Douglas’ chapter entitled “Lean and Mean” seemed to be pretty repetitive, and it echoed many of her points that we have already discussed in class. The one part of her chapter that I liked was when she discussed how some feel the need to “eat a tic tac and drink a diet coke”, and call it a meal. I think that this phenomenon is very prevalent on the Colgate campus. I don’t think I could ever go a day without hearing a girl talk about how she “feels fat” after having a normal-size meal, or wants to lose 5 pounds. The media is completely to blame for this phenomenon, as Douglas states in her chapter. We look towards Vogue and other magazines and see women who are miraculously wafer-thin but still manage to have huge breasts. This is the image that permeates our media, and it is just unacceptable.
In response to Sam’s post…I agree with everything you are saying. You are right that beauty has become very class based. Older women are only considered “beautiful” by society if they spend the money to have plastic surgeons completely erase any sign of aging, and the women who can pay are upper class. Additionally, television shows, like “The Swan”, promote the idea that to be beautiful, we have to pay large amounts of money. The “lucky” women on The Swan get to have the show to pay for all of their plastic surgery, and they end up with an entirely new face that is just…perfection? I am a huge advocate for natural beauty and would never dream of getting plastic surgery, but shows like The Swan really promote the idea that we need to pay to look pretty. That being said, I am not opposed to some plastic surgery. If a woman looks in the mirror and truly hates her nose, breasts, etc…then why go through life hating the way you look? The Swan simply takes plastic surgery to a new level and I honestly cannot believe that show was allowed on television. It’s one thing to get a nose job because you don’t like your nose, but getting an entirely new face? That’s just unnecessary.
Callie-I totally agree that it is almost impossible to go a day at Colgate with out hearing someone talk about how they ate too much or they need to go to the gym because they ate three meals that day. At some point, it is extremely ridiculous. After my first year at Colgate, I came home this summer to a couple of my friends counting calories. Whenever we went anywhere for food two of my friends would always add up the calories. I never understood why because if you exercise and feel healthy then you should not have to resort to counting calories to watch your weight. I also thought it was interesting how you said plastic surgery was a socio-economic issue. Celebrities always seem beautiful because they are able to spend so much money on covering their flaws. However, while reading Douglas's chapter, Lean and Mean, I thought it was interesting how some famous people opted to never have plastic surgery. I think Hollywood is separated by those famous people who are more "normal" and do not need plastic surgery and the "trashier" women from reality TV who undergo tons and tons of plastic surgery. I just thought it was interesting how some women in Hollywood do not believe in plastic surgery, when it seems that everyone is doing it.
ReplyDeleteCallie and Whitney, I share the same feelings with you. There is not a single day at Frank,the Coop or even at the library Cafe where one can be immune from the caloric complaints of (mostly female) students. Just today, I overheard a conversation between a group of students at Frank during lunch hours. The person sitting right behind me asked with a tone of amusement,¨is that all you're eating?¨ as her friend cruised by my table holding a bowl of fries. Her response was a resounding yes. After a year at Colgate, seeing people counting calories no longer constituted a strange phenomenon until you actually leave the campus and realize that ¨normal¨ people do not have a habit to do so. Oh my...if only I can remember the many times I've seen someone look at the calories label in a chobani yogurt ...it's yogurt people!yogurt!
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