While waiting in line at my local supermarket, eyes glazed with boredom, I picked up of one of those magazines that surreptitiously snap photos of celebrities in compromising positions. The usual fare dominated the gaudily colored front page: “Jennifer Turns to Brad”, “Ashlee expecting”, and “Enraged Tom runs amok in downtown Tokyo, millions unsurprised”, etc. But a far more disturbing sight in one of the magazine’s front-page side columns caught my eye. Actresses stood in their bathing-suits (unaware of the heavily-breathing cameraman hidden in the bushes) with their bones jutting out from places where bones aren’t usually seen on healthy human bodies. The magazine congratulated the women for losing so much weight. My anger might be put to more constructive purpose if I could remember the name of the magazine, but which gossip rag it was doesn’t even really matter. What matters is that today, in 2008, with literally decades of literature exposing the detrimental effects of our standards of beauty, an article like that can still be nonchalantly displayed next to a super market cash register.

(A brief disclaimer: I am a guy, and as a gender-privileged member of the culture I don’t have to bear the brunt of the national obsession with weight loss, perpetual skinniness, and the daily expectations of the “lifelong beauty pageant”, as “Our Bodies, Ourselves” puts it. Guys are under a certain amount of pressure too, but we simply aren’t objectified to the extent or with the intensity that women are. Everyone may be subject to our culture’s obsession with skinniness, but 90% of anorexia cases are still female.)

The American population, and through the wonders of globalization damn near everyone else, is bombarded everyday by countless images of skinny women, airbrushed, and utterly un-life like. Some of us, particularly those who’ve taken lots of gender or media studies courses, may think we are immune to the cultural messages encoded within the unending barrage of media and advertisements. We aren’t. No one is. Take the example of Fiji, where a curvaceous standard of beauty used to predominate. According to the BBC, television was introduced in 1995 (there is only one channel and it plays British and Americana shows) and ever since eating disorders have been on the rise. In 1998, Anne Becker, a Harvard anthropologist revealed her findings: “Nobody was dieting in Fiji 10 years ago … An alarmingly high percentage of adolescents are dieting now.” Ms. Becker’s study showed “that a higher proportion of adolescents in Fiji were dieting than in Massachusetts.”

The question is: what can we do about it? We need counter-narratives to provide alternatives to these unhealthy images women are inundated with. These counter-narratives should be coached in rhetoric that won’t alienate the average American (radical language often turns away those who most need to be reached). We need to harness mass media and visual culture and use it to broadcast empowering messages and ideologies in language that appeals to the experience of a wide variety of women. There have been some encouraging prospects in recent years. Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign is certainly a step in the right direction and the Milanese government’s demand for healthier models in the city’s renowned fashion show is a good sign too.

But as my supermarket experience proves, empowerment is far from the norm and we can’t forget that. Just because one multi-national corporation advertises a relatively empowering message, we must not grow complacent. After all, Dove’s parent company, Unilever, sponsors other beauty products whose tacit message contradicts Dove’s feminist-inspired rhetoric. We need to provide alternatives that appeal to many women, because Dove isn’t nearly enough, and the grocery store’s magazine racks are still filled with cadaverous models.

BlogHer, RealityCheck: Women in Blogging Virginia DeBolt writes about women bloggers and their rising presence and willingness to speak out. That means us!

Jezebel, Fat & Smart? Or Skinny & Stupid? & Botox on the Brain Seems like most people want to be chubby and smart. What about you? Also, we hope Virginia Madsen is thick-skinned (hah) enough to be Botox’s spokeswoman, since apparently it has, uh, some side effects.

Women’s E-News, Bill Puts Brakes on ‘Drive-Through’ Masctectomies Something to keep an eye on: activists are rallying for health insurance companies to pay for women’s post-mastectomy care, instead of just sending them home. It’s called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act and R. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. and Marcia Cross (you know, Bree on Desperate Housewives) are advocates.

NBC News, Plastic Surgery Congrats Cards Some of these are sickening and some seem like backhanded compliments. What’s next? Implant rupture I’m Sorry cards? “Hope this doesn’t burst your bubble!” Give us a break.

The reading list is long today, ladies and gents… there’s a lot to talk about!

FOX, Woman Claims Police Caused Breast Implant to Burst While we won’t comment on if this woman instigated her scuffle with a North Carolina police officer, we’re curious to see how her ruptured implant will affect her case in court.

Guanabee, “Spanx” Now Hold In Your Unsightly Boobies as well as Your Hideous, Mutant Gut Guanabee has a different take on the Bra-lellujah by Spanx (remember their fat-sucking, butt-shaping panties?) Yes, it’s just a bra, but it’s one more sign that people are forgetting (or refusing to remember) what natural bodies look like.

University of Florida News, Is Bigger Better? Breast Surgery Linked to Boost in Self-Esteem and Sexuality When we found this article popping up on Google recently, we also found this one from Associated Content: Complications from Breast Implants Lead to Low Self-Esteem, Problems with Sex Life.

The Canadian Press, Behind the Beauties, Nips and Tucks: A Look Inside the Beauty Pageant Universe This beauty contestant trainer doesn’t “coax” the future Ms. Universe to get plastic surgery, but if she does it on her own, she deserves a pat on the back. Um… does anyone else think that’s a little off?

Feministing, Dainty Ladies Don’t Menstruate My, how advertising has changed…

The Body Image Project As if we haven’t given you enough to chew on this week, here is a compelling read: women post anonymously about their body image perceptions. Feel free to post your own.

I’ve always thought Spock was cool, but as a plain human, Leonard Nimoy is even cooler. I was watching the Colbert Report the other night, and suddenly there he was, promoting his new book, The Full Body Project: Photographs by Leonard Nimoy.

Stephen Colbert starts the interview by describing the book as “photographs of women who are larger than what our societal image of beauty is.” Then, of course, he goes on to assert that society has already agreed on what beauty is – “blond, thin, big tits” – and how dare Leonard challenge what society has already agreed upon, haha?

Leonard counters by saying that American women are being sold on the idea we don’t look right (amen, Leonard), that we’re told there’s something wrong with us and we have to buy the pills, diets and surgery to fix it (double amen). But everyone is beautiful, and his book would be appropriate on every coffee table in America, especially those with young ladies in the home (yes, yes, absolutely!).

Anyway, Stephen Colbert is always fun to watch, and Leonard Nimoy has created a book of beautiful photography with an important message for all of us. See the interview for yourself:

But it has to be said that Leonard’s idea is not original. The very talented Laurie Toby Edison, who blogs at Body Impolitic, did it way before he did in her photography book, Women En Large: Images of Fat Nudes.

TAGS: Leonard Nimoy