The Pointlessness of the “Real Women” Debate

Finally it’s being discussed by a newspaper (the media! dun dun dun).

So apparently the real women slogan started out in 1997 with Body Shop’s ad campaign which said “There are 3 billion women who don’t look like supermodels and only eight who do.” GEE THANKS, BODY SHOP. As if supermodels don’t have the same body image problems us layfolk do. As I’ve said time and time again, every woman has body image problems.

Since then, women have been caught in a pointless feedback loop as we debate what does and doesn’t constitute ”real women”. That the bulk of it is a marketing strategy – Dove’s Campaign For Real Beauty, which sold a lot of fake-tanner, is a case in point – appears to have flown over most people’s heads.

So true! It’s just a marketing strategy which some parts of the body acceptance movement took to heart. I’m not even a fan of “real women” even if it includes skinnies because it still excludes supermodels. You know, the girl on the street could be a supermodel! I knew two in high school and I’d have had no idea. Some might argue that the “real” in this case is in reference to the Photoshoping and makeup and everything but I’ve most often seen it used to exclude thin women.

That said, I don’t have a problem with Photoshoping lighting, blemishes, adding makeup, etc. I do think it’s ridiculous when they change things that wouldn’t be changeable without camera tricks or makeup. Advertisements are supposed to sell you an ideal world; no one wants a pock-marked woman with weird wrinkles in her clothes to sell you a beauty product. I accept that because that’s how selling something works. But stuff like shaving inches off of Rihanna’s waist is unacceptable. Especially because Rihanna already has an amazing body!

More than one feminist commentator has pondered what women could achieve by redirecting the energy spent worrying about our bodies into more rewarding pursuits. But debating which woman’s body is more real is not feminist commentary; if anything, it is precisely the opposite.

So true! I’m glad that this has been brought out into the public eye.

By now, everyone should realise that the only people out there who aren’t ”real women” are men.

Amen. I mean, awomen.

Keira Knightley not anorexic, says mother

So this is old news, but I think it’s still relevant, as us skinny chicks can definitely relate to Keira’s issues, as told by her mother.

“She has always been thin. She’s her daddy’s daughter, with his long body,” [MacDonald] said. “Daddy was much, much thinner than Keira. When he was Keira’s age, he had to drink milk with honey and eggs, and go training and training and training, just to be a normal weight.

“She eats like a horse. I always want to apologise because she can eat anything that she wants and she does not put on weight.”

So Keira has a fast metabolism inherited from her father, just like me! Just another reason that she’s one of my favorite celebrities, and I don’t even read People or anything.

The Oscar-nominated actress has repeatedly denied claims she suffers from an eating disorder, insisting she is “naturally thin”. While Knightley has admitted that both her grandmother and great-grandmother suffered from anorexia, she said she had not inherited the condition.

Us normal people hate repudiating claims that we’re anorexic, but can you imagine the same situation as a celebrity? People don’t believe a thing celebrities say about anything. A celebrity says they didn’t cheat on their spouse. Or drive under the influence. Or have an eating disorder. Celebrities are real people too, under a ton of pressure, and their behavior is only human. I dislike when people judge celebrities for that, but that’s another rant entirely… Anyhow, Keira’s poor mother is hurt by these accusations, as any mother would be:

“I can’t bear it at all and neither could you. When kids are bullied in the playground, their parents are in absolute agony,” she said. “It’s a playground situation that we’re looking at with the press, it’s a form of bullying. But what can we do? She has sued once, and she won. If she did it again, she would win again. But you can’t keep doing that. It would take over your life. So you have to just turn away.”

She’s right with that last sentiment there. You just have to turn away. If people are being jerks, just ignore them. And now, we can be validated by the medical community. I’d have said, “No shit!” but the medical community often makes “no shit” statements so there you are.

Lorraine McCreary, a registered NHS dietician who runs Diet Scotland, a clinic specialising in weight loss and eating disorders, said: “New genes that code for obesity are being discovered all the time, and in the same way there will be genes that code to keep people very lean.

“You do get very slim people who can eat an awful lot of calories and maintain a very lean body mass. If Keira is not avoiding eating, and her eating pattern is normal and her father had that as well, then it’s very likely that there is a genetic link.”

I’ll leave you with a good quote from Keira herself:

“Anybody with an ounce of intelligence would say that too much emphasis is put on weight…”