Two articles got me thinking; one a more flipptant musing on the usage of the word ‘curvy’ to mean ‘fat’ and another in depth and fascinating study of ‘black booty politics’

They got me thinking about this move towards ‘celebrating curves’ and ‘real women’ we’ve seen in response to the size zero thing. Shifting the ‘ideal’ of what a woman should look like and attain to is not an improvement. I’m sick of hearing ‘oh I wish we could go back to the 50s where we had Marilyn Monroe that’s what real women are like!’ and similar comments. All the ‘real women have curves! thing.

Yes real women have curves, but real women are also don’t.

Shifting an ‘ideal’ shape does no one any favours. Women are still made to feel inferior by not being an ideal shape.
Curvy or stick thin, it doesn’t matter by forcing one narrow ideal upon women you force the majority of us to feel inferior for not living up to some ideal that only a small percentage of women achieve either by genetic fluke or surgery. When one narrow ideal is held up women will always be encouraged to loose just a few punts, gain just a few, tone up, get bigger boobs, get smaller boobs, arses etc. We can never just be.

It shouldn’t matter what shape you are, there should be no ‘ideal’, there is no monolithic woman who comes in a one size fits all woman-shape.