Body Image Activist, Eating Disorders mamaVISION

I’ve been reading REAL magazine since they started publishing, and I’ve got to say these girls have something totally unique (and there artwork rules!)

The About Us Page describes REAL as;

REAL is a heart beat, a love letter, a wink, a kiss, a smile, a tear, a hug. REAL is two hands holding, a single idea, a dream, a fire, a sea, a crazy pirate, a colour, a song, a season. Being real can’t be written in words, there’s no manual on how to be real, because we are all real, if we exist we are real.

REAL is written by young women from across the world. It was created to inspire you to do amazing and outrageous things. We aim to challenge you to think outside the box and consider want being real is to you.

Join them! I promise you will start to think a bit differently about yourself, and the world around you.

Love,

mV

I’ve never understood why more models do not come forward to speak about the sickness of the modeling industry, they seem to avoid the topic like the plague.

But not Coco Rocha, a 21 year old model, self described as “6 inches taller and 10 sizes smaller than the average American woman, came forward to have her say during NY Fashion Week 2010;

“This issue of model’s weight is, and always has been of concern to me. There are certain moral decisions which seem like no brainers to us. For example, not employing children in sweatshops, and not increasing the addictiveness of cigarettes. When designers, stylists or agents push children to take measures that lead to anorexia or other health problems in order to remain in the business, they are asking the public to ignore their moral conscience in favor of the art.

Surely, we all see how morally wrong it is for an adult to convince an already thin 15 year old that she is actually too fat. It is unforgivable that an adult should demand that the girl unnaturally lose the weight vital to keep her body functioning properly. How can any person justify an aesthetic that reduces a woman or child to an emaciated skeleton? Is it art? Surely fashion’s aesthetic should enhance and beautify the human form, not destroy it.”

Then came the inevitable jabs from the NY Times Fashion Freaks in an article titled A Model’s prospects: Slim to none, which insinuated that Rocha is no longer desirable because she is too fat, and therefore speaking out (which is a pile of BS BTW);

“A lot of designers no longer hire her for their runways. They consider her a veritable behemoth in a business that makes a fetish of being what the actress Emily Blunt once termed “edge of ill” thin.”

The good news in all of this is the Council of Fashion Designers of American (CFDA) has finally come out of their coma to address these issues (I was stalking them way back in 2008 on this topic – even went undercover to their offices to expose how clueless they were).  Supposedly their goal is to increase the sample size and to book models over the age of 16 (I”ll believe it when I see it, but hey at least they are pretending to care now).

Coco Rocha went on to say;

We need changes. I’d prefer that there would be no girl working under the age of 16, but if that has to be the case then I’d love to see teens escorted by a guardian to castings, shows, and shoots. The CFDA has set codes in place for their members and I’d love to see the entire industry follow. Society legislates a lot of things – no steroid use in sports is one example – its only reasonable that there be rules of conduct to keep the fashion industry healthy.

My sincere hope is that through our efforts young models will one day be spared the humiliation, the risky weight loss, the depression that comes along with anorexia and the misery of abandonment by an industry ashamed to see them turn into actual women.

There are natural human standards in how we treat one another and how we treat children. There are those who continue to trample on these standards but there are also champions of a better way. I hope that the continued efforts of the CFDA and all those who hold these values in regard will sway the opinion of those on the opposing side of the industry to ensure a true change for the better.

Amen,

mamaV

Now that I am done hyperventilating over this situation, I think I am in a half way reasonable state of mind to write this post about the Diesel Be Stupid ad campaign, sent to me by the mother of a 14-year-old daughter who was subject to this ad from Nylon Magazine.

Read full story here and comment

Time for a Wild-Ass-Guess on who is this sad creature on the left? Not to mention the obviously strained, uncomfortable reporter on the right.

Ok, a few hints:

1) Blondie claims to have the same talent as the King of Pop, with her debut album ready to hit the stores, ironically titled “Superficial” (you can’t make this shit up people!)

2) “Double D is not large enough,” is the message she wishes to send to all the young hopefuls out there. (Note taken bimbo queen).

3) Demented in her Christian faith, she chalks up her 10+ plastic surgeries (IN ONE DAY) as happening in “gods time” (what exactly are you smokin’ and can I have some?”

Still can’t guess huh?

(more…)

Photoshop madness is in style as of late, and I have to admit I can’t get enough of it.

Partially because I love to see the fashion mags get busted, but also because, as in this example, I think the REAL image looks one hell of a lot better than the avatar version.

Case in point;

Demi Moore as a pore-free-wrinkle-free avatar

verses

Demi Moore the natural beauty (kinda) who snagged a husband a few decades her junior. Sorry, but I gotta say she looks waayyy better as HERSELF.

Who is with me?

BTW, Ashton Kutcher happened to post his wife’s image on twitter, and somebody discovered it was the actual image used for this photoshoot, view here.

So, at the end of the day what do we learn here, why the hell do we even give a rip?

I’d say its because I am on a mission to show young women how unbelievably deceived they are. I mean, back in my modeling days it was bad, but now, it is just plain, what should I say, imaginary. A graphic depiction of a human that bears very little resemblance in features, skin tone, or expression — all the unique aspects of a person striped away in order to give us some creepy perfume ad that tells us this is what is “wanted.”

Load of crap my friends, total and complete load of crap.

Love,

mamaV