14 DAY TRIAL // She’s been praised and embraced for her curves and, most importantly, for making real women relevant again in the industry. Christina Hendricks, star of “Mad Men,” is gorgeous and healthy – and has the kind of body that all women should aspire to, British equality minister Lynne Featherstone believes, as cited by the Daily Mail. If the world had more role models like her, women’s confidence and health would not be so low, Featherstone says.
Hendricks, once the little black sheep in television because she had a bit more flesh on her bones that is deemed acceptable in the industry (as per her own words), has repeatedly said that her aim is to tell women that beauty doesn’t depend on body size – let alone on what others may think of it. Because she openly refuses to diet and for being so proud of her more curvy figure, she’s the kind of model women would benefit from having, Featherstone says, as opposed to size 0 girls.
“The Liberal Democrat minister described the actress, who plays Joan Holloway in the popular American drama set in the 1960s, as ‘absolutely fabulous.’ She said that too often, women were made to feel wretched about their size as they were constantly comparing themselves with ‘unattainable’ figures of celebrities and models. This posed a ‘significant risk to the physical and mental health of young people’ she added, and in the worst cases could lead to anorexia and bulimia. By contrast the minister wants buxom women such as Christina Hendricks become increasingly dominant in the fashion and advertising industry,” the Mail writes.
“Christina Hendricks is absolutely fabulous. We need more of these role models. I am very keen that children and young women should be informed about airbrushing so they don’t fall victim to looking at an image and thinking that anyone can have a 12-inch waist. It’s so not possible. Advertisers and magazine editors have a right to publish what they choose, but women and girls also have a right to feel comfortable in their own bodies. At the moment they are being denied that. All women have felt that pressure of having to conform to an unrealistic stereotype, which plagues them their whole life. It’s not just the immediate harm, it’s something that lasts a lifetime,” Featherstone says in reference to her intention of having more control over the images published in the media.
Featherstone insists that all images from advertisements to photospreads should come with a “legend” or a warning note that they don’t reflect reality 100 percent – and, if possible, with a list of the changes made to the original pics. If this is accomplished, young women and men too would no longer feel constantly under pressure to look perfect, and would therefore stop trying to achieve the unattainable.
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