A friend brought this to my attention a few days ago.
http://www.feministing.com/archives/021437.html
I mean, almost everyone knows about American Apparel's choice in advertising technique, but this is the first thing I've heard of Urban Outfitters doing something along those lines.
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I get more angry as I think about this shirt. Yes, eat less. Especially in Ethiopia! It's such a priviledged, self righteous message. I feel like the only people who are going to defend this are thin people who like to fat shame others and who would, ironically, get mad if someone told them to "Eat More". It misses the mark about problems with society's relationship with food in soooooo many ways.
ReplyDeletewell, they say the only way to lose weight is to put the fork down. i don't think a shirt's going to make or break the excess fat on america.
ReplyDeleteNo it won't really help with unhealthy weight problems, but I don't think that's it's goal (if there really is a goal, it's a stupid shirt). To me, it looks like a message that's part of the larger conversation going on in society about what women should and shouldn't put into their bodies/how their bodies should look.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of food issues and unhealthy weight stems more from not having the money to buy healthy, lean food. I rememeber reading something that compared weights of shoppers at whole foods to those at more budget friendly places and there were pretty big differences.
It's clearly targeted toward women and pushing a thin ideal. Was there a men's version? I didn't see one, but might have missed it. I feel like if the shirt said "Eat less meat" or "Eat more vegetables" it wouldn't be just available to women, because those things don't have to do with weight.
One of the videos watched in my class was of a clip from the Today Show regarding some fashion for charity thing.
ReplyDeleteFamouse designers made these dresses to sell on Ebay to raise money for Darfur.
The point for the class was that one of the few models actually looked so terrifyingly thin our teacher wrote a letter to msn to express her concern and anger.
BUT what I thought was even more ridiculous about it was that these designers are making clothing for a charity (the dresses only come in the sizes worn by the models), to raise money to help people who do not have the choice to not eat. Using the "fashionable" status of a model who is in such control of her hunger for others that have no control at all.
Creepy.
They could have at least done something clever, like "Eat Less..." on the front, and on the back say "That way I can outrun you skinny bitches when the zombies come." That would at least make girls aware of the reality that eating less makes you WEAK and TIRED. and more susceptible to zombie attacks. not sexy. a little less idealism and a little more realism would be nice.
ReplyDeleteWhen I had mono all I could physically eat for one week was one small lukewarm bowl of EasyMac a day, which is less than 300 calories. There were many nouns I felt during that week: hungry, lethargic, sad, hungry, frustrated, hungry, and hungry, but sexy was far from that list.
Not eating makes you feel like shit. "feel like shit!" put that on a T-shirt, Urban Outfitters.
What I find to be the most hilarious thing about this t-shirt is my husband's opinion when I showed him... He exclaimed, "That girl needs to hit the buffet!" He is the first male I've known that thought the ideal woman was not a waft. She was to be natural, like great women of our past. No skin and bones woman was thought to be healthy, they were treated like they were going to kick the bucket and soon!
ReplyDeleteNow, don't get me wrong...I am not looking forward to my over-weight, eleven year-old niece having type II diabetes (and a good percentage of kids her age will). "Fat" America is a result of convenience. Convenience food, stores, and diet. This shirt really doesn't help the issue that most kids in America eat McDonald's for a regular meal once a week, or that their parents are too busy watching TV or working two jobs to help pay for their "convenience". Why can't we have a shirt that says "Put Down The Remote..." ? Or "Step Away From The Computer and No One Will Get Hurt"
I feel like it's not fair to say skinny women aren't "real" or don't eat. That's so unture. It's fine to be proud of all body types, but I feel like you're trying to make naturally skinny people sound less attractive or unhealthy and just contributing to the idea that there's an "ideal" body out there.
ReplyDeleteMarselle has hit on a great point.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with society isn't JUST that the idea of "perfectly thin" and "eating less" is shoved down our throats, but too is the idea of indulgence.
We're constantly fed these ideas of indulge and abstain. Always. At the same time. Hence our society's ability to house the morbidly obese and the deathly thin.
The problem is trying to achieve a specific look that your body can not sustain itself on. For some people, they "over eat" (though portion control is HARDLY the issue, it's WHAT we put in our bodies) and their body cannot make sense of what to do with all the processed foods and chemicals and salt and bad oils and bad fat and sugar sugar sugar, etc etc etc.
We all agree that to pretend that everyone comes in a size 2 is fucking absurd...
... but so too is the assumption that everyone is a size 6, or 10, or 14.
Some of us (not me, but women) come in 2s. And 4s. And 10s. And 5s (me, but other women too).
An obsession with being skinny is dangerous, but so too is a hatred of it. A disgust of it... Telling someone to eat less because they are fat is just as dangerous as telling someone (naturally) skinny to eat more just because they are skinny.
We should be encouraging healthy eating habits- and not like, eat less and work out more no matter who you are- and begin rejecting the concept that women come in one size! Or three sizes! (small medium and large in undies? REALLY? soooo I get too small or I get too big... rude Target, rude)