Friday, August 16, 2013

“Every Single Woman in America Is Now Curvy”

If curvy can mean anything we want it to — on a scale of size 2 to size 22 — then our reductive thinking on the subject of bodies and beauty standards hasn’t actually changed. The ubiquity of “curvy” is just a gloss of body acceptance, not actual body acceptance. Once you start looking for it, for every positive article about celebrating bodies of all shapes and sizes, there’s an equally negative one; though we’re celebrating new shapes and sizes, it all adds up to zero.

What are your thoughts on Lauren Ban’s article? 

2 comments:

  1. I do agree with what Ban says. If we start using the word curvy to describe a body like Taylor Swift's and a body like Melissa McCarthy, then what does the word mean? Except maybe a synonym for woman...I was kind of amused that the Ban, trying to assert that we need to be able to use real descriptors, used 'thin' for Swift, but not 'fat' for McCarthy. If it is okay to be fat, then we have to be able to use the word.
    That is how I, as a fat woman, feel. :o)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the honest feedback Zendegy!
      I agree that the term curvy often times seems ambiguous; yet it seems to have different meanings for different women (let's not even bring the opinion's of men into this). I question the notion of using "real descriptors" because wouldn't the definition differ by individual? A woman sized 6 may not consider herself thin, and a woman a sized 14/16 may not consider herself fat. To be described in terms that you do not personally agree with could be offensive.

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