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MY BUTT is big.
Have you noticed the latest trend in advertising? Marketers have finely come to terms with the fact that size 2 is not average. Nike seems to have accepted the reality of larger women by launching a new advertising campaign that focuses on the many shapes and sizes of women, with special emphasis on various parts of the body. “My BUTT is big” is one example. Click the link and you’ll see what the big deal is. Don’t worry, the graphic is safe – it’s not vulgar, it’s just a big butt. The commentary is just as interesting:
“My butt is big and round like the letter C and ten thousand lunges have made it rounder but not smaller and that’s just fine. It’s a space heater for my side of the bed. It’s my ambassador to those who walk behind me. It’s a border collie that herds skinny women away from the best deals at clothing sales. My butt is big and that’s just fine and those who might scorn it are invited to kiss it. Just do it.”
Is society really developing an acceptance of larger people or is this just cheap lip service? I’m not suggesting the endorsement of obesity, but similar to the recent Dove advertisement, “Real Women have Real Curves,” I’m somewhat dazed and confused. While they seem to be paying tribute to larger women, are they really? What they image is still the smaller-than-life, below-average size 12. While attempting to address the poor self-image that many women have of themselves, they’ve at least given women a more reasonable goal to attain. I think the real question is, do we want to see what’s real or are we satisfied with Nike and Dove’s interpretation of reality? Salon.com’s “MY BUTT is huge” celebration of bodies weighs in on the issue more accurately, IMHO. It's not pretty, but it's real.
Now I have that song, "I like Big Butts" going through my head and it won't stop!!!
I think since the human body has innate dignity, real is good as long as it's done tastefully. The picture in the second link made me think of my grandma and how as a little girl I helped her take baths when she couldn't wash her own back anymore because of arthritis. Hadn't thought about that in years and it was a good memory.
Thanks!
Speaking of "Baby Got Back" the song has been parodied as "Baby Got Book" by a Christian deejay. You can see the video...all clean...at
http://www.whiteboydj.com/babygotbook.html
I've metioned this on my blog before, but it's worth mentioning again, especially if you get Sir Mix A Lot's song in your head.
With regard to cover girl images vs. real images - sometimes while waiting in line at the grocery store I look around and see the REAL women. Quite a difference.
Ideally, we would all do our best to be healthy, knowing that our bodies will all look different.
I think that "good" would be a promotion of "healthy". Okay, easier said than done! Especially since "healthy" size varies so much from person to person.
I think there is somewhat of a cultural trend towards "big is fine/good". (The other day I was standing in line at the grocery store, and one of the magazines had a headline something like "Your Largest Size. Why Bigger is Better".) Which in one way is a good thing . . . for most people, size 2 (or 0) isn't healthy and as such, shouldn't be an aspiration for most women.
I've also noticed a bit of a problem, personally, with this shift . . . for some of us, size 2 is healthy (I'm a small-boned college student . . . and no, I'm not a stick, somehow I've got pear-shaped curves even at size 2!). And sometimes, we're given the impression that there's something wrong with being this size. I've had larger people make not-so-nice comments about the fact that I'm smaller. (And don't get me started on clothes shopping!)
Which is why, while I think there's some good things about promoting larger sizes as good, I think that it's still missing the point. No particular size is going to be the right one for all women. And when we focus on size, the people who aren't the ideal size are going to get negative messages sent to them, both directly by people and indirectly by everything/everyone around us . . . and that's not helpful, even if the smaller people end up being the ones getting sent those negative messages, as opposed to the bigger ones.
But I'm not really sure whether promoting just being healthy, whatever size that means for you, is actually a realistic ideal . . .
Remember, Nike is selling something. They want to sell
it to women large and small alike....I don't think they care whether I am a size 2 or a size 20 as long as I buy Nike products.
What do we need models for anyway? Everyone has to have clothes and we're all different sizes/shapes so I think the best solution would be to just have catalogs and advertisements showing the clothes by themselves (or on mannequins?). It would take care of the nudity/suggestive aspects of advertising, too, which are still there with the "imperfect" models. Lots of money would be saved--no more ridiculous photo shoots. Yes, I like the idea of people-less advertising quite a bit. Maybe because we don't have TV, I'm already used to not seeing commercials.
That said, I know my idea will never be implemented (since sex sells) so I do think that the "real beauty" campaign and its knock offs are a step in the right direction.
My butt is my ambassador?
About clothes sizes: I saw a report on one of the news magazines a couple weeks ago, about how clothing manufacturers are sizing their clothes. Because women want to think they're smaller than they are, the manufacturers are now taking a, say, size 10/12 and marketing them as 4/6 or such. I think it was on 20/20 on ABC.
What they image is still the smaller-than-life, below-average size 12. While attempting to address the poor self-image that many women have of themselves, they’ve at least given women a more reasonable goal to attain. I think the real question is, do we want to see what’s real or are we satisfied with Nike and Dove’s interpretation of reality?
I agree with JH's comments. What if we happen to be "smaller-than-life" and well below a size 12? What if that is "real" for us? What if being curvy and big and voluptuous will never be a "reasonable goal" for us?
At times I've joked that I'm about to begin my own feel-good campaign for for people like me: "Real women wear size 6 and aren't ashamed to admit that sometimes they even wear size 4!" (And those are not the new sizes.) "Good things come in small packages", "Real women don't have to have curves" and, my favorite, "Real women do martial arts".
What bothers me most about all the "real women" messages is that the focus is, yet again, on how we are supposed to look. I don't look anything like the "real women" that are being showcased. When the ads start showing reasonably fit middle-aged mothers of six whose bodies have been mocked as inadequate ever since puberty --- and shows those women doing all sorts of active stuff with those bodies, rather than just displaying them --- then I'll take notice.
Until then, I'm tired of being told, yet again but in a different way, that I'm not a "real woman". It's amazing how there has been, my entire life, this insane double standard where it is impolite and rude to mention someone being overweight (except in the most euphemistic of terms) but it is open season on "skinny people". Growing up, if I'd been given a dime for every time someone said bluntly, "You are so skinny it's disgusting", I'd been able to afford the most prestigious college education.
Just last Thanksgiving, two of us women at a large gathering were told, "You two are just too skinny." (I find this amusing to be told this now, because I monitor my weight and body fat for health reasons and this past year both have gone up higher than they should. Skinny I'm not.) Of course, we're just expected to nod politely or something. If I'd replied, "You are just too fat" (which was obviously true) everyone would have risen up in arms against me.
It's important to remember that Nike is talking about muscle, not fat, and that they're targeting women who are athletes or who engage in sports or exercise at more intense levels than the average women. The Dove campaign, which is supposedly about "real curves", is using these "real curves" to sell....butt firming cream!! Is this really acceptance of a variety of shapes and sizes, or is it pandering? And are the ads effective? Studies say no - women are more likely to buy beauty products advertised through images of what they want to look like rather than what they actually do look like.
I am so hearing the last commentor on the double-standard issue! I, too, am very tall and thin, and I can't tell you how many times people have made thinly-disguised snide comments. If I ever made the same comments to an overweight woman, just substituting the word "fat" for "skinny", people would be horrified. Telling a fat person they're too fat is tantamount to calling an African-American the "n" word. But telling me I have a mental illness in the form of an eating disorder just because I'm not grossly obese is perfectly okay.
I too, from now on, will recite my own little "real women" mantras: Real women run marathons...real women are vegetarians...real women don't poison their bodies with trans-fats and chemicals...
" 'You two are just too skinny.' (I find this amusing to be told this now, because I monitor my weight and body fat for health reasons and this past year both have gone up higher than they should. Skinny I'm not.)"
Rebecca - that reminds me of my time managing a GNC store. I was standing on a ladder and a customer asked me "so when are you due?" Mind you, I wasn't more than a size 14. I looked at her and said "I'm not pregnant, I'm fat."
I think the Dove and Nike ads are a step in the right direction...albeit a small step. Are you all familiar with New Moon magazine for girls? It helps girls stay true to themselves, and doesn't carry advertising at all. You can nominate a girl between the ages of 8-14 for New Moon's "25 Beautiful Girls" issue--check out www.newmoon.org/magazine/beautifulgirl.htm.
