Photo by Henry Hargreaves

Recently The New York Times interviewed Simon Doonan, a major player in the fashion industry, about his new book Gay Men Don’t Get Fat. In the book, Doonan, a gay man, uses humor to talk about sexual orientation and food. In Doonan’s world, there are two clear categories of food: straight and gay. This idea made his interview over lunch with a New York Times writer very funny.

Doonan was critical of his interviewer for getting a panini loaded with meat and cheese, because this kind of food is typical of the way Doonan says heterosexual men eat. Doonan’s humorous play on stereotypes about sexual orientation included remarking that a baby arugula salad is a gay dish, while the meatloaf on the menu is “the Burt Reynolds of foods.” Doonan enjoys poking fun at both the heterosexual and gay and says that “bisexual eating” is the best way to “stay svelte” or thin.

Sadly his fashion industry mentality shows itself in his humor when he repeatedly remarks that “heterosexual foods” are the cause for the hefty nature of many of his heterosexual friends. Doonan’s fear of fatty foods isn’t so much about health as it is about looks. This is a dangerous line of thinking because it places too much emphasis on being thin and what you look like. Sure plenty of foods out there are unhealthy, but you should be wary of these foods because of your health, not the size of your clothing. Had Doonan emphasized that healthy foods were good for the heart, then his message would have been worthwhile. It’s important to remember that not everyone has the genes to look slim. What is important is to keep our bodies healthy.

In the end, I think Doonan’s humor far outweighed his unhealthy ideas about body image. And in spite of his obsession with being thin (what else would we expect from someone who works in the fashion industry?), I found the interview to be a delightfully funny read.

—Sam Dercon, 18, Staff Writer

Most of us are aware of how fashion magazines and lipstick commercials too often depict women: We’re reduced to overly sexualized, dolled-up mannequins in skimpy clothes and lots of makeup. And the result is harmful: women are constantly exposed to commercial ideals of beauty and impossibly Photoshopped models, which can be extremely damaging to their body image. One way to combat this over-sexualization is comprehensive sexual education, which teaches young women about healthy body image and that they can combat sexualization.

Artist Yolanda Dominguez has come up with another, more unusual way to tackle the problem. Her latest project puts those unrealistic, sexualized magazine images in new perspective. “Poses” captures the ridiculous nature of many magazine photos and uses the humorous result to share an important message. Dominguez had women “pose” to recreate the positions and expressions seen in fashion spreads, then displayed the original photos and remakes side by side online. Her subjects are far from high fashion; the women are certainly much more like our moms and neighbors than supermodels. And her settings are everyday scenes.

The result is incredibly bizarre. Put into a real-world context, the images become ridiculous. It’s almost impossible to believe that they were shot to sell handbags and high heels in the first place. Dominguez makes us consider how lots of make-up and special lighting have made us forget that these poses are unnatural to the point of absurdity. That we hold them as a standard makes little sense—they’re impossible.

Dominguez hopes we will also wonder why men in magazines are rarely shown in such absurd poses. According to the artist, in photo shoots men emphasize their strength, standing up with broad shoulders and straight backs. In other words, they seem fit, while women—often emaciated, contorted, and wearing sour expressions—are portrayed as exactly the opposite. It would appear that the body image magazines promote in women is not only sexualized but also simply unhealthy. Whether or not this double standard exists across all fashion spreads, Dominguez’s chosen images of women seem to speak for themselves. “We don’t identify with this type of woman—we are much more,” explains Dominguez.

—Meg Gibbon, 19, Contributor

In the hit single “Teenage Dream,” Katy Perry sings, “You think I’m pretty without any make-up on,” gushing about the special guy who accepts her for who she is. Maybe Rolling Stone magazine should start taking some cues from this popular song.

Last month, Perry was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone wearing sexy lingerie and her signature doe-eyed expression. At first glance, this looks like a typical photo, but a quick glimpse of the “before” and “after” pictures tells a very different story.

With the help of Photoshop, Perry’s thighs become instantly thinner, her breasts grow an extra cup size, her right hand completely changes position and any lingering blemishes and skin folds are magically removed. While such extensive retouching is nothing new, it is important to remember that even the most stunning celebrities and models are changed to fit impossible beauty ideals. No wonder Perry feels like she’s living a “teenage dream” when she finally finds someone who appreciates her natural, un-Photoshopped beauty.

—Cynthia Lam, 17, Staff Writer

via Sociological Images

Have you ever looked at a magazine and been awed by how flawless and beautiful everybody seemed, and then felt that you were less than adequate? Women are not the only ones that are made to feel like they should resemble Victoria’s Secret models. Advertisers and magazines target men with pictures of perfection just as often as they target women.

In this clip from the video, “Bigger, Faster, Stronger,” Chris Bell talks to photographers and discovers that images of men’s bodies are subjected to unbelievable manipulation just as often as their female counterparts. Take a look at what happens when Chris takes a “before” picture, and then an “after” picture. For his “after” picture, he gets his eyebrows plucked and his body shaved and spray tanned before taking his photo. The picture of his body is then further manipulated by using editing software.

Watching the graphic artist broaden Chris’ shoulders and enhance his abdomen to make him look “buff” makes it obvious that male perfection is something that can be virtually created with a few clicks of a mouse.

Magazines and ads show us perfect bodies, but wouldn’t it be great if some of those images included average looking, healthy bodies? Then maybe some people would get the message that they can be happy with their bodies just the way they are.

—Lina Chappelle, 16, Staff Writer

It seems to be a fad: featuring plus-size models in fashion magazines. Just look at Vogue Curvy on Vogue Italia’s Web site or American Vogue’s “Shape Issue,” which hits newsstands this month. French Elle has also joined in, by featuring American plus-size model Tara Lynn on the cover and in over twenty pages inside the April issue.

And while this is a step in the right direction, maybe the issue of having only stick-thin women admired as beautiful isn’t being addressed in quite the right way. After all, when an issue of a magazine is dedicated to women marked as larger than the average model, aren’t we again only paying attention to weight and presenting this one plus-size model as an exception to the skinny ideal?

And yes, featuring plus-size models in fashion magazines is a baby step toward including plus-size (or maybe more accurately called average-size, as most of these models are not extremely overweight) models into a traditionally skinny industry. Maybe this is an indicator of good things to come—a time when plus-size and traditionally ultra-thin models are included in fashion spreads together and made to be beautiful alongside each other without any hype over who weighs how much.

-Taylor McCabe, 17, Staff Writer