Models in Photo May Be Fatter Than They Actually Appear

My sincere apologies for the lack of amateur XXX food pictures, but I've been quite poor and busy as of late, which has meant a lot of pasta and eggs and freezer pizza. I also recently sustained some pretty dramatic mouth injuries, which has meant soup. And this lamesauce is not organic.

Our good friend Dan, however, has pointed me to this fascinating site steaming with culinary impropriety, created by the writer of this particularly indulgent and well-written food blog that has been occupying the majority of my procrastination time over the past twelve hours or so. Mm. I am typing left-handed (because I found some leftover freezer pizza, you sick bastard).

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On the other side of the topic of food is an issue that I've been kicking around as a possible thesis topic for next semester: in an effort to combat the spread of eating disorders like anorexia, lawmakers in the U.K. and France have been pushing to require that retouched pictures in advertisements and fashion editorials come with a sort of disclaimer that they have been Photoshopped . Here is the first article I read on the subject [note: sorry, it's in French, but the Google translator does a pretty decent job for those of the non-francophone persuasion], and here is another one (in English).

This is a fantastic idea. Sure, there are a few issues with it, including the fact that pretty much all published photographs are retouched in some way or another (I like the idea of a 'ratings' system, as proposed at the end of the second article), but if French women get any skinnier, they're actually going to disappear completely.

Seriously, though. Consider the prevalence of websites that promote eating disorders with tips on how to lose weight, how to hide such unhealthy habits from friends and family, and 'thinspiration' (simply do a Google search on 'pro-ana' and prepare to be shocked and saddened). While the idealization of a specific female body type is as old as civilization itself, the contemporary shift of media consumption has enabled a fetishism of disorders like anorexia and bulimia that is beyond upsetting. What's even worse is how young some of these girls are.

It's great that people are looking to change this overseas, but will it ever make its way to America? I'm not feeling optimistic. Back in April, French Elle ran editorials photographed by Peter Lindbergh featuring Eva Herzigova, Monica Bellucci, and Sophie Marceau sans maquillages et sans retouches. Obviously, good photography, flattering lighting, and, y'know, being a friggin' supermodel all ensure the fact that the models still look absolutely stunning, but this isn't about hating on the pretty people. It's about being at least a little realistic about our standards of beauty. Will American magazines ever run something like this? Fat chance (groan).

I leave you now with a video you may remember from a few years ago from an old Dove campaign that I think (and my mother agrees) every prepubescent girl should be required to watch: