What's "real", anyway?

I'm somewhat amused at this little kerfluffle over photo retouching in Dove's famous "real beauty" campaign, which, after all, is used to sell smoothing lotions among other things.

Photo retouching is part of our everyday life in a way it hasn't been in years past. Yes, everything you see on a billboard or in a magazine has been heavily retouched -- but so have lots of family photos. Removing red-eye, fixing colour balance -- that kind of thing is easier than it's ever been, thanks to Photoshop and the like. We're getting to a point where there's no such thing as an un-retouched picture.

My outrage is probably lessened, too, because I never thought the Dove campaign was a messianic emanation come to save us from unrealistic body image issues. It is -- it has always been -- an ad campaign, first and foremost. It's a good one, because it gets people talking, and it's certainly nice to see a wider range of female bodies than we're used to -- but it's still just an ad campaign. I mean, for all the claims that it's expanding the definition of beauty, there have never been Dove models who weren't conventionally attractive (even if slightly larger, or older, or of different skin colours than we usually see).

And I think on some level, I always assumed that there was a little bit of retouching going on. It didn't change my feelings about the campaign (which were, and continue to be, mildly positive).

So, do I believe this denial that "oh no, actually, there was no retouching going on"? Not really. But I don't think it matters. We're still asked to judge the picture that's out there, and whether it succeeds or fails as a picture, as an ad. How it got there is a little beside the point.

New Year's Resolutions

It's that time of year again. New Year's Resolution time. And what's the most common resolution in North America? I don't have any scientific evidence to back me up, but I'd lay money on "losing weight" being resolution #1.

You can't open a newspaper or magazine these days without coming across a story about how to lose weight "sustainably", or a profile of someone embarking on a resolution to lose a dramatic number of pounds in order to "feel better" about herself (it's usually a woman, of course), and "be healthier".

This isn't to say that the media isn't obsessed with weight loss the rest of the time -- they certainly are. But there's an intensification of the obsession at this time of the year, as well as (I'm guessing again, entirely non-scientifically) an increased likelihood on the part of "ordinary people" to act on the obsession. You can't step into a gym in the first few weeks of a new year without tripping over enthusiastic new resolutionists (much to the annoyance of the regulars, I'm sure).

What there isn't in the media is any follow-up coverage: we don't see stories about the people who, after losing huge amounts of weight, gain it all back (and more), damaging their health in a neverending yo-yo cycle. We don't hear about the people who suffer horrifying side effects as the result of weight-loss surgeries and diet pills. We don't hear about the people who live shorter, less happy lives than they would have if they'd just been satisfied with their natural weight.

Nor do we hear about the people who resolve NOT to lose weight. But that's my challenge for this year, both for myself and for you. Eat well, because it's better for you, and it's more enjoyable. Exercise, for the joy of moving your body and reach a goal (completing a race, hiking a trail, lifting a certain weight, whatever), but not to lose weight. Don't look at a scale. Don't obsess. Feel good about yourself and what you can do. Resolve not to feel guilty for eating a cookie. Celebrate being alive.

That's my resolution for '08.

Oh yeah -- and I resolve to blog more regularly. No, really. I mean it.

From the "good grief" files

Of all the stupid things to study. (scroll down to the last item)

I'm so glad that we now know that breastfeeding doesn't contribute to saggy breasts! Now we can berate women for not living up to the beauty ideal without worrying about whether or not they lived up to the breeding motherhood bit of patriarchal expectations.

I suppose it's important for plastic surgeons to know their target demographics.

What does overweight look like?

There are some truly fascinating things on the Internet. Kate Harding of Shapely Prose is putting together a photostream of people in various BMI categories -- "underweight", "normal", "overweight", "obese", etc. It's really quite incredible.

(I recommend watching it as a slideshow with the info turned on)

I am rendered speechless

I really want to say something about this Star fluff piece on physical jobs, but I keep finding myself spluttering rather than saying anything coherent. So just imagine some brilliant feminist analysis about reducing everything to women's bodies.

Splutter splutter.