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| Topic: Sex, lies and media: New wave of activists challenge notions of beauty |
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| Sex, lies and media: New wave of activists challenge notions of beauty [message #158972] |
Sat, 10 March 2012 01:17 |
Katie 
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| Quote: | (CNN) -- Here's the fantasy: A half-naked women lies across a couch, lips pouty and cleavage prominent as her sultry gaze implores you to buy this bottle of perfume.
The reality: Women make up 51% of the United States yet only 17% of seats in the House of Representatives. They're 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs and 7% of directors in the top 250 grossing films.
What's the connection? We live in a sexualized society where the gap between fantasy and reality is vast and harmful, director and activist Jennifer Siebel-Newsom says.
"Women are aspiring to do great things in leadership, yet the glass ceiling is still there because of the way media depict women," Siebel-Newsom said. "It influences our culture and dictates our gender norms and values."
Siebel-Newsom's documentary, Miss Representation, is the latest cinematic foray in the movement to challenge portrayals of beauty in "the media," a term used to describe all forms of mass communication, from the internet, TV, film, magazines, radio and advertising.
It may sound like some tired feminist rant to anyone who grew up with a smartphone. In fact, women are objectified more than ever, experts say, thanks to a constant barrage of images from all forms of media, many of them connecting products to a pair of breasts and a coy smile.
"The number of images out there means advertisers have a much more difficult time breaking through the clutter, causing the content to be much more violent and sexualized to get consumers' attention," said Occidental University associate professor Caroline Heldman, who specializes in media, gender and race.
"Meanwhile, the research to come out in the last 10 years shows just how damaging this idea of self-objectification is, the idea that your value of self-worth is dependent on the amount of sexual attractiveness you have to the outside world."
Amid the noise, modern-day watchdogs are emerging online and behind the camera to create their own brand of fast-tracked social activism. Documentaries like Miss Representation and the America the Beautiful series start discussions on the big screen and drive audiences to social media to keep it going.
"We're part of a larger movement that's been ebbing and flowing over time. But what I think is propelling us is the fact that people are fed up," Siebel-Newsom said. "They know media is everywhere, and it's communicating hyper-sexualized, pornified images at an unprecedented rate, and they're fed up with the status quo."
It's not just a woman's issue, she said. It's a topic that resonates with fathers and brothers of little girls, with boys and young men who don't want to conform to macho standards on the other side of the coin.
Since airing on the Oprah Winfrey Network in November, MIss Representation has evolved into a call-to-arms with more than 50,000 Facebook fans and 2,268 "social action representatives" as far away as Israel and Pakistan. They receive weekly action alerts on how to spread the message, from calling out sexist Super Bowl ads on social media under the hashtag #notbuyingit or talking to men in their lives about the social impact of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.
The catalyst is the film itself, which has been screened more than 700 times since November in 46 states and 25 countries in venues from schools, homes and bakeries to the World Bank headquarters and Britain's House of Parliament. More than 2,000 schools have purchased curricula based on the film for classroom discussions.
The short-term goal is to create media literacy so that even if ideals of beauty don't change, we change how we react to them. The bigger goal is policy reform on several fronts, from stricter regulation of images proliferating mainstream media to labor policies that allow mothers or fathers to stay in the workforce and care for their families at the same time.
Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice appears in the film Miss Representation.
Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice appears in the film Miss Representation.
While Miss Representation connects the media's impact to leadership, another documentary examines its influence on perceptions of health and body image.
As with beauty, they're not always accurate, says Darryl Roberts, the director behind the America the Beautiful series. His second film, The Thin Commandments, follows his progress as he explores a variety of fad diets in an effort to lose weight and lower his body-mass index, or BMI.
Along his journey, Roberts speaks with dietitians, dieters and politicians including Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to get the skinny on whether it's possible to be overweight and healthy, exploring "the fallacy of BMI." Under its formula, LeBron James, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Tom Cruise, Will Smith and Christian Bale are all obese, he claims.
Like Miss Representation, Roberts is spreading his message in screenings across the country, mostly on college campuses, followed by a panel discussion.
A recent screening at Atlanta's Emory University drew mostly women, many of whom revealed in the Q&A session that they'd struggled with eating disorders in an effort to look good. One women disclosed that she had an eating disorder throughout her years as an Emory student.
"It's kind of surreal to be here watching this movie in the same auditorium where I had a lot of my classes while I was sick," the woman said, voice trembling. "I just want to thank you for making this movie. More people need to see it."
Roberts takes pride in the cathartic quality of his film. Attendees often have a personal connection to the topic, which means displays of emotion at the screening are fairly frequent.
"I enjoy connecting with people on an emotional level through a common passion to change the status quo." he said. "We have to stop looking at these quick fix tools and start looking at health crisis."
Other forms of social commentary take a lighter tack. Jesse Rosten, a California-based commercial director and filmmaker, was flipping through channels one sleepless night when he came across a beauty product infomercial. The spot featured before and after photos of models, but to him, they looked like the same photo photoshopped. Et voila, he had an idea for a video spoof.
It took about a day to shoot with friends and a few more weeks for him to edit in his free time. It didn't take long for his fake commercial Fotoshop by Adobé to go viral after he posted it on vimeo in January. It was shared multiple times on Miss Representation's Facebook wall and now has 3.5 million views.
"There's some obvious social commentary in the video, but my No. 1 goal was to make people laugh," Rosten said in an e-mail. "I'm kind of a snarky guy, and I'm happy that I've been able to use that snark to spread an important message: Go easy on yourself. We are all human, and it's OK to look like a human. Nobody will ever measure up to a beauty ideal that is, literally, physically impossible."
Digital alteration is a hot button issue within media activism. The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty highlighted the practice in its groundbreaking viral video, Evolution, which showed the transformation of a woman into a model with rounds of makeup, grooming and a bit of digital cheek shaving. Since then, numerous sites and blogs featuring retouched ads and editorial spreads have emerged, as consumers grow more aware of the practice.
Recently, a bill introduced in Arizona's House of Representatives proposed requiring advertisers to add a disclaimer on digitally altered photos. The proposed legislation is modeled after laws in Britain, where the Advertising Standards Authority monitors companies for egregious acts of Photoshopping. It also has the power to ban ads.
Miss Representation brings all these threads together and connects them to politics, highlighting the media's treatment of women in the 2008 election coverage, the year in which Michelle Obama was called a "slut," Sarah Palin "masturbation material" and Hillary Clinton a "haggard"-looking 90-year-old.
The connection has added relevance in the current election cycle, especially when female representation in American politics is at its lowest since 1970, said media critic Jean Kilbourne, who first began examining images of women in media in the 1960s.
"We are hurting because we don't have more female politicians. It's very important for people to be aware of the connection between the degrading images around us and the fact that it's so difficult for women to be taken seriously as politicians," said Kilborne, whose renowned film series, Killing Us Softly: Advertising's Image of Women, has been remade four times since the 1970s.
Kilbourne and other leaders in media activism appear in Miss Representation along with Jane Fonda, Rosario Dawson, Condoleeza Rice, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Gloria Steinem and Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Cory Booker to make the argument at the heart of the media activist movement, that society measures a woman's value by her physical attractiveness and not in her capacity for leadership.
By weaving together slick montages of babes in bikinis and reality TV catfights with hard-hitting stats and interviews, the film is a crash course in media literacy for the Internet generation.
"It's a good 101 for how sexism in media affects women across the board, whether those women are high school girls dealing with eating disorders or women trying to be effective politicians and facing media coverage that focuses more on their hair and clothes than policy positions," said journalist and media critic Jennifer Pozner, founder of Women In Media & News.
Indeed, clips of pundits on mainstream news outlets endlessly disparaging Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin drew audible gasps at a recent screening at Auburn University in Alabama.
Most members of the packed audience were there for class credit and free Chik-fil-A. Freshman Allie Mullen already had seen the film and wanted to share it with her Delta Gamma sorority sisters.
"It's crazy to see how imbalanced it is. We have 87% of the buying power yet we still don't really have a voice," said Mullen, 18.
The foursome admitted to their fair share of obsessing over appearance and putting in extra hours at the gym to prepare for spring break. They were guilty of secretly hating the girl who had the looks, the boyfriend and the high GPA, even though she'd done nothing to them.
One of the girls related to Siebel-Newsom's experience of being told to take her Stanford MBA off her resume while she sought acting gigs. For a while, 18-year-old Leanne Fouts stopped telling guys she was a civil engineering major.
"They'd be like, 'no way, a girl?' It just seemed easier to not say anything," she said. "The movie made me think about how I have to change the way I act and the image I project if I'm going to affect how others see me."
Actor Rosario Dawson appears in the film Miss Representation.
Actor Rosario Dawson appears in the film Miss Representation.
While it may take years for the film to create a real impact at the policy level, for now progress occurs one person at a time.
Hilary Tone has already seen results. After seeing the film on the Oprah Winfrey Network, she felt empowered to send a letter to the editor of "Washingtonian" magazine to criticize its use of a naked woman on the cover. A few weeks later, her boyfriend pointed out that her letter had been published in the magazine.
"People who ignore unrealistic portrayals of women are just as guilty as those who propagate them because you're not doing anything about it," said Tone, who received Miss Representation's weekly action newsletters. "But there are simple things I can do to make a difference."
From there, she was on a roll. On Super Bowl Sunday, she took up the challenge to call out commercials she found offensive. GoDaddy.com, Teleflora, Kia and Fiat turned out to be the big offenders of the evening.
"I've always been vocal about my views. Ask any of my friends. But online, I was more reserved for fear of offending someone or saying the wrong thing. I guess I've just stopped being apologetic, the 26-year-old Alexandria, Virginia, woman said.
"Since I've stopped worrying, I'm finding that I get a lot more 'likes,' comments and shares. More of my female friends are taking notice, and are sharing what I share, sometimes copying my captions verbatim, liking new pages and organizations, especially Miss Representation, and are generally more in tune with these issues than they were before. Or maybe they were before, and they were just too afraid to speak up, like I was."
None of this implies the film is complete. While MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow shares an anecdote about receiving vitriolic hate mail for being a lesbian, otherwise, race and sexuality are scarcely discussed.
That didn't stop Isis Yisare, a black lesbian, from hosting a screening in Seattle through Sistah Sinema, a movie night she started a year ago dedicated to showing black women in lesbian roles.
"I definitely feel like if women are negatively portrayed in the media, black queer women have that much more to overcome," said Yisare, who organized a screening in January in a bookstore owned by two black lesbians.
"If your value is based on sexual attractiveness and youth, and now you add in being queer, you're not sexually available to men, you may not fit the stereotypical definition of beauty, you become worthless and don't exist in society and don't bring anything to society."
It would be better if the film addressed those dual handicaps, but their absence doesn't discredit the film, she said.
"Miss Representation articulates steps on how we as women can overcome burdens. That's a message worth sharing regardless of your race or sexual orientation."
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http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/09/living/beauty-media-miss-repre sentation/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
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| | Topic: Life-size Barbie has 39" bust, 18" waist: |
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| | Topic: Givenchy Puts Transsexual Model In Fall Ad Campaign (PHOTOS) |
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| | Topic: Lea T., Transsexual Model, Talks Sex Change & The Night She Found Herself |
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| Lea T., Transsexual Model, Talks Sex Change & The Night She Found Herself [message #120134] |
Fri, 12 November 2010 17:12 |
 Teresa
Messages: 9342
Registered: September 2007
Location: Salem, Oregon |
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Beginning Life Founder
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Lea T., Transsexual Model, Talks Sex Change & The Night She Found Herself
First Posted: 08- 3-10 01:21 PM | Updated: 10- 3-10 05:12 AM
Lea T., the star of Givenchy's autumn/winter ad campaign, recently opened up to several magazines and newspapers about being a transsexual supermodel, even posing nude in French Vogue "in the name of all my transsexual friends" (NSFW photos here). The Guardian UK traced Lea's rise to the top, from her birth as Leandro in 1981 in Belo Horizonte Brazil to soccer hero Toninho Cerezo and a Catholic family to becoming Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy's muse.
According to the Guardian a Rio gossip column contacted Cerezo and reported, "We got in touch with the former star but, irritated, he limited himself to saying that he had four children, one of them called Leandro...When asked if the boy had starred in the Givenchy campaign, Cerezo hung up the phone." However, Lea's brother Gustavo said, "It's Lea's success, not the family's. All I will say is that we are on her side and we support her."
The Guardian also reports that:
In the Vanity Fair interview, moreover, [Lea] said she "never spoke directly" to her father about undergoing the hormone treatment that will, eventually, give her the body of a woman. Conversation, she said, was limited to trivialities.
Lea has credited Tisci with her ability to be comfortable with herself. She remembered for French Vogue, "One night [Tisci] encouraged me to wear pumps to a party. We went shopping for 'drag queen' shoes and we bleached my eyebrows. It was a revelation."
ABC News reports that Lea is set to undergo a full sex change from male to female and is currently undergoing hormone replacement therapy. Lea told June's Italian Vanity Fair, "The choice is between being unhappy forever or trying to be happy."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/03/lea-t-transsexual-m odel-t_n_669027.html
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| | Topic: Lea T, Transsexual Model, Scores Magazine Cover (PHOTO) |
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| Lea T, Transsexual Model, Scores Magazine Cover (PHOTO) [message #120133] |
Fri, 12 November 2010 17:03 |
Teresa
Messages: 9342
Registered: September 2007
Location: Salem, Oregon |
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Lea T, Transsexual Model, Scores Magazine Cover (PHOTO)
Posted: 11-12-10 04:30 PM
Transsexual model Lea T, best-known for her work with Givenchy, nabbed the next the cover of Lurve magazine. She's clad in one of Ricardo Tisci's latest designs.
Lea started off as Tisci's personal assistant and fit model, and has always credited him with her ability to be comfortable with herself. She once recalled to for French Vogue, "One night [Tisci] encouraged me to wear pumps to a party. We went shopping for 'drag queen' shoes and we bleached my eyebrows. It was a revelation."
(Via Models.com)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/12/lea-t-transsexual-m odel-s_n_782955.html
Attachment: LEA-T.jpg
(Size: 60.81KB, Downloaded 1965 time(s))
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| | Topic: from-a-beautiful-woman-to-a-plastic-surgery-addict |
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| | Topic: 'Top Model' contestant to walk runway for children's hospital benefit |
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| 'Top Model' contestant to walk runway for children's hospital benefit [message #119427] |
Fri, 05 November 2010 16:45 |
Teresa
Messages: 9342
Registered: September 2007
Location: Salem, Oregon |
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'Top Model' contestant to walk runway for children's hospital benefit
Prince George's native makes time to support cause that hits home
Isis King, a Prince George's native who appeared on America's Next Top Model, will hit the runway as part of Catwalk
For A Cause. (Tony Veloz, Baltimore Sun / November 7, 2010)
By John-John Williams IV, The Baltimore Sun
November 7, 2010
Isis King is usually fielding questions about being the first transgender contestant named as a finalist on "America's Next Top Model," the time she spent as a homeless teen, or even about her latest hairstyle -- she recently switched to a fire-engine red hairdo.
Somehow, the heart-wrenching story about the death of her baby sister, Channel, gets lost in the shuffle.
One-year-old Channel died in 1992 after being born with her organs on the outside of her body. She required a number of medical procedures during her short life, King explained.
"They couldn't save her," she said.
King immediately thought about Channel when she was asked to participate in Catwalk For A Cause, a series of fashion shows sponsored by KIS Agency, an Annapolis-based events management and promotions company.
Each fashion show benefits a different cause. Proceeds from the Nov. 14 event, which will be held at the Tremont Hotel, will help support Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore.
"I have a special place in my heart when it comes to children," said King, a Prince George's County native who now lives in New York City as she pursues a career as an actress, fashion designer, and other artistic endeavors. "Helping children and giving them the proper medical information is really important."
King will headline more than 60 models during the fashion show that will feature 11 designers, and a 55-foot-long runway. Davanna Brooker, a 10-year-old modeling phenom who appeared on "America's Next Top Model" two seasons ago, will also be in the show. Booker is also known as "Davanna Diva" or "Baby Naomi (Campbell)" because of her strong runway walk.
"This is a show in Baltimore, but it is not a quote-unquote Baltimore show," said Lana Rae, event organizer. "And it's all for a great cause. You can't ask for anything more."
Rae, the mother of two children, said that the Children's Center made sense to her.
"I'm lucky," she said. "My children are healthy and beautiful. I don't know what I would do if something happened to them... . This is a great cause. Johns Hopkins does a great job. I couldn't' think of anything better."
The event will fund items typically not covered by insurance, such as clothing for children in the Pediatric Emergency Department, programs and camps for children with chronic illnesses, meal tickets for families in need who come to the center unexpectedly, and support groups for cancer patients and their families.
Johns Hopkins Children Center has been open since 1912, and typically treats 120,000 children each year. The hospital runs the gamut of services and attracts patients from across the globe.
"We see it all," said Kristen Porter, assistant director of development for Johns Hopkins. "We see the sickest of the sickest children."
Third party unrestrictive funds, which are the items not typically covered by insurance, are dependent on charity events such as Catwalk for a Cause, Porter said.
"It is our bread and butter," she said about the funds. "It is very important to us. We appreciate anyone who is willing to do such an event."
King is excited to help out with the cause and to return to Maryland for a fashion show.
"Of course it is a fashion show, but by me showing my support hopefully others will show their support," King said.
john-john.williams@baltsun.com
Copyright © 2010, The Baltimore Sun
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bs-gl-goodworks-isis-20 101107,0,1925887.story
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| | Topic: Cher Talks Politics, Transgender Son In Vanity Fair |
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| Cher Talks Politics, Transgender Son In Vanity Fair [message #119171] |
Wed, 03 November 2010 09:16 |
Teresa
Messages: 9342
Registered: September 2007
Location: Salem, Oregon |
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Cher Talks Politics, Transgender Son In Vanity Fair
11/3/2010 10:10 AM ET
(RTTNews) - Cher has opened up about her daughter Chastity's decision to change genders and live out her life as Chaz Bono. In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, the "Turn Back Time" star also speaks out against a few of her least favorite political figures.
"If I woke up tomorrow in a guy's body, I would kick and scream and cry and f***ing rob a bank, because I cannot see myself as anything but who I am - a girl. I would not take it as well as Chaz has. I couldn't imagine it," Cher says in the interview.
She adds that while she completely supports Chaz's lifestyle, there has been a period of adjustment.
"Well, she's a very smart girl -- boy! This is where I get into trouble. My pronouns are f***ed. I still don't remember to call her 'him.' She's really cool about it -- such an easygoing person," Cher adds.
She continues on to confess her dislike for former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Cher admits that the last presidential election had her glued to the television.
"I got so obsessed with it that it was kind of interfering with my life. Sarah Palin came on and I thought, Oh, f***, this is the end. Because a dumb woman is a dumb woman."
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com
http://www.rttnews.com/Content/EntertainmentNews.aspx?Sectio n=2&Id=1467759&SM=1
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| | Topic: Vintage looks |
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| | Topic: A couple of resourses |
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| | Topic: What's this all about? |
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| What's this all about? [message #86923] |
Mon, 25 January 2010 18:24 |
Hilary 
Messages: 5534
Registered: October 2007
Location: 2, Camberwick Green, Trum... |
Senior Member
BL Administrator (Retired)
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This is a public forum intended to be a place to post fashion thoughts. It is open to members and non members; anonymous posting is fine.
Copy and paste links and pictures to well know magazines and news items but please give them full credits if possible.
Posts can be TS or not; just remember a good women needs a good wardrobe.
Otherwise the usual BL rules apply. Enjoy.
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