The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty finally addressed the age issue afew months ago. But the nudity in the ads drove The American Family Association to call for a boycott.

My problem with this campaign from the beginning is how polarizing it is. When Dove first unveiled the Real Beauty campaign two years ago, the reaction was split by gender. Women said “Those models aren’t real! They are too young and too skinny!” Men said “Those women are too fat! I don’t want to see that!” All of which just plunged women deeper into the self-esteem black hole they were already in.

There’s also the dichotomy of motive. On the one hand, we can applaud Dove for bringing a somewhat more realistic face to advertising, yet at the same time, if we were really beautiful we wouldn’t need to buy their cellulite cream. When attractive older women were included in the campaign, we women of a certain age heard about how no one should have to look at such things. Thanks a lot.



Ageless Beauty

Attacked by a Catwalk! This is why I am SO thankful that I am not a million-dollar fashion model.

Waiter Rant has a great post on how teenagers view themselves, and why.

Homo Escapeons on the importance of beauty.

What is beauty, anyway?

Who says you have to be perfect to be beautiful?

Beauty can be more than skin deep, if you look hard enough.

The self-proclaimed “homeliest woman in the world”, Mary Ann Bevan. More pictures here.

The Remark

(Thanks, Rich!)
Two men were talking at a party, and one said, “Look at that awful-looking woman over there… isn’t she hideous? I think she must be the most unattractive woman I’ve ever seen in my life!”

“That happens to be my wife!” said the second icily.

“Oh dear,” said the first, covered in confusion, “I’m so sorry.”

To which the unfortunate man replied, “YOU’RE sorry…?”

THE PARROT

A lady is walking down the street to work and sees a parrot in a pet store. She stops to admire the bird. The parrot says to her, "Hey lady, you are really ugly."

Well, the lady is furious! She storms past the store to her work.

On the way home she saw the same parrot in the window and the parrot upon seeing her says, "Hey lady, you are really ugly."

She was incredibly ticked now. The next day on the way to work she saw the same parrot and once again it said, "Hey lady, you are really ugly."

The lady was so furious that she stormed into the store and threatened to sue the store and have the bird killed. The store manager apologized profusely and promised the bird wouldn't say it again.

When the lady walked past the store after work the parrot said to her, "Hey lady."

She paused and said, "Yes?"

The bird said, "You know."

Most people think professional models are too thin.

But don’t believe those pictures of anorexic models going around on the net. Photoshop works both ways... it can make you look better or worse.

What photo retouching can do! Select a picture, and run your mouse over it to see the before and after versions.

The art of retouching.

What Redbook did to make Faith Hill look like a cover girl.

When retouching goes too far. This is creepy. Push the “see more samples” button. I agree with this guy.

The world of Child Beauty Pageants. (lots of links)

Marilyn Monroe, before and after makeup. Even without makeup, she was beautiful. But just like with every other woman on earth (except Halle Berry), those who view these pictures will think she needs makeup to look good.

The power of makeup.

Greeting cards for your friend who is recovering from plastic surgery. (Thanks, Jan!)

Asian women have a gizmo available that purports to reshape the nose into something more “Western”. This is too sad. (via the Presurfer)

At the site Hot or Not, you can rate who’s attractive and who’s not. Flickr user manitou2121 took images from the site, sored tham by ranking, and made composite face of each rank. The results are shown in rank order at Flickr.

Reality-sized women ARE beautiful! Just look at The Judgement of Paris. Then partcipate in their survey. (via Mental Floss)

Mary Mc’s Fat Acceptance Stuff. Lots and lots of links here to larger woman (and some men) in the arts.

20-20 Vision

(via It Occurred to Me)
A woman was standing nude looking in her bedroom mirror.

She said to her husband, "I feel fat and ugly. Pay me a compliment."

He replied, "Your eyesight's damn near perfect."

The Knob

(via Old Horsetail Snake)
A woman in her late 40s went to a plastic surgeon for a face lift. The doc tells her of a new procedure called "The Knob." A small knob is implanted on the back of a woman's head and can be turned to tighten uip the skin to produce the effect of a brand new facelift forever. Of course, the woman wanted "The Knob."

Fifteen years later the woman goes back to the surgeon for a consultation.

"All these years everything has been working just fine. I've had to turn the knob on lots of occasions and I've loved the results. But now I've developed two annoying problems. First of all, I've got these terrible bags under my eyes and the knob won't get rid of them."

The doc looks at her and says, "Those aren't bags; those are your breasts."

And she replies, "Well, I guess that explains the goatee."

Ugly Betty

Ugly Betty is an one-year-old ABC-TV show with 11 Emmy nominations. More here.

Previously at Miss Cellania: Real Beauty

Thought for today: People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within. -Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

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