Big Booty Bitches...

So nike has this new ad campaign about bodily imperfections. The jist of it is that it's alright to not have the body of a supermodel, as long as you have the body of an athlete. Having back is fine- it just has to be the product of genes and fitness centers, rather than genes and nougatty centers.

This is the problem with being a woman in today's society. It's not that the beauty standards are imposed arbitrarily, elevating one body type above all others; it's that society requires alteration and asceticism as virtue. We abhor indulgence; we prefer consumption.

Products lead to beauty. Dove hocks cellulite cream, promising that with their regime, any body can be made acceptable. Nike hocks sports bras and shoes, promising that the products will change unauthorized curves, those from sensual experiences and refusals of self-denial, into acceptable ones. No one will be held accountable for an ass put through the ringer in spin class three times a week. Thighs rounded from marathon running, instead of shameless ingestion of products containing carbohydrates and butterfat in wanton proportions, can be accepted in our puritanical society.

Fat isn't even the beginning of it, and people pretend that it is. If fat were the only enemy of womankind,the only betrayer of the true saggy, squashy, hairy, smelly, flaky, secret that women are organic creatures; then womens magazines would masquerade as fitness magazines same as men's do. But fat isn't all. Women also need to be hairless. I promise, we don't start out that way. Does this mean that we'll soon have Nair and Surgicream ads, with women singing the praises of their stiff upper lips?

"I've got full lips. I'm proud of them. I never stop running my mouth" A greek, italian or slavic woman purrs at the camera.
Announcer's voice "Nothing goes with outspoken feminism like a hairless upper lip: Nair"

Actually, that's a pretty clumsy and a shitty metaphor. Of course, the issue remains that beauty is becoming more and more the sum of purchased products, applied faithfully, to banish any momentary bodily indiscretions (flaky skin, oily skin, red marks, under-eye circles, stray hairs, flat hair, frizzy hair, cellulite, vaginal odor, bloating, off-white teeth, bushy eyebrows, chapped lips) only noticed by other women. And it's that fact that remains mostly ignored. These girl-power ads are all subterfuge. It's not some cultural imperitive that women do these things to be sexually attractive to men; women buy these products to armor themselves against the criticism of other women. Women buy these products, not to achieve beauty (which these ads nearly acknowledge- the women in them claim to already feel beautiful), but to achieve the impression of normal (flawless) femininity.