site’s forum also has thought-provoking discussions about body image and the media.
September 7th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
People who think anorexic is beautiful should take a look at Renaissance paintings. Round and curvy was the standard of beauty. Paintings of Venus, the goddess of love, depict her with a belly. This concept that thin equals beautiful is cultural; those who believe it only do so because they have been brainwashed that way.
I’m an actress, chubbier than Lizzie, and I’d do the same pose for Glamour in a heartbeat, just the way I am now.
September 8th, 2009 at 12:06 am
“Round and curvy was the standard of beauty. ”
It’s interesting how much cultures change over the years. I’d be interested in a study that could uncover if there is a common thread to what is perceived as beautiful that holds from culture to culture. I’m going to assume symmetry would be a part of it.
I’m really glad you blogged about it since this is an important issue.
September 8th, 2009 at 1:05 am
Marry me Lizzie…
September 8th, 2009 at 2:24 am
Kudos to Glamour. Hopefully it could be more of a mainstay and not a, um, passing fetish for magazines to feature more realistically-figured women. Not that I try to follow pop culture, and even given my low opinion of Jessica Simpson, when I heard her being criticized for a normal compliment of fatty tissue on her body, I couldn’t help but defend her decision.
Anyone remember the Dove ads that featured normal women, but were pulled because they were too obscene?
It’s time to call the runway model / actress / etc ‘idealized’ skinny frame what it really looks like: The Auschwitz Diet. I see little difference between the torture and starvation of two groups of people even though one was at the hand of guards with guns.
September 8th, 2009 at 6:29 am
Wow!!! She’s GORGEOUS!!! Can I get her number?!
Well, seriously, though, thanks Glamour for making us slightly overweight people feel good about ourselves! And also thanks Lizzie, for telling us (in a picture, no less) that ‘zero size’ is a myth fostered by zero IQs. We love ya, Lizzie!
September 8th, 2009 at 9:37 am
this is not a direct criticism of Lois at comment #1, (since she is correct that Lizzie is a plus-sized MODEL) but Lizzie is most certainly “normal-sized” and is only plus-sized compared to the waifs we are used to seeing. Lizzie looks great in that picture, and I am sure that if each of us met her in person, our first impressions would definitely NOT be “what a lovely plus-sized woman”. Her size probably wouldn’t even cross our minds. I very much want my daughters to be comfortable in their own skin, just as Lizzie appears to be in that photo.
September 8th, 2009 at 10:53 am
The model in that photo does not appear overweight to me
September 8th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Thanks for posting this.
September 8th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
There are so many nuances about this. The primary consideration, I think, is that this photo counters the extremely unhealthy expectations placed on young women. It is truly sad that millions of young women are under so much stress because they have unrealistic expectations for their bodies.
But there’s another way of looking at it: let’s turn the tables and talk about the expectations that young men put on themselves. They think that they should be studs, that they need large genitals, that women expect them to perform in bed, that if they can’t bring a woman to orgasm they are inadequate, that they should be able to drive cars fast and solve all problems and get rich. These too are unrealistic expectations.
I hasten to add that I’m not claiming that men have it worse than women; I’m pointing out a sad symmetry. Both sexes have their unrealistic expectations and try too hard to meet impossible standards.
We do this to ourselves. Women love to buy magazines like “Cosmopolitan” that give imagery to their fantasies. What woman would not want to be among the 0.001% of the female population that is blessed with a fantastic shape? The problem is, that tiny fraction of the female population represents a combination of luck and harsh self-discipline. We can’t all be Olympic athletes or Raquel Welch (or whoever is the current sex symbol — I’m quite out of date).
Ultimately, then, “the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves”. We do this to ourselves because we have fantasies. And I’m not so sure that those fantasies are themselves bad things. Is it really so bad a thing for a girl to dream of being sexy and glamorous? The proper balance between our dreams and our realities is something that we can obtain only by erring on one side or the other.
There is also another pole to this problem: fat slobs. I am appalled seeing obese people of either sex. They disgust me because they have no pride in themselves, no love for their own bodies. I understand the struggle — I myself am about ten pounds overweight and it’s a real struggle getting down. But let’s think in terms of numbers. How many people are unhealthily overweight and how many people are unhealthily underweight? I’m pretty sure that the former group vastly outnumbers the latter. If so, then should we not be making even greater efforts to glamorize a healthy weight? The model in this photo looks to me to be at an ideal weight. Shouldn’t we be doing more to idolize people like her, and anathematize obese people?
Hard questions.
September 8th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
I would still say that this model is not your average woman and is not exactly “normal”. The real challenge and achievement would be to pick ten random women from a random street in ten diverse countries and put them on magazine pages. I agree that the woman in this photo seems to be at an ideal weight and quite attractive (and did anyone notice she is white?), therefore in a way not really representative.
September 8th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
OK, we finally got someone with a belly on the cover (yes she has a beautiful face/smile – does that mean I have to find her folds attractive? her belly looks like she just had liposuction or something- how it folds over on itself like that)- I also happen to thing ugly people get the shaft when it comes to these so called ‘beauty’ mags… how about it Sheril, can we beautify the ugly as well?
While we’re at it does anyone have a problem with record companies discriminating against the tone-deaf?
September 8th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
andrew, have a listen to the radio. the record companies don’t discriminate against the tone-deaf. as long as they are “attractive” they doctor up their voices and sign them up for the big bucks.
September 8th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
plus. her tiny little “belly” is barely folding because she is sitting and leaning. this is extremely common. either you rarely see naked women in real life or you have only dated those skeletons that pass as women. sorry. no offense. just think about it.
September 9th, 2009 at 12:18 am
“ I am appalled seeing obese people of either sex.”
Thank you for sharing!
“ Shouldn’t we be doing more to idolize people like her, and anathematize obese people?”
I know – it’s really disgusting, how obese people are, like, on the cover of every beauty & fashion magazine, how they’re the focus of public admiration and praise – what I wouldn’t give to hear a single even slightly edge joke about fat people, or watch a movie that dared to poke fun of overweight folks!!
“. They disgust me because they have no pride in themselves, no love for their own bodies.”
I must say, I’m quite impressed with your mindreading abilities.
“ understand the struggle — I myself am about ten pounds overweight and it’s a real struggle getting down. ”
Oh, icky! Clearly you have no love for your own body, you slothful freak!
“We do this to ourselves because we have fantasies.”
Yes, which are secreted by our pineal glands, with no input from the outside world.
Ah, whatever- this really is just a place-holder comment, so to speak, until/if someone more conversant in these sorts of issues stops by.
September 9th, 2009 at 12:52 am
[...] Blogs / The Intersection « Just Beautiful [...]
September 9th, 2009 at 1:02 am
[...] Glamour Magazine shows real women Last month I blogged about Self Magazine’s extreme overuse of digital airbrushing for their Kelly Clarkson cover. So I’m glad to see that Glamour Magazine has decided to publish an un-airbrushed photo of plus-sized model Lizzie Miller. [...]
September 9th, 2009 at 1:27 am
Dan S, your sarcasm doesn’t go anywhere. If you have a point to make, go ahead and make it. If you want to defend obesity, make the defense. Sarcasm without a point is rather like eating without swallowing — it accomplishes nothing.
September 11th, 2009 at 8:26 am
Certainly you must have seen the Mitchel & Webb sketch highlighting how marketing to women differs from marketing to men:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9fFOelpE_8
Framing quirks as insecurities is the main way to sell expensive crap to women who don’t need it.
September 11th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Dan S – Got summat against baseless assumptions n’ armchair philosophy or what?
September 11th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
zzames – Yeah, it’s a weird little character flaw of mine . . .
October 1st, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Two things I’ve heard reported:
1) Porn stars average 20 to 30 lbs heavier than fashion models.
2) Marilynn Monroe would be a size 14 in today’s sizes.
I suppose if we want to start a blame game we can push clear back to Michaelangelo’s David and similar sculptures. Female and male Body-builders approach that perfection for competition, but it is something that can not be lived on a daily basis. The regiment can be very damaging- it is quite startling to compare “off season” & “on season” physiques of many of these athletes.
Perhaps the perfection we should be concerned with acheiving is confidence and acceptance of ourselves. What benefit is a life lived pleasing others if self loathing is the cost?
October 8th, 2009 at 11:02 am
[...] may recall, a few weeks back I posted a piece on gorgeous Lizzie Miller, beauty standards, and the way Glamour magazine should be applauded for featuring a photo that [...]
October 8th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Her posture shows her covering up. That conflicts with the attribution of confidence and pride in her body. There is a contradiction because the magazine does not want to perhaps show full nudity, so she is posed to cover herself, but covering is associated with shame, not pride in the nonverbal behavior literature. So, the overt and covert messages are contradictory, permitting the magazine to have its cake and eat it too. I don’t see this as much of a breakthrough for anyone.
October 31st, 2009 at 5:18 am
@ Joseph Smidt. I believe researchers have found that while the measurements themselves may change, the breast/waist/hip ratio that is considered attractive tends to be pretty constant. I may be wrong; I don’t recall the source, but you can probably find out whether it’s true or not with a little Googling.