How We Created Unattainable Beauty

In Celebrity Bodies by Daniel Harris, we were treated to a look at celebrity lives and how they are victims of the middle class and not the other way around. This essay touches base on subjects of celebrities going through crash diets to obtain or keep a malnourished figure. Celebrities are constantly under a magnifying glass; their every move is watched and criticized by other celebrities and the masses of people that tune in to watch. We savor reading trashy tabloids flat out lying about these poor celebrities, yet one step off the golden path of goodness leads to us shaming these people for the rest of their lives. We want there to be more representation within the media, yet lash out when we are actually shown fuller-figured celebrities. 

There was one instance that I recently read about that irked me like no other. As most people would know, Sports Illustrated magazine recently came out with yet another addition of its coveted Swimsuit Edition. On the front cover was Ashley Graham, the first full figure model to ever grace the front page of Sports Illustrated. There were also multiple pictures of plus size models within the magazine, and it was praised for finally showing some curves and going against the conventional standards of beauty (which having a society that sets the bar for beauty and dictates every little thing within that sphere is disgusting, but well). Cheryl Tiegs, back in what Hollywood would consider her "glory days" (I.e. When she was youthful and a pretty thing to look at), also was a cover girl for the Swimsuit Issue. She had some problems with this recent issue. She is quoted saying: 

"I don't like that we're talking about full-figured women because it's glamorizing them, and your waist should be smaller than 35 [inches]". 

She then goes on to say how she means well, that Dr. Oz said this himself, etc. She immediately recieved backlash from multiple groups stating that her own covers back in the day inspired anorexic and bulimic tendencies within young girls at the time. When I had heard of the story, I immediately knew that she was going to have to publicly apologize, or else her image would be relentlessly picked apart until there was nothing left. Soon enough, my prediction rang true. She publicly apologized for her mistaken message and praised Graham for her courage and beautiful figure. (Graham, pictured on the left with her cover image; Tiegs is pictured on the right).

And so it goes. We are always ready to tear a new one into any celebrity we please. Should Tiegs be promoting an unhealthy lifestyle or having a healthier figure in the long run? Back in her day, she was considered the healthy figure. So it could be a fault on what she was forced to endure back in her model days, where the health of a woman was not the main concern, so long as her hip bones jutted out and her breasts were still perky. While our society is learning to be more health concerned and cry out for more representation, we still face those that grew up thinking that an absolutely flat stomach is what every woman wants to aim for, no matter her body type. And for Tiegs, she bears the brunt of social ignorance in the past in this instance here. There is no verbal backspace for her. There is no amounts of apologizing that will do her good. For now she will be seen as public enemy #1 who wants girls to be anorexic to achieve her waistline until the paparazzi find another poor celebrity to sink their teeth into. It's interesting, isn't it? We have condensed all the traits average people want to obtain - fortune, status, glittering galas and chiseled bodies - and placed in some magical far away place that can only be accessed through pictures and movies. By doing this, we have elevated what could have been normal men and women and placed them in godly glory. But, one false move from these gods and it is like the cloth is torn from our eyes. They turn out to be human, with their own set of flaws and insecurities; and that simply cannot do.