Image of my friend April Flores (aka Fatty Delicious) via.
I’m sitting here about to write this week’s column with a copy of Vivid Video’s new porn film Curvaceous in front of me (directed by Shylar Cobi). When I was in the Vivid offices a few days ago, Eon held it up to me and said challengingly, “Notice anything different?” I paused for a second. Usually “curvaceous” is porn code for “big tits” like, big tits on a stick, which is how I generally describe porn’s standards of beauty underneath a set of big knockers. (omg, I love calling breasts “knockers”) To Eon I replied, “They’re not stick thin!” he said yup, it’s girls with real bodies.
I haven’t watched it yet — because I’ve watched The Doll Underground (pre-order link) twice it’s so hot — but I’m looking forward to Curvaceous. But what’s really piqued me this afternoon is an email conversation I’m having with local burlesque star Bombshell Betty, and she directed me toward this post about body hate on her blog you gotta read, and her conclusion about porn is a zinger. Here’s a snip:
(…) A few days ago, a friend in an online social website sent me a message telling me that he’d read about me in the April issue of Skin&Ink Magazine. This was a little surprising to me, because I had originally expected the article to run in the March 2007 issue – a full year ago! You can read the article here (sorry, I don’t know how to make it into one PDF document): Page 1, 2, 3 and 4. It is a great article, I think. For some reason though, whether due to misquotes or changed ideas in the year and a half since I interviewed for this article, a couple of my quotes don’t really express my perspective on a couple of touchy subjects, so I’d like to expand and clarify what I think about two subjects mentioned: very thin fashion models and pornography.
First of all, I don’t think fashion models are personally responsible for the eating disorder epidemic that is taking place in the United States, accompanied by misogyny and body hating from both men and women. Fashion models have as little control over their genes and overall body type as the rest of us do, and they are under considerable pressure from their industry to maintain extremely low body weights in order to get work.
And THAT is where the problem comes from. The industry pressure. To be fair, the fashion industry has recently started making efforts to change this. In the last few years, some countries have banned models that they deem unhealthily underweight (read about it here), and Jean Paul Gaultier recently featured a plus size model, Velvet D’Amour on the runway in Paris. You can read a couple of opinions about Gaultier’s gesture here and here. (…read more.)
{ 7 comments }
Violet, I love your column on this topic. I’ve had my share of emotional stress due to online trolls and the whole appearance issue, so it’s nice to hear someone stand up and shout “Fuck you!” like that. Great writing!
Great post! Its always nice to know that body image is being discussed. Elizabeth’s comment is very interesting. I’ve never considered the historical perspectives on dieting, weight and desire. I have to check out the article.
Thanks for using my picture!! xoxo
Nice post–I’ll have to check out Curvaceous. My wife and I enjoy porn pretty regularly but we both get a little tired of the same ‘ol same ‘ol. Bombshell Betty’s thoughts are good, too, and I like how she didn’t take the easy stance and blast porn.
There is an article in the Daily Mail in the U.K. on historical diets from the Victorian age, Edwardian and the 20′s. It gives a great perspective on dieting being only a recent fashion:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=534189&in_page_id=1879
And if you think of it, before the Victorian age, skinny women were a sign on poverty, illness and a constant reminder that famine was but a few failed crops away. Remember, 30,000 years of genetic evolution wants men to mate and reproduce with women who have the ability to feed themselves and have enough fat reserves to nurse the children, thus ensuring the carrying on of the male’s genetic code. Evolution is a very powerful motivator. Perhaps that explains some of the craigslist posts for curvy, thick women and BBW’s.
There have been videos with real curvy girls by lesser known studios for years. But it’s nice to see it coming to the mainstream. This is gonna be hott! However, it is sad that these girls are actually average and considered “curvaceous.” Like the Dove ad, at least it’s a start.
Can’t wait to watch this one with my girlfriend, and I’m gonna get her to read that post on body hate. She’s a beautiful, curvaceous woman who sometimes gets caught up on the fact that she’s not a stick figure. I tell her every day how beautiful she is, but she still experiences bouts of body hate.
Oh, and I love that you added a comments section. I’ve been a loyal reader for a few years now and you are fantastic! Now I get to tell you. :)
I bought an immediate download. I can’t wait to watch! FINALLY!
Comments on this entry are closed.