The New Toddlers in Tiaras

This is my three-year-old niece, Lorelai.

Obviously, she’s just about the most adorable kid you’ve ever laid eyes on. We’ll just all spend a moment thinking about that before I get to the point.

So cute, right?! And funny, too! I know!

Okay then.

Lorelai is also — in case you hadn’t already guessed where this is going — super into princesses.

Pretty Price Check (02.25.11)

The Pretty Price Check: Your Friday round-up of what we paid for beauty last week.

First of all, I think this video should make us all feel entirely better about whether or not princess culture/the beauty industry/Miley Cyrus/etc/etc are messing about with the self-confidence of little girls today:

Because something tells me this kid is going to be just fine. Seriously, will somebody make a mash-up video of her and Jessica “I Can Do Anything Good!” Daily Affirmation and we’ll just pass a law that says it has to air during every commercial break on the CW? Thanks. (Via Jezebel.)

[Never Say Diet] Skinny People Just Got Fatter.

At least, according to the FDA’s new guidelines about who qualifies for Lap-Band surgery. (Hint: If you’re 5’4″ and 175 pounds… you’re close!)

So that’s what I’m talking about on Never Say Diet today. Head on over and chime in!

And one more.

I know, I know. Now you’re just going to think I’m some kind of guest posting slut, popping up all over town like this. Which is somewhat appropriate (in the most feminist, reclaimed, empowered sense of the word slut, obvs) since this one is a Q&A over on MyDaily, with the fabulous Rachel White, author of the blog Rabbit Write and creator of Lady Porn Day!

And here you thought President’s Day was a hoot. (Note: All of those links are pretty PG, but if you keep on clicking around Rachel’s site, you might find some stuff that is NSFW. And now you’ve been warned, so enjoy!)

PS. Just in case all of these guest posts are making anyone anxious: Do not fret. I’m just being extra social this week. There are some new blogging developments in the works, and I look forward to telling you more about all of that asap  — but Beauty Schooled is and will remain my true blog love, with plenty of published-here-only content coming atcha.

Michelle Obama and I Both Feel Good About Our Weight.

Okay, actually, I am not privy to that sort of insider Obama info. And neither is Rush Limbaugh, which is why I’m busy being mad at him today over on Never Say Diet.

But I had to go for the convoluted post title because, in other fun guest posting news, I’m also over on 2000 Dollar Wedding, talking about why I ditched my bathroom scale for several months before my wedding — and you just might want to do the same. It’s part 1 in a three-part series I’m doing over there, about all the ways we pay for pretty when we get married. I know. There are a lot. Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 in the next few weeks!

Yup, that’s even me in the white dress up there.

So, wow, you have a lot of clicking to do. Rush Limbaugh! Weddings! Hopefully not together! Enjoy.

[Never Say Diet] Plastic is (Not So) Fantastic

Don’t get all googly-eyed on me about the recent Barbie and Ken lovefest. She still 11 inches of body image distorting plastic and that’s what I’m talking about today on Never Say Diet. (Where I’ll also be guest starring tomorrow and Thursday, yay!)

Go on, click and chime in.

PS. If you want to do even more to keep raising awareness about body image issues this week, check out the NOW Foundation’s Love Your Body video campaign. Hot.

Just One Thing

It’s National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, and this year, NEDA is asking everyone to do just one thing to help raise awareness and provide accurate information about eating disorders.

So while I’m technically on a little mini-break today (Happy President’s Day!), I wanted to pop on and share NEDA’s info. If you’re struggling with your relationship to food, please know that you are not alone. There is hope — and there is help available.

www.NationalEatingDisorders.org
Toll-free Helpline: 800-931-2237

 

Much love,

Virginia

PS. For more on all of this, check out these great posts by The Beheld, Jezebel, and Health for the Whole Self. Oh and Dances With Fat on Photoshopping.

Pretty Price Check (02.18.11)

The Pretty Price Check: Your Friday round-up of what we paid for beauty last week.

For some reason, this week’s Price Check is all about what men think of female beauty. Maybe it’s a side effect of Valentine’s Day (aka the time of year when men everywhere are encouraged to put a price on their love via those endlessly looping commercials for Zales and Kay Jewelers).

Maybe I’ve just got the male gaze on the brain after all this talk of DIPEs and why boys don’t like Emma Watson’s hair.

At any rate, thanks to Fornicating Feminists for leading me to the above gem from the Sociological Images archive.

First point: Those are UK sizes, so Americans, translate 12, 8, and 16 to 10, 6 and 14 (or even 8, 4 and 12 — I’ve been shopping transatlantic-ly my whole life and it often seems to me that Brit sizing runs two larger than US, but that’s just anecdotal).

Second point: According to a scientifically questionable survey, Anna [12 UK] represents the ideal female figure according to men, Tillie [8 UK] is the ideal female figure according to women, and Caroline [16 UK] is the actual average-sized woman.

Third point: Since the survey’s methodology is already basically garbage, I conducted my own super scientific in-house research by showing my husband these pictures with the numbers covered up. He guessed that Tillie would be most guys’ pick, Caroline would be Ladies’ Choice, and Anna would be the actual average woman. (Don’t get mad at him — I asked him to generalize on behalf of his entire gender!) I actually would have guessed the same — mostly because I think poor Anna got the sh*t end of the “pose attractively” stick. And because while the “guys like curves!” faction is surely alive and well, I think men have become more and more conditioned to like a skinnier definition of hotness. (Especially if she’ll still nibble seductively on a plate of spare ribs.)

But maybe, since it’s Friday, we should put a more positive spin on the whole thing and just be happy that while yes, men and women are drawn to smaller-than-average women, the photo does prove that you can look great naked at a (ahem, relatively narrow) range of sizes that are nonetheless quite a bit larger than what we’re used to seeing.*

[Beauty Overheard] Well, that Didn’t Last Long.

Hey, remember this post, where we talked about how Emma Watson was so psyched to ditch the Hermione school girl hair for her adorable pixie cut?

And we voted and pretty much all unanimously agreed that she was better off this way?

Well someone lost the ballot box. Because Jezebel reports that Emma is already growing her hair back out:

“If I want to keep acting then it’s more flexible for me to have it longer for different roles, it’s quite a specific cut. I’m kind of looking forward to getting to a cute little bob stage.”

And this is making me think.

I’m Talking about Butts Now on Never Say Diet

So obviously, you’re going to need to click here right away.

PS. Other Beauty Schooled Around the Interweb adventures include Monday’s post scoring a Jezebel repub and lots of business by me over on MyDaily. Enjoy!

PPS. Just in case you haven’t voted yet, I’m still real eager to hear your thoughts on which kind of Beauty Schooled content you love and hate the most. That poll is over here. Thanks!