I’ll see your ZOINKS and raise you an I’llbeinmybunk.
2 Likes
“The cash register isn’t there to keep track of currency. It’s there to sell merchandise!”
Ad infinitum for every object in the store. Being excessively reductionist is not the same as making a point.
5 Likes
A quick poll of the Commenteriate:
How many of the people who think this is much ado about nothing actually buy women’s clothing to wear for themselves?
5 Likes
So many people (probably mostly men) asking the completely expected apathetically incredulous questions in this thread.
Maybe there are some of us who want to change the status quo or at the very least, aren’t afraid of demanding a better representation of women (and men, and people) in media and fashion.
Feigned innocence is so obnoxious.
5 Likes
More than two-thirds (68.8 percent) of adults are considered to be overweight or obese. More than one-third (35.7 percent) of adults are considered to be obese. More than 1 in 20 (6.3 percent) have extreme obesity. Almost 3 in 4 men (74 percent) are considered to be overweight or obese.Jul 24, 2014
Overweight and Obesity Statistics - Weight-Control Information …
BMI never made very good sense to me, right now I’m FAR into the obese category. For my height, I should weigh 115-160lbs, but I’ve never weighed that little, even when I was healthy and in shape.
In high school I even held some weight lifting records (leg press), and hiked a 20 miler in the North Cascades once a month or so. I was healthier than average. But my weight hasn’t been below 200lbs since I was in middle school. So I find it somewhat annoying that weighing 220lbs, being 5’7" and being strong enough to hike 20 miles in a day, and lift the front end of an F150 off the ground is still considered obese.
But yeah, I’m definitely obese now objectively. It’s causing me health problems, and I have a lot of work to do to get healthy again.
2 Likes
Cute gal, but in 10 years her doctor might tell her to drop 15 lbs depending on her family history, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. On the other hand I have an uncle who has always been fat and smoked cigars, and he just turned 90.
There will always be fans of BBW (Big Beautiful Women), which is not to be confused with BBC.
And at the other end of the scale is a “butterface.”
It is correct. Fitting rooms are to demonstrate fit and control returns. Mannequins are to catch the eye of people not specifically looking to buy anything in particular. Which is why they are generally placed in shop windows, centre display areas, etc. and are usually dressed with far from the most popular or the most fit-sensitive items.
1 Like
I would argue that the problem is not with idealised representations, but with insecurities. Out of the 7+ billion people in the world, there are, without doubt, plenty who are kinder, smarter, funnier, richer, fitter, healthier, stronger, braver, more diligent, more handsome, better endowed, more charming, and more whatever-positive-else than me. That’s just life. And statistics. Exceptions will not disappear just because we will try to ignore them by focusing on the averages. Moreover, choosing to focus on averages rather than trying address our (instinctive? socially instilled?) insecurities would still leave the 50% of below-average people unhappy with what they see.
I would be about as captivated by myself on the runway as I would be to see myself on the court, or dancing on the stage, or keynoting the society of neurological surgeons conference. I.e. not very. I see no problem with this.
Alternate reasons for small mannequins besides body shaming:
less expensive.
lighter to ship.
easier to store.
easier to dress-- they aren’t flexible like real bodies.
designed to display misses, rather then women’s fashions.
I’ll see your I’llbeinmybunk, and raise you a BADONKADONK.
There is some truth to this, but the problem I think is the lack of variety in the ideals which are presented. Something like an ideal conception of human beauty is subjective. The sick thing is that it’s a lot easier to find diversity in painting styles or kinds of literature than in kinds of physical appearance depicted in media. Just like I don’t want my monitor to display one picture of “pretty” for months at a time when there is so much more to see. The reality is that each person has their own ideals. But mass media peddle in conformity, just like their marketplace of ideas. When I don’t see my ideals represented, it doesn’t do me any good. And when the ideals tend to not be terribly healthy looking, it probably isn’t helping others either.
My experience is, paradoxically perhaps, that the average person doesn’t really know much about “the average person”, because this is an image promoted by a minority. But, to be blunt, the characters in your media are probably selling you dissatisfaction, which hopefully leads to a thriving business in disposable clothes, faddish me-too pop baubles, unhealthy food, expensive cars, and other so-called “lifestyles”.
1 Like
I’m extremely “big boned”. I’m 5’ 11", and I think I look pretty good around 15lbs over my supposed ideal weight, but that’s not my problem right now. My problem right now is that I’m extremely overweight. I used to try to rationalize it all sorts of ways, but that’s bullshit. As a man, though, I have the advantage of not having “oh, fashion is so unfair” be one of my rationalizations.
Same here, except not “big boned”, but I have a stocky, heavily-built frame, that’s buried in about a hundred extra pounds of mostly visceral fat.
Given that 69% of American adults are overweight and 35% are obese, it appears that less than morbidly obese is an unrealistic standard of beauty.
See also Cinderella’s waist.
Thank you for skillfully providing an example to @marilove’s conclusion.
1 Like
I’m sure these are just “practical” representations of “idealized women” that are “easier to ship” due to their “accurate anatomy.”
Honestly? Absolutely fucking honestly: I picture a lot of commenters here as being “that guy” at the beginning of this video. A lot of, “What?! I’m just being honest!” Zero self-examination.
3 Likes
Since I brought up the “easier to ship” rationale, I can only assume that your abrasive comments are directed at mine.
Note how his Venezulan maniquen are contrasted with those from abroad, i.e, the us, where I live.
Maybe I need to walk down to the mall and make a photographic survey of how Macys, Lord and Taylor, etc, actually use mannequins.
And many stores use what I call “stick-people” mannequins that look just like 3-D versions of stick people just to display the clothes.
2 Likes
Do not ascribe opinions to me, which I have not expressed, just because the opinions that I have expressed happen to disagree with yours.
In case you are still unsure, I am not arguing that it is not irritating to measure yourself up against any arbitrary standard and come up short. I am arguing that that trying to sweep the irritants beneath the rug is neither the ethically, nor the practically optimal solution to the issue.
Naturally, this in no way detracts from any individual’s ability to push for any preferred changes to the way clothes are displayed, it just makes the push for ‘average-isation’ have no greater moral imperative than the push for three-eyed bobbleheads, despite the big (probable) difference in the motivations behind them.
Plastering over symptoms does not only do nothing to solve root causes, it actually makes root causes more difficult to solve.
