05 May 2008

Liz's losing battle


Headline: Despite endless diets, Liz Hurley's curves are very noticeably growing. Is it a baby on the way or is she losing her battle to hold back time?

Why is it that a woman's stomach can only be 'fat' or 'pregnant' and never in-between if it is not unambiguously flat? Cultural norms continually reiterate that a distended stomach (and I don't see any sign of a bloated belly on Liz) indicates either pregnancy or fatness and nothing ‘in-between’. Whilst the stomach itself does not possess any inherent meaning, its public meaning is created depending on who is doing the ‘looking’ (for example, the media). This whole fiasco about Liz being pregnant or not reinforces the fact that women can never be 'in-between' pregnancy and non-pregnancy. If you are not one or the other, you are just perceived to be fat or in Liz's case 'losing the battle to hold back time'. *sigh*

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

OK, I'm a straight guy and I think that the media's obsession with, and criticism of, women's bodies is insane. First of all, I don't notice any type of bulge of unhealthy body fat on Liz at all. And even if she did, so what? I completely agree that it's nuts to expect all women to fall into one of three categories: acceptable (that's wash-board abs), pregnant, or, worse of all, "fat." It's ruining many women's self-images, and it creates unrealistic, and unhealthy expectations for men, as well. I think most level-headed guys see through this nonsense and don't really judge women as harshly as is stereotypically portrayed (in the media) or discussed (among women who say all men are "shallow"). Unfortunately, most men (and women) who aren't as critical in their thinking do fall for these unrealistic portrayals of the ideal body type.

 
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