"Real Women"
I was watching Project Runway last night (so much better than last season, I think) and found myself getting increasingly annoyed. Again and again they referred to their models this week, women who have survived heart disease, as "real women", since they were not professional models. To be fair, PR did not invent this phrase. It has become the politically correct term, I suppose, to describe women that are not a size 2 or 4. I hear this term used time and time again and I've just about had it. I'm insulted for both sides, the models and the "real women".
As for the models, the inference is that models are NOT real women. What does that mean? They don't have the same emotions, intelligence, rights as "real women"? Last time I checked, they are living, breathing, real human women. Or does it mean that models are more perfect than women under 5'9" and 115 lbs?
And as for the rest of us mongrels, if the intention is that, by virtue of their size and beauty, models are some species of super-human and therefore not "real women", then why the hell are they put in front of young girls and grown women as the ideal we should aspire to be?
On top of it, all the designers, aside from one, commented/complained about what a challenge it was to design and fit for women that are not professional models. I'm confused... who do they think are supposed to buy their clothes? In my opinion, every single one of their challenges should be to design for a different sized woman.
I'm tired of tv shows like The Swan, models that look like Holocaust survivors, 15 year old girls modeling clothes that are supposedly meant for 40 year old women and the idea that it's better to look like a plastic surgeon's practice doll than to see the beauty in aging with grace and dignity. It is exactly these types of messages that are sent to our young women that make them feel that they will never be beautiful ENOUGH.
Am I alone in these thoughts?
