Our discussion about Jordin Sparks got me thinking about our discussion of “curvy women.”
Let’s take a look at the celebrities that we frequently think of when we talk about curvy women: namely, Mandy Moore, Mariah Carey, and Beyonce.
Are any of them genuinely “curvy?” I ask this with the term “curvy” being used as our euphemism for a celebrity with a few extra pounds on her. But I don’t think MM, MC, or B do. I mean, all three of them have breasts and hips… but those are full body parts that women are supposed to possess. Compared to Lindsay Lohan (who generally flaunts protruding breast bones in the place of breasts), yes, they are curvy, but they are nowhere near as curvy as the average American woman, who is a size fourteen. Not to mention, what good are any of these “curvy” celebrities doing when they talk to the media about how great it is to be “curvy” and voluptuous, when they are only size sixes…? The media hasn’t expressed distaste in any of these curvy celebrities (as the media often does to overweight women), because they aren’t actually overweight.
Also, the truly overweight celebrities–like Rosie O’Donnell–are rarely painted as sex symbols. So has the media embraced “curvy” celebrities yet?
I don’t think so.