Monday, February 26, 2007

A little bit of feminism going on... ;)

Here on this site we can see the newest Dove commercial.

http://dovecreamoil.com/?ban=aolhome

Dove got a lot of attention about a year or so ago when they started using different types of women´s bodies in their commercials and advertisements. For all I know, this attention was positive attention, for I don´t think people mind getting a wider scope on models in the industry today.
In Spain models are not allowed to weigh less than a certain number. I am not sure what that number is, but if someone knows, please fill me in. I have gotten mixed remarks about this rule that was passed in Spain. Is it simply a way for "fat" people to get to be models? Are we trying to make the "fat" people happy? Is this yet again another step towards an overweight world? A very simple and short answer: NO.

How sad is an industry getting when their employees are starting to starve and manipulate their body in such a way where they break apart and in the end die? This does not happen often, but just the fact that it does happens makes it once too often. It is also a known fact that girls look up to models and do compare themselves to them. The intensity of this comparison may vary incredibly, some may want to look exactly like the models, some may only look at their hair and say, "hey, that´s cool hair". Whether girls compare themselves a little or a lot to these women, what they look like affects other women and how they view themselves. What point am I trying to make? That skinny women should not be allowed to be used in advertisements? No. What I am trying to say is that the variety of the types of models used today should be increased. Not every woman today has a flat stomach, has size 34 C breasts, has tiny thighs etc. What about the woman with a big butt or the woman with the "womanly" waist? Should woman not be able to also see the models that look more like them and see that being beautiful does not necessarily mean small waist, small but, small boobs, and small stomache?

In today´s modeling society, Marilyn Monroe would not be an ideal model. This is very interesting when we know that she is viewed as one of the most successful movie stars and models of the 50´s and 60´s and still adored by many today.

My last words: What message are advertisements and the modeling agencies giving people today? That woman are supposed to be toothpick skinny, wear as little amount of clothes as possible and that sex sells. Great. Can´t wait to raise my children in such a world where people´s differences are not celebrated.

Hildur Sólveig

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Started once anew...

Ok, this has gotten pretty sad. I haven't written anything in about more than a month or so. Well, tons of shit has happened since then. Erm, I went to Suðureyri in January to go to Gummi Addi's funeral. It was so beautiful. The choir that sang brought tears to your eyes... Then when we stopped by Gummi's house to "say goodbye" to it, it started snowing a little bit. This snow was no ordinary snow though. The snowflakes were in the shape of the star of David. I mean they were perfectly symmetrical and exactly like stars. Someone must've been looking down on us.

What else... 2 weekends ago the school went on its annual field trip to Reykjavík. Yep, 3 day weekend, non-stop drinking, totally crazy weekend took its turn and was hello fun. On the Thursday we went karaoke singing, Friday--- um... sleep :), and Saturday I went to Stina's friends birthday party, then went to a Þorrablót for those people who used to live in Höfn but now live in Reykjavík. There I saw Eva who was one of my best friends when I was little! So FUN to see her! We´re going to try to have a little reunion soon.

Then last weekend we had an open house at the University where the Sexy Ballerina got to show her stuff. She loved it, as did the children, except for one little dude who started crying when he saw me. (or should I say her) I don´t understand why he would start crying... could you?