ADDED: Can a 57-year-old woman wear a bikini? Frankly, I'm amazed that anyone without a near-perfect body would choose a bikini, but I'm sort of impressed that Anjelica Huston blithely exposes herself. And as long as we are reading The Daily Mail, let's look at this piece delving into Jessica Simpson's weight gain. I think she looks fine in the tight leather pants, but oh, those horrible blue jeans. She's not that fat...
That's pretty mean... but then again, why is Jessica Simpson a star? If you are a star because of your great body, isn't getting fat like a singer singing off key? Or is Jessica really also a singer? Really? She seems to be singing in those pictures. It says she stopped singing to talk about her weight:
"Please remember, no matter what you go through in life, somebody else might have it harder. I feel like in our world today we focus on so many things that are completely pointless. Thank you for your support. Stay positive, and pray out loud."Pray... for... ??? Her to lose weight? Or for everyone to get over the thinness fixation? Or for that somebody else who has it harder?
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129 comments:
Just what are you asking? Our preferences, or opinions of the actors, or what?
I like the zäftig girls. Young Kate Winslet and young Anna Nicole Smith fit this description.
Can't stand bony chicks. Jenna Jameson took what was a fine porn-girl body and turned it into a concentration camp body: gah!
You can take the question any way you like.
You might want to consider how much flak Jessica Simpson is getting for looking like this, which I think is just fine.
I think the slide show at the first link is very interesting, because you can see that some people really do ruin their looks by getting too fat, but that they can also mess themselves up in the other direction. Many of the faces are hurt by overthinness. I'd like to see a photo of Kate Winslet in between the 2 they are showing. I think she's prettier when she's not too thin... or pretty in a more individual way. The actresses all start to look alike when super-thin. That bothers me.
FROM THE CAPTION: “Whatever your issues with the scale - and more and more, we all have them - celebrities have them in spades.”
That’s right.
Celebrities suffer for us all.
Just like Jesus.
** goes to bathroom **
** purges self of breakfast **
Val Kilmer looks like shit.
Tina Fey looks awesome, even though she's more than 10 years older.
Funny how some people look better with age. Luckily I'm one of those people.
That was more interesting than I thought.
Various people look better thinner or heavier (not fat, that looks ... well, fat).
None of them look good super thin (take a look at what Lohan did to herself, geez), and what do they think when they look in the mirror?
I think that the trick is to be disciplined and moderate. Madonna is disciplined to excess, and thus has the body of a chimpanzee.
Anna Nicole Smith and Kirstie Alley lacked discipline, so were all over the map with yo-yo weight changes.
Kate Winslet has been rather moderate with herself. She had some puppy fat as a youngster, and appears to have lost that now; the shape you see now is her adult body. It remains to be seen if she will either lose her discipline and pork up again, or get too disciplined and end up with a Madonna monkey-body.
It's tough to be female in show biz. Every move you make, every bite you take, they'll be filming you.
Even the very rich aren't immune from heavy criticism, and now that obesity is a moral failure deemed worse than drug abuse, the pressure is even greater. And "fat" is generally underweight.
For me, many of the women look great either way. Somewhere between skeletal and bowling ball seems jes' fine.
It looks like these good folks have been working off those excess inches with the Oreck Upright Vacuum Cleaner and then getting a good hot and I mean hot shower right away sound of hand slapping wood and I mean right away with the Rinnai Water Heater before having a restful sleep with the Sleep Number Bed that's right the Sleep Number Bed from the good folks at Select Comfort you too can rest easy with Carbonite rustle rustle of papers you'll sleep like a baby knowing that your PC data is backed up did I say backed up Mr. Snerdley how about a colon cleanse well how about it ladies and gentlemen call today and ask about the SuperBeta Prostate Pill it contains 11 additional vitamins and minerals that are specifically designed to target and support healthy prostate functioning and it starts working the very first day you take it your prostate will thank you because gold has never been worth zero
I once had a chance to go to bed with Keira Knightley but I was too afraid she’d bend it like Beckham.
(Sorry no funny pics. Teh Googles is waving the “Malware Warning” flag. You’ll just have to use your imagination like old time radio or something.)
((Heh.))
Look at Helen Mirren if you want to see a gorgeous 63-year-old bikini body.
"Funny how some people look better with age. Luckily I'm one of those people."
Yes, we're willing to take your word for it. Because your other statements are so reasonable and reliable, why would we ever think that you're lying?
Heh.
Original George -
You watch WAY too much radio.
"(Sorry no funny pics. Teh Googles is waving the “Malware Warning” flag."
Google seems to have decided that the entire internet "may harm your computer" and won't allow access to anything through its searches. Thinking about the internet, maybe it's correct.
Google seems to have decided that the entire internet "may harm your computer" and won't allow access to anything through its searches.
Thx for commenting. Running into the same thing. At first thought my computer was buggy.
Put in 'Althouse' as a Google test and got the same message.
So now what?
Original George, I think I may be catching a cold. Any advice?
It's not about fat or thin. Your body actually knows when it is at it's optimum weight for functioning. Your mind works good and you usually just look healthy in real life, not in photos where lighting is a big factor.
You know that, Ann. Lighting can make a perfectly healthy person look thin and sickly if it is green and exaggerating shadows.
What is your idea with all the body image and repeated posts on such? Just curious? In real life i rarely see people judging people like people obsessed with celebrity and photographs. Maybe i hang out with the wrong people. Wait, I don't hang out with any people, and I shy away from taking pictures of strangers and obsessing over their body weight.
"So now what?"
Good question. This is why it's terrifying that Google has such a complete monopoly over cataloging the internet. When they decide (deliberately or not) to shut off access, the world grinds to a halt.
Aren't you glad that Google and the Obama Administration (read: the US Government) are so chummy with each other?!
"Funny how some people look better with age. Luckily I'm one of those people."
It's funny how different individuals have a different peak age. For example, Jerry Mathers peaked at 6. Most super-cute kids grow up to be homely adults. A lot of not too good looking teens are really beautiful in their 30s. Most people probably look best in their 20s and go into decline at 30. I think if your looks are mainly based on facial bone structure and if you don't disguise that with too much fat (or get too thin), you can look better with age up to a point, but what is the oldest that point can be? At some point, you've peaked. Even you, downtownlad, you arrogant bastard.
I don't know why the discussion has been limited to whether certain women should be wearing bikinis. Don't you think that's rather sexist?
Yeah, Google is showing that message for everything. I'd ignore it. A lot of bloggers are blogging it. I tweeted it.
I use Ixquick as a search engine rather than Google. Ixquick does not track your search preferences like Google does.
Bob, you are right about Helen Mirren.
Regarding fat/skinny, I prefer skinny + 10 pounds.
I took up swimming last year and noticed almost immediately that one cannot swim athletically in swimsuits that are designed with appearance in mind. I threw away all the "slimming" suits and bought one-piece lapsuits by Speedo and Tyr and life got better. (So much better, in fact, that I now wear a size 6 suit instead of a size 18.)
As I contemplate shooting for another pregnancy later this year, I am looking for athletic (not "fashion") maternity swimsuits. They don't exist.
My point? Athletic two-piece suits do exist, and so I'm probably going to be at some point (at least I hope) -- a hugely pregnant person in a bikini. It won't look good, but at least the suit will not drive me crazy while I swim laps. I hope.
Personally I think Jessica is a babe. Then again I prefer women who aren't skin and bones. I saw her in Nashville last summer and she is amazing. She can sing pop or country - neither of which I spend much time listening to but she's pretty good.
Michael H said...
I use Ixquick as a search engine rather than Google...
thx. Completely forgot about all the other search engines available.
Google has righted itself.
"lightweight religion" ha ha ha.
"I don't know why the discussion has been limited to whether certain women should be wearing bikinis. Don't you think that's rather sexist?"
What IS that? Is he taking his pet tarntula out for a walk?
Some of the actors look better on the heavy side and some on the lighter side. I have to agree with dtl (for the first time ever, I think) that Val Kilmer looks much better thin.
Jennifer Love Hewitt looks better when she isn't skinny, while Star Jones, Roseanne and Kelly Osbourne were pretty hard on the eyes when chunky. Lucky folks like Ricki Lake, Oprah, Russell Crowe and a few others are attractive at any weight.
Althouse said...
I think she looks fine in the tight leather pants, but oh, those horrible blue jeans.
The slide show at the link highlights the implications of Tina Fey's 40 pound weight loss, and her move from behind the scenes writer to on-camera SNL star.
Spot Tina Fey's early on-camera appearance in this SNL ad parody, which I'd guess she wrote.
I'm not a woman any more, I'm a mom.
May give us a little glimpse into Fey's self image, and her view of Palin, as, well, MILFs.
"Google has righted itself."
I still think it was right, the entire internet will harm your computer.
I'm not being arrogant. I'm just being realistic.
I was ok looking in high school in college, and kind of assumed I would always be ok looking, but never great.
But I always go tot he gym and try very hard to eat well and stay in shape. Not to look amazing, but to slow the decline.
Anyway - I'm 40 now, and I look WAY better than other people my age and I expect that to continue. Because most of my colleagues are straight - and most straight people (except metrosexuals) let themselves go. I'm talking about men here by the way - women always try and look good.
So I don't expect to decline, because my measurement is not against some 23 year-old hearththrob. That's a losing battle. My measurement is against other people my age - and I expect to keep looking better and better than them until the day I die.
Madonna looks better than most people her age, for example. And the same will hold true at 60, 70, and 80. Because she tries. She's not going to let herself go to hell like Elizabeth Taylor did.
Some think that praying out loud offers a heightened experience of spiritual edification -- just as some believe that speaking in tongues does the same.
Pray Out Loud is also one of the songs on Jessica Simpson's new albumn.
Jeff Gee said...
What IS that? Is he taking his pet tarntula out for a walk?
As near as I can figure, he's either John Mayer trying to be incognito, or, much more likely, he's is Joaquin Phoenix with his new Groucho mask.
Bob said...Look at Helen Mirren if you want to see a gorgeous 63-year-old bikini body.
That's the image I was searching for as well. Helps that she never had kids. But it's still heavily genetics. Many of those people in the link looked like hell skinny or fat.
Pierce Brosnan and wife Keely Shaye Smith at the beach.
Here's 74 year old Giorgio Armani in his speedo.
Some people need to stay fat, they have that "fat look". Same with beards.
Orson Welles and Sebastian Cabot looked perfect fat and bearded.
But not on a beach. The beach is not a place to go for normal people to look good.
My favorite part of the whole slideshow was the comment on Kfed:
His ex Shar Jackson told US Weekly the added pounds were 'daddy weight! When you are a full time parent, sometimes you can't focus on you.'
Man oh man. I still can't get over the idea of Kfed as the responsible parent. But good for him (and his kids)!
More on topic, I was hoping Katherine Heigl would be in there. When she was on Roswell she had more weight, was more curvy, and looked stunning. But since then she's lost weight, and while she still looks excellent there's something that just doesn't look proportional any more. Perhaps her head is a little too big.
Katherine, put the weight back on!
I think Jessica looks great in the "fat" pictures. She has shape.
Some women put it on around the middle and look chunky instead of curvy.
The really skinny ones look ill to me and the difference in "fat" and "thin" on their pictures was probably the difference between a size 0 and a size 4 at most.
Some of the pictures didn't look like there was any difference, just different light or a different camera angle.
I saw this cartoon in the NY Post. I sent it to my Manhattan dwelling niece and warned her to beware weight gains if she ever was famous. Heh.
There is are several body types to suit different fantasy desires. We all seem to start out wanting that willowy, lithe young 14 year old look. This recalls the objects of our own youthful desires. Think the thin Jessica. Others move on to the real live woman, not girls, look. Think Doris Day, Anne Murray, Sophia Lauren...OK I know I am out of date here. Anyway, later the mature 50+ look that is well dressed and elegantly sharing herself(I.e., post mid-life crisis self centeredness) is the mature men's Oscar winner, such as Helen Mirren. IMO the latest full bodied Jessica Simpson is more beautiful than the 30 year old version trying to imitate a lustful teen. You feel that you can safely love real people for who they really are. Let's enjoy her developing the new Jessica's appeal, like we allow a baseball pitcher to develops change-ups and curves when he outgrows his 95mph fastball.
It's never good to be fat, but keeping the fat off might make one look leaner in the face, such as with Winslet (who is still incredibly beautiful, just in a different way) or not (such as Aniston, who still looks incredible).
I like Jessica Simpson, but there's no denying that she has put on quite a few extra pounds. She's certainly not ugly now, but she no longer has a body that merits her being famous. She now looks like just about any typical slightly overweight woman at the mall.
When I was in Iraq, one of my Marines said a friend of his went to high school with Simpson. We asked, what did he say about her? "He said, she was hot." What a disappointing story. We already knew that.
I hope Simpson can regain some of that special beauty she had. It's such a shame to not maintain it. Maybe she has enough money and is no longer interested, but frankly, that's her entire reason for fame, it's her job. Her putting on those pounds is like a law professor deciding not to grade tests.
At some point, age will overcome her attempts to keep her beauty at the level she had before, but I don't think she's at that age yet. I think she just stopped caring.
"My measurement is against other people my age - and I expect to keep looking better and better than them until the day I die."
Oh! On that scale! Yeah, some people do get better and better. It's because others are going to pot and we're grading on a curve. I love that approach. I'm 58. By that standard, you can feel pretty when you are dead and rotting in your grave.
It's not even that hard to do. It just involves going to the gym.
Most people are LAZY.
Someone famous (can't recall who) said that taste in women is tied to social class, which is why working stiffs such as myself go for the zäftig girls while men in higher social classes go for the slim and even waifish women.
There's also an ethnic component to it; Turks, for example, like rounded, curvy women, and Japanese men tend to like slim, delicate-looking women.
It's funny how different individuals have a different peak age.
Watching TV I was sad that both Valerie Bertinelli and Christina Applegate -- both incandescent as teenagers -- faded badly even in their 20s. I was happy to see from this picture collection that Valerie is a babe again.
On the other hand, when I went to my wife's ten year high school reunion, I was struck by how much better looking the 28 year olds were than their senior yearbook photos showed.
Anjelica Huston can wear whatever pleases her -- at 57 she's no starlet trying to catch the eye of a producer. Further, from my observer's point of view she looks fine in a bikini. At the same age, my grandmother would wear a duster for beachwear, to cover up what her full body shaper would normally keep in check.
Oh Professor Althouse I'm so sorry to hear that you are catching a cold a virus like the democrat party that's always on every doorknob in some bus station men's room may I suggest Airborne it was created by a teacher someone like yourself what is Airborne you've seen it at pharmacists everywhere in all 50 states Airborne is a dietary supplement not a drug no no no that was created by a school teacher did I mention that a second grade teacher in fact Airborne is a proprietary combination of 17 vitamins minerals and herbs the key ingredients in Airborne have been shown to help support your immune system as shown in scientific studies and medical journals you see Ann may I call you Ann when Victoria Knight-McDowell taught second grade at Spreckels Elementary School near Carmel California she often brought home more than papers to grade. Can you believe it Spreckels that inspired her to create a drug-free formula that would give her immune system a fighting chance a fighting chance that's all we as Americans ask for isn't it Professor Althouse after consulting with nutrition experts and herbalists she experimented with different formulations and delivery methods before creating the blend that would eventually become Airborne from its homegrown roots Airborne has become the leading herbal supplement in retail drugstores, supermarkets and mass merchant retailers nationwide it contains red raspberry leaf extract nettle thorns chasteberry (Vitex pat pend hands off this means you) ladies mantle horse hooves and granulated asphalt for the toning of the uterus and pelvic region area type muscle bits parts you know as well and has been shown in scientific studies to help ladies be fertile and have one two three even eight babies at the same time all while fighting the common cold which has beset our nation I'd like to put Nancy Pelosi inside a small metal box on a hot August day with a rabid wolverine Airborne created by someone just like you but in sunny Carmel California where Doris Day lives que sera America our best days are ahead of us if the government would just stop all this lying this just shows you what one woman can do in a few minutes of her spare time if the government will just get its greasy tentacles out of the way and let the free market do its magic Victoria's best-selling product remains true to her philosophy and to its humble origins in Carmel California Airborne is an herbal formula made by a teacher Ann a teacher just like you but who wipes little nosies who refused to have her immune system pushed around I am so sick of these government libdemoleeches in Washington if you people would just listen here's what Victoria a school teacher says when we started producing Airborne commercially I thought it could become a successful product for people who want a natural way to support their immune system but I had no idea it would take off the way it has.
Back after this.
Prof. A.: Kindly ignore Cur. George. Of the dubious cold remedies out there, I strongly recommend the homeopathic Zycam. Squirt a little in your nose twice a day, and you'll feel better fast.
First, IMHO, Jessica Simpson looks an order of magnitude better at the concert than when she was emaciated in "Dukes of Hazzard." I mean that the difference is the difference between being sexy and being repulsive. As for what she said, I take her point to be to pray out loud for the innumerable people who have it worse than anyone in America does, most of all someone who's a celebrity.
The most interesting pictures to me, though, were of Rikki Lake and Tina Fey: in both cases, what I see are extremely pretty women whose weight has changed significantly—my reaction is, essentially, that now it's somewhat easier to see that they're pretty, that there are fewer distractions. It's like the difference is interesting, but not essential. Of course, it is enough to cause a change in their career options on the screen.
Finally, Pierce Brosnan and Keely Shaye Smith make me want to cheer: I love that they love each other, their bodies change, and that's OK with them.
Perhaps even something to be celebrated.
A great idea for stimulus we all want and need would be free( government paid) facelifts added to Social Security benefits.That will get the country going again.
for the person who says you can only swim better in a one piece athletically:
How do guys swim in skimpy speedo bottoms? Or are you talking about bikini tops?
I wear whatever I can find for $5 or less now. it's usually a two piece bikini.
and downloadlad...
you have something about the men thing. I think it gets worse after 50, and it's not about arrogance. It's about fighting decline without pills and surgery.
I have the utmost respect for the fifty something guy at the pool who has a better body than some 30 years olds. And he is diligent about working out. You can tell because he doesn't cheat on his swimming and counting the yards. Nobody is checking him, but he always puts in his own requirements and checks himself against his own standard. there is no coach, or trainer. It's him working for himself. And he never gets out of the pool until he is finished, even if he is the last one out. If he lives to be one hundred, he'll probably have the shape at the most of a fifty year old
and you know what else it's about for me...
I am physically capable of helping people when they need it, too. Today i got to push a car out of the snow. The guy had such a truly sincere look of thanks, I was nearly skipping all the way to the library - despite the cold and my three inch heels. That he was so good looking and had a three day whiskers with that sincere look was just icing on the cake ( and not on the road). That he wasn't a celebrity and was good looking made it all that more special of a thanks from just another joe. Gads, he made my day.
When she says that someone else has it harder, she is refering to anyone not dating Tony Romo.
No one is meaner about a woman's appearance than other women. I deal with this every day.
Professor Althouse is a case in point.
Jessica Simpson is a beautiful woman and in my humble opinion much better looking now than as an emaciated barbie doll. To call her fat is just one of the stupidest things I have heard in a long time.
Althouse is a fat hater! How she ever let herself be seen with me I'll never know!
Is it just the photography technique, or is there a bias toward really huge heads in female celebrities these days? I once saw a biographical show about the selection of Vanna White for Wheel of Fortune and IIRC Pat Sajak said he had a bias toward women with big heads. Is it infantilization and if so is that part of why skinny is attractive...because it makes your head look bigger? We humans are pretty strange.
Prof A
You ask
again, why is Jessica Simpson a star
Or Tony Romo, for that matter?
I have gained 10 pounds in the last few years and am ok with it.
I was always a really skinny kid. Skinny as in nerdy and weak and easy to beat the shit out of. I looked sick and was an easy target for the other boys. I was also feminine looking. When I look at the pictures of me in high school I cringe. I looked like I belonged in the bank KajaGooGoo, except I was ugly.
I judge my looks on the hog that I attain. Sad but true. I think I did peak when I was about 30. I still am able to real in some decent hog though.
What I don't like seeing, and this is common in the gay world, is gay men who are over 50 and their bodies look like that of a 20 year old. They look like freaks. No fifty old year man should have ridiculous abs, it is just wrong.
I look at older gay men quite a bit. I think David Geffen has aged well.
She isn't a hater, Pall. And she loves you. Everyone know that. Quit groveling - it's unbecoming for a man of your stature. And hold your big fat head up.
I meant the band KajaGooGoo.
You know TooShyShyHushHush
Jessica is a star because she is good looking and photographs well and has large boobs and hangs with people who are stars.
Me, I decided more than a decade ago that t-shirts at the beach were a good stratergy.
My wife, on the other hand, can still turn heads at 60. Certainly mine.
Palladian you are her favorite, she chose you over me. I tried to dethrone you but was unsuccessful.
Quit bitching.
Do you want to hear something very loveable?
When I leave the apartment the rare clumbers go into my closet and take out my shoes and are laying with my shoes when I return.
How adorable is that?
Star Jones's facial features were obviously designed to occupy a bigger face.
Winslet, Johnston, and Aniston - were lovely, now horrendous. Look at what deprivation has done to the poor women's faces. Sounds like a lawyer's office, doesn't it? "Gore engaged Winslet, Johnston, & Anitson, LLP, to defend him..."
Richie - bad to worse.
Kilmer - hey, actually that works pretty well. He's gotten older, and his features set in well.
Britney - Bad to better to best, although I don't know that it's the weight that's the problem in the second photo so much as the pose.
Simpson, Spewitt and Lohan - Oh, who cares.
Tina - I have a crush on Tina Fey, so I don't have an objective eye. She looked fine. I will say this - I find it hard to believe that 30rock would be any more or less a hit "[i]f Fey was still 40 pounds heavier...."
Madonna - weight loss has made her skin thinner, allowing more of the pure evil in her dark heart to ooze through. She was never an attractive woman; nowadays she could play Goza in Ghostbusters III, without any makeup. I would not touch her if she was the last woman on Earth.
Holy cow, there's another fifteen pages of this? Bored now.
As to 57 year old women wearing bikinis - sure they can. If Helen Mirren can at 63, so can someone who's 57. Emphasize can in the capacitive rather than permissive sense. The upper age limit on wearing a bikini (assuming actual desire to do so) hinges on how someone looks, not how many years they've clicked off. No one wants to see Star Jones in a bikini, for example, and she's way younger than 57. Perfection and its approach are in the eye of the beholder. Truth be told, I doubt I'm alone in saying I'd rather see Monica Belluci in that getup than Anjelica Huston, but that isn't a direct function of age (Belucci, after all, is in her mid-40s herself).
I don't know what Jessica Simpson does or why we should care, but she's not fat.
I adore Pierce Brosnan, and have always liked his devotion to his family; I think Keely Whosits (is she an actor?) is cute, and he's lucky ot have a new chance at love, after losing his first wife to a long illness.
And Helen Mirren just slays me. From the first time I saw her, which was in "Excalibur," I've been a fan. Good genes, indeed. And she's never gone the emaciated route, either.
Poor Madonna. She looks like something out of Alien these days, all armored and stringy.
"I think she looks fine in the tight leather pants, but oh, those horrible blue jeans."
I happen to like her better in the jeans (except for those pockets), mainly because they have a higher waist. I can't wait for that look to come back again, or at least for the low-riser (i.e., hip-hugger) look to go.
The main problem with her ensemble is that doubled, leopard print belt. It takes up almost half of her torso, making her look short and squat on top.
Oh, and Anjelica Huston; we could be twins! My daughter saw the 4th picture over my shoulder and asked, "Mom, is that you?!" She has a great body for her age--better than mine, and she's 10 years older.
I think anyone looks better with a little bit more meat on their bones than less.
Beth:"And Helen Mirren just slays me. From the first time I saw her, which was in "Excalibur," I've been a fan.
Same here...
I really wonder at what has become of our society when people can't recognize that Simpson, in that picture, is clearly overweight. Not by a lot, but still overweight.
She's not completely unattractive, but she's certainly not anywhere near as beautiful as she used to be.
I think too many people in our society have become so fat that they don't see it anymore.
I find it kind of sad that you say you're amazed that anyone without a perfect body would wear a bikini. I moved to Austria over a year ago and one-pieces are almost unheard of. And not everyone is in model shape. It's so liberating! For years I hated the beach or the pool because I didn't look like a Sports Illustrated model. Now I go to the pool often, wear my bikini, have fun. It is not a sign of moral failure or bad taste to have a bit of a squishy stomach here.
Thanks Skyler for your honesty. I mean it's clear that the reason that Jessica became famous was because she was thin with a great figure. It's obvious from the pictures that even if you give her some leeway for her body, that her face looks aged because of the new fat on it. I'm not saying that she's Ruby yet, but she is overweight.
Leave Jessica Simpsons ALONE!!! Leave her ALONE!!! I MEAN IT!!!
I think it's pretty clear from that series of celebrity photos that women should err on the side of extra adipose while men should err on the side of extra muscle fiber hypertrophy.
Is it clear that Simpson is overweight?
I'm thinking of "What Not to Wear" and how they will say what size some of the women are, and even the thin ones look fat. They look stumpy.
Althouse said something about bobble-headed starlets a bit ago, and I think it's probably because at size 0 or -2 you end up with a head on a stick. In order to get the proportions that click in our heads as thin, particularly in pictures, we're looking at really thin. People moving about don't look so fat.
Don't we *believe* that the camera adds 10 pounds anymore?
Hey Sklyer you are fat too. It's just the fat is between your fucking ears.
I don't find Madonna's stringy body at all youthful, the same for Renee Zellweger.
Subcutaneous collagen thins with age and that is what gives young skin a creamy appearance that no amount of toning or HRT can mimic.
The one body part that always gives away age are the hands and extremely low body fat such as Madonna's give the hands the look of chicken feet.
Maybe that's why Madonna is wearing the fingerless gloves again in concert.
Yes, Simpson is getting a little plump but I doubt many men would kick her out of bed or to the curb.
York is displaying classlessness again and should go learn manners.
"You might want to consider how much flak Jessica Simpson is getting for looking like this, which I think is just fine."
You should see her without the leather. She has legs the size of tree trunks.
And keep in mind, she looks like this at the age of 28...and it ain't gonna get any better.
"Is it clear that Simpson is overweight?"
Uh...yeah it sure is.
"As to 57 year old women wearing bikinis..."
Not if they look like Angelica.
Anybody who thinks she looks good is either blind or hasn't seen an attractive 57 year old woman lately.
She's in horrible shape, lacks any tone and from the looks of it, appreciates lots of carbs, fat and sugar.
Jessica:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-top-12-entertainment-headlines-pg,0,876482.photogallery
Tell me this woman isn't about to explode.
The human body is a wonderful thing. Nature knows what is best. When a woman is pregnant she gets curves, gains weight and her breasts get bigger. That is the natural state of fecundity that offends the sensibility of dried out crones, withered boney spinsters and catty homosexuals whose beau ideal of idealized beauty is a 12 year adolescent boy. Witness the comments on this thread.
They are of course entitled to their opinion and sexual preferences but they seem both petulant and silly in this regard.
I will take Jessica Simpson or Jennifer Holiday over Madonna every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Bob beat me to it.
Helen Mirren.
Stunning.
"That is the natural state of fecundity that offends the sensibility of dried out crones, withered boney spinsters and catty homosexuals whose beau ideal of idealized beauty is a 12 year adolescent boy. Witness the comments on this thread."
I may be catty but my "beau ideal" is hardly a 12 year old adolescent. I'm on your side here, so please don't generalize.
I think there are beautiful people of all sizes, and as for men, I prefer a man with meat in the right places to some wan, bony twink.
Sklyer has been a twat-rag on this issue for quite a while. Unlike Michael, at least he's man enough to have a picture of himself in his profile when he spouts off about other people's looks. But I'd take care of that double chin you have going there Sky, before you go all Mengele on the zaftig among us.
"Michael", the withered old community college teacher from California, doesn't actually need to post a picture for us to know that he's ugly, ugly, ugly. The ugliness of hate shines through his jagged comments quite clearly.
Trooper: "Trooper York said...
No one is meaner about a woman's appearance than other women. I deal with this every day. Professor Althouse is a case in point. Jessica Simpson is a beautiful woman and in my humble opinion much better looking now than as an emaciated barbie doll. To call her fat is just one of the stupidest things I have heard in a long time."
Hey, I said: "I think she looks fine in the tight leather pants, but oh, those horrible blue jeans. She's not that fat..."
What's mean about that? I thought I was being nice. But I believe in using plain English and not euphemisms. Why don't you just say you love fat women instead of bullshitting that these women aren't fat? Tell the truth.
Of course I exempt the honorable homosexual from Williamsburg from my remarks but would reiterate that many gay men have a problem with women and cruelly taunt them because of the weight among other issues even more trivial. That is one of the major problems facing the fashion industry as the mavens who design clothing design for the emaciated shapes they prefer instead of the actual shape of the average American woman
There is of course a reason why a popular term for a man's aroused penis is a "chubby."
It is for the same reason a man might get a boner, he never gets a boney.
I love woman but I never characterize them as "fat." That is a pejorative term that the politically correct revel in using to get their ya-yas out because they would be ostracized for a racial or ethnic epithet. I would not characterize Jessica Simpson as fat as she currently appears. That's your issue not mine. Those are your words not mine. I think what I say is very clear. I don't hide what I mean.
Over 60% of American women are bigger than a size ten. I would guess from that photo that Jessica might just be a size 10 or a 12 at the very most. That is not fat except in the minds of silly people who have no concept of the normal range of sizes of American woman.
Everyone is of course entitled to their preferences. This is still America for a little while longer. But I think if you take a poll of the men who post on this blog they would pick Jessica Simpson in her current state of feminine pulchritude over Madonna or the currently emaciated Lindsey Lohan or Paris Hilton or some other coked out string bean that rocks the socks of people like Michael. But hey that's just my opinion. Stated plainly.
From Inwood said..."Or Tony Romo, for that matter?"
Frankly, I had never heard of him before.
TitusLovesLife! said... "I looked like I belonged in the bank KajaGooGoo, except I was ugly."
Aw. That sounds cute.
"No fifty old year man should have ridiculous abs, it is just wrong."
Speaking as someone over 50, I think it's great. Preserve your torso. It's important!
TitusLovesLife! said..."Palladian you are her favorite, she chose you over me. I tried to dethrone you but was unsuccessful."
Well, Palladian never stood me up! And, tell the truth: Did you cancel because you were afraid you looked fat?
Simon: "Tina - I have a crush on Tina Fey, so I don't have an objective eye. She looked fine. I will say this - I find it hard to believe that 30rock would be any more or less a hit "[i]f Fey was still 40 pounds heavier...." "
I think she knows she needs to keep her weight way down to be successful. She's been in both places and experienced the different treatment. Harsh, but true.
Skyler said..."I really wonder at what has become of our society when people can't recognize that Simpson, in that picture, is clearly overweight. Not by a lot, but still overweight. ... I think too many people in our society have become so fat that they don't see it anymore."
I agree. It's not a terrible failing to be a little fat, but let's not lose the ability to see what we are looking at.
Melissa said..."I find it kind of sad that you say you're amazed that anyone without a perfect body would wear a bikini. I moved to Austria over a year ago and one-pieces are almost unheard of. And not everyone is in model shape. It's so liberating!"
Why? I think a 1-piece suit feels more comfortable. And it's prettier. It draws attention to your legs and chest instead of your belly. Don't choose that unless it looks better. It's just basic "What Not to Wear" reasoning.
Synova said... "I'm thinking of "What Not to Wear" and how they will say what size some of the women are, and even the thin ones look fat. They look stumpy."
LOL. I read that after I wrote the previous comment.
Skyler said..."York is displaying classlessness again and should go learn manners."
Trooper's livelihood is making fat women feel beautiful (even as his blog continually displays photos of highly idealized female figures as if that is the whole meaning of life). He deals in 2 kinds of lies. I still love you, Trooper, but you should see that I'm the one who is into telling the truth.
I have a friend who, in her youth, was gorgeous. She had had a rocky childhood. Her father abandoned her family. Her mother died when she was nine. She moved in with her grandmother. Then, two years later, the grandmother died. She spent the rest of her youth in a series of foster homes. She grew up wary and distrustful and impulsive. Her only high card was her beauty. Despite the poverty and the dislocations and being a dark skinned Puerto Rican, she was never really marginal. People paid attention to her because she was good to look at......She married young. Her husband like her was very good looking. He wanted to be an actor. He had some minor success in NY but never landed a steady gig. He was very successful with women though and that wore the marriage out. That and the fact that what little money he made was invested in his affairs. She was no Bernard Baruch either when it came to handling money, and their life together was nothing but eviction notices. She managed to duplicate all the chaos of her childhood in the days of her youth and beauty......But there was a surprise ending. She grew up. She got a job as a nurse's aide and then the union gave her a scholarship to become a nurse. A bad marriage and years of chaos took their toll. She remained attractive but she was no longer a show stopper. She claimed that this was no great loss. People paid attention to her because of her professional judgement and character and that was better than being ogled. That's what she claimed. In any event the years of her greatest happiness were not the years of her greatest beauty.
I couldn't make it through the slideshow. Some of the photos (like Simon's beloved Tina) just refused to show, but from what I saw I had much the same reaction as everyone else: Some looked better larger, some looked worse.
Fat Val Kilmer looks like Jeff Bridges!
Also Pierce Brosnan's wife is gorgeous, and I think proves you don't have to be super-skinny to look great in a bikini. She doesn't look anywhere near a 45-year-old mother of two to me, either.
But I think the thing we're missing is that these are all photographs, and photographs lie.
The celebs I've seen in person are barely recognizable. They mostly look older and skinnier.
I've never understood why Jessica Simpson is famous. I always thought she was sort of funny looking. I think the weight helps her face.
As to whether she's fat, well, what does that mean, exactly? If we're judging her aesthetically, I guess that depends on what you like. If we're judging her health--i.e., "fat" being a term for someone who carries around more fat than is healthy--we don't really know, do we?
Isn't that the irony in all this? We idealize things without any concept of their actual physiological merit? We create a concept of "healthy looking" that has nothing to do with actual health?
BJM said...
"Subcutaneous collagen thins with age and that is what gives young skin a creamy appearance that no amount of toning or HRT can mimic."
Yes, but that's something that can be characterized in positive terms - "maturing," for example - and whether it's appealing or not depends to great extent on one's aesthetic sensibilities. And obviously it will be appealing to a point, just as adding or subtracting fat is good to a point (within a range, that is) depending on one's preferences.
Trooper York said...
"I think if you take a poll of the men who post on this blog they would pick Jessica Simpson in her current state of feminine pulchritude over Madonna or the currently emaciated Lindsey Lohan or Paris Hilton or some other coked out string bean"
I second that point, with the proviso that Simpson struck me as ugly when she was skinny as a rake, remains so in a slightly more zaftig configuration. So while Simpson wins by default, I'd prefer neither, myself.
Ann Althouse said...
"I think [Fey] knows she needs to keep her weight way down to be successful. She's been in both places and experienced the different treatment. Harsh, but true.
To a point, yes, but correlation isn't causation and she may have been treated differently while she was heavier because she wasn't yet successful, not because she was chubbier. As I understand it, Fey came to prominence as a writer first and foremost, and became a performer as an afterthought. If so, her initial success - coming to prominence at SNL - would seem to have little to do with her weight. And it seems to me that 30rock's inertia arose from her success, again, as a writer, in the context of SNL and those two movies. If she hadn't lost the weight, would she have become a sort of nerd's pinup? Probably not. But I don't know that people watch 30rock for the reason they watched Baywatch. (For the articles, of course!)
"blake said...
"Some of the photos (like Simon's beloved Tina) just refused to show"
I think it's just a settings problem in your browser. Have you checked "Do not display images that may melt my monitor?"
Trooper I don't know any gay men in my group that "taunt" women about their weight. Some of the girlfriends that we hang out with are heavier and we would never taunt them. That would be cruel.
Maybe the 1% of the gay population that does fashion for a living does that but I wouldn't. We are just happy to have girls as friends. We like girls. There fun.
I don't like Madonna because of her body. I like her because of her music and concerts and because she is a bitch. I do admire her gym regiment but that is because I wish I was that disciplined.
Haven't you ever heard the old saying, "if it wasn't for fat girls gay men would have no one to dance with".
And I didn't stand you up Althouse. It was minus 5 and snowed almost everyday while I was home for Christmas. I never left the house hardly. That kind of weather is so hard to be fabulous and make an impression. I want to make an impression. Also, I am a summer.
Michael said...
"...Anybody who thinks she looks good is either blind or..."
And then he said... "blah blah blah..."
Michael has reminded me about one of the advantages I've discovered to achieving, as I have, an advanced age and losing what was once perfect eyesight.
Now, whenever a woman I happen to be intimate with asks me, "Hey, Meade, does this dress make my butt look big?" I can honestly answer, "No, baby. What dress?"
I love you too Professor.
You are just mad because I didn't use your photo in Celebrity Camel Toe Corner.
They're fun.
And Althouse if you saw the plus 50 guys I was speaking about you may change your mind. Something just doesn't look right when a plus 50 guy is completely ripped. Maybe it has something to do with their clothes choices also. Some of them dress like 20 year olds. It's just weird and completely inappropriate.
Most gay guys in NYC get it. They dress well and age appropriate. They also know how to act, it took me to years to get it down. But I have been to some gay clubs in other smaller cities and there is quite a bit of wrong going on in those places.
In fact most of the women featured are at least the same size or larger as Jessica including such stunning examples of the female form as Leah Remni, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Angie Dickensen, Sheree North, Julie London, Joanna Cassidy, Adrienne Barbeau and the one and only Jennifer Tilly. All of whom I am sure you would call fat.
Plus we have sandwiches.
Many gays love Madonna because she is a slut and proud of it and has slept with hot guys. I said many not all because I know Palladian will come in her and tell me to speak for myself.
I never found Simpson particularly attractive. I think she looks about the same with the extra weight -- pretty, in an ordinary way, but nothing special.
But one of the reasons that gays love Madonna is that her drugged out Bataan Death March physique is the ideal of so many in the fashion world. I have been in the tents at fashion week during the shows in Bryant Park and the models who walk the catwalk look like they just luckily escaped from a building that Kate Winslet burned down. That is the ideal that they pimp in ads and in their styles and the clothes that they create. It is a function of the fact that most (not all Palladian and Titus) gay men really hate women and want to punish and mock them. At least that is the vibe that so many of them in the fashion world radiate from their metrosexual pores.
I think I may be catching a cold. Any advice?
Netti pot! I can't believe I'm recommending it after dissing my husband for using one over the past year. Started to get a cold this week - was at the point where the sinus starts with that 'fizzy' thing, used the Netti pot. No cold developed.
Those hideous jeans don't do a thing for Jessica. Wear 'mom' jeans up to the armpits and you pay the price. Angelica, love that she doesn't give a hoot. She looks like her father wearing drag and doesn't care.
Helen. Well, Helen is in a class all by herself. Fabulous woman.
Dominick DiNapoli: Mrs. Goodman, would you be my chubby checker?
(Fatso, 1980)
Maybe it has something to do with their clothes choices also. Some of them dress like 20 year olds. It's just weird and completely inappropriate.
Same goes for women. It can be difficult to strike the right balance. Clothes for the 'mature' woman look matronly and you end up looking like your mother. Some older women don't get the difference between the stylish chic they can wear and slutty.
Something just doesn't look right when a plus 50 guy is completely ripped. Maybe it has something to do with their clothes choices also. Some of them dress like 20 year olds. It's just weird and completely inappropriate.
It's the clothes. It's good to be in shape as you get older but that doesn't mean you should dress like a teenager. Then you become a kind of parody of youth.
Desperation doesn't look good.
Tracy Turnblad: I'm an integrationist. We shall overcome someday.
Beatnik Chick: Not with that hair, you won't. Plus we don’t like fat girls.
Tracy Turnblad: How do you get your hair so straight and so flat?
Beatnik Chick: With an iron, man. I play my bongos, listen to Odetta, and then I iron my hair, dig? Someday I will have to grow up and get a job like a professor or something. But now I am just the coolest.
Tracy Turnblad: But don’t you want to go out and dance and swing and have fun?
Beatnik Chick: Look listen up. I’m smart and you’re fat. So go away and let me write my poetry.
(Hairspray, 1988)
"I'd like to put Nancy Pelosi inside a small metal box on a hot August day with a rabid wolverine"
I've taken a great liking to the comments of Original George, the commenter.
Why wolverine? Why not badger?
Why wolverine? Why not badger?
Been there,done that.
And let's not forget that the word badger derives from the French word blaireau: "corn-hoarder"
"corn-hoarder"
Which, back home again in Indiana, is about as explicit as any insulting expletive can be exploded at one's exiting opponent. As in: "Take your weaselly little non-articulating tenacious jaws back to Cheeseville, ya stinkin' little corn-hoarders!"
Meade, then are Indianians (Hoosiers?) big dachschund fans, doxies being badger hounds? The big ones, I mean. Minis are more weasel hounds. Stote hounds. Snack hounds.
Trooper... Thanks for remembering Elizabeth Taylor as a great example of prime womanhood. Her role in Butterfield 8 Giant, etc. still attract me today. The mixture of her real body with an innocence, yes, an innocence of soul is an example of some of the best work the creator ever did so that us men would not want to remain alone.
What's this talk about especially fit older men looking somehow wrong? This does not look wrong. Does not look easy. But does not look wrong.
All these men in the comments praising fatness... why? You can say that you love fatter figures, but any woman who has experienced reality knows differently. No, I'm not saying that the actor/performer on-camera ideal of being extremely underweight is found attractive in real life; I agree that it generally isn't. But to say that all the guys are flocking to the zaftig girl in the room? Please. Not happening.
I've been sizes in a range from sub zero to eight. Maximal male attention happens in the two to four range. I see the same pattern in the attention other women receive. There may be some men who are specially attracted to thinner or fatter women, and obviously the attraction will vary by the individual (a gorgeous 14 will beat out a homely 4), but you take the same woman at different weights and most men will show the greatest attraction for her when she is thin but not gaunt. That's reality.
Yes Beth, we are. We Hoosiers are in favor of any agent dedicated to sharing the popcorn wealth. Doxies, big and little, fall into that category. No mole dogs though. Moles don't bother the corn. They eat only nasty worms and grubs. So call off your ornery mole dogs, doggonit.
I will submit that I have seen exactly one exception to the above generalities. I saw a girl that I went to high school with a few months ago. She's probably gained 80 pounds in the last ten years, but she gained it in the proportions of Jessica Rabbit. She's much more attractive now than she was then.
'But to say that all the guys are flocking to the zaftig girl in the room? Please. Not happening."
Um, excuse me Freems, but we are not "all the guys." We are special guys.
Those other guys who are primarily attracted to thinness in women have latent complicated sexuality issues. Not that there is anything necessarily wrong with finding 14 year old boys sexy.
Unless you are a 41 year-old.
Um, excuse me Freems, but we are not "all the guys." We are special guys.
True.
My comment applies only to the culture at large, not your rarified breed.
Freem--
Well, okay, but there's a lot of "gaunt" among the starlets today. And there's been a trend (I guess reversed a bit since Jennifer Lopez) that women couldn't have hips.
I've been sizes in a range from sub zero to eight. Maximal male attention happens in the two to four range.
Aspirational women's clothing sizes is one of my pet peeves. There used to be federal sizing standards that women's clothing manufacturers adhered to. The 5-7-9 shops catered to slender women. I knew one woman who was a size one: a Chinese girl who was 4-11 and weighed less than 90 pounds.
Somewhere in the last 30 years, all that went by the wayside. My wife discovered the more expensive the clothes, the smaller size she wore.
Who's kidding whom?
This rant has nothing to do with Ms. Hunt, other than to say she could wear probably wear clothes marked sub zero to size eight all on the same day, depending on the manufacturer.
This rant has nothing to do with Ms. Hunt, other than to say she could wear probably wear clothes marked sub zero to size eight all on the same day, depending on the manufacturer.
Absolutely true. But there is still a current general norm. You'll go to some stores, and it will be different, but there is a general guideline.
Starlets have always been gaunt. People like to compare old starlets sizes and say things like, "She was a size ten, and she was considered very thin." What they fail to note is that a ten fifty years ago, is not a ten today. If anything a lot of the starlets, especially fromt he early days of film were thinner than starlets now. Kelly, Hepburn (both), Dietrich, Garbo, Davis, Gardner, Monroe, etc etc etc. None were fat when they became stars. All were extremely, often extraordinarily, thin. Heck, look at celebrated later starlet Angie Dickinson, who many male commenters here have complimented--she was as thin as a rail.
And even if one could come up with an exception or two, that's what they would be: exceptions.
In real life, starlets look weird, but the way they look on camera is what people find attractive. Where is the pin up calendar of the big girl flying off the shelves? Where is the fat centerfold? The idea that what men really want is a chubby girl but that that want is somehow not reflected at all in the huge array of marketing and mass media is absurd. If that were true, someone could make a killing putting big girls in beer ads.
Hm, I was going to point out Marilyn, Jayne and Jane, Claudia, Sophia. These were not skinny women. Were they chubby by modern standards? They were not hard bodies, certainly.
Where is the pin up calendar of the big girl flying off the shelves? Where is the fat centerfold?
Well, yeah, actually, those women traditionally tend more toward the zaftig. The ubiquity of breast implants may have changed that (for some).
But I think it was Dennis Prager who noted the acute difference between what women think men want (according to fashio mags) and what men actually want (according to skin mags).
These days I suppose any gal can starve herself and get bolt-ons.
Hm, I was going to point out Marilyn, Jayne and Jane, Claudia, Sophia. These were not skinny women. Were they chubby by modern standards?
They weren't skinny? I beg to differ. They may not be as rail thins as the others, but none of those women were even remotely chubby. And Marilyn didn't put on weight until she was a well-established sex symbol. Look at her early parts, and she's often the skinniest girl on screen. The skin mag girls aren't chubby either. They're not going to be as gaunt as starlets because the point is not to look good in clothes, but none even approach being fat.
If the entire to-males marketing world has missed the boat, and what men really want is chubby women, I invite everyone who thinks so to form a marketing firm that features large women. If you're right, you should make a fortune. My prediction: you'll be bankrupt in two months.
And just to be clear, I'm not intending any knocks against big women. I don't care if women are big or not. And in a person-to-person situation, there are attraction factors that matter a lot more than weight or beauty. What I am knocking is the denial of reality that men generally like their women thin. If that were true, it would be reflected in marketing, media, and life experience, but it isn't.
But I think it was Dennis Prager who noted the acute difference between what women think men want (according to fashio mags) and what men actually want (according to skin mags).
Also, what he notes as an acute difference is only a difference of 10-20 pounds. Both the fashion mag models and the skin mag models are thin.
Gays aren't in top jobs at the skin magazines. So maybe in fashion the gays are to blame. But not in the skin rags.
Being in one of those tents on Bryant Park would be one of the worst experiences I could ever imagine. Sounds almost as bad as a gay bar.
And Freeman the picture of Stallone looks good. Maybe I am thinking of some of the 50 plus guys that do have great bodies but then wear fucked up young clothes. The combination of the body and the clothes can look really weird.
The combination of the body and the clothes can look really weird.
Agreed. There's a dad I see at a lot of kid events. He's probably about 35, but he dresses like he's 14. A mistake.
Oh, it's not just the bikini, but the type of bikini. Helen Mirren is wearing one that looks like the foundation of a one-piece (if that makes any sense); those look fine on women of almost any age, so long as they have taken good care of themselves. (In fact, it seems as if people who take care of themselves look better, relative to their peers, as they age.)
String bikinis, OTOH, are like skinny jeans: they look good on mannequins, some models, and a rare 19-year-old. Everyone else looks like crap in them.
"Melissa said..."I find it kind of sad that you say you're amazed that anyone without a perfect body would wear a bikini. I moved to Austria over a year ago and one-pieces are almost unheard of. And not everyone is in model shape. It's so liberating!"
Why? I think a 1-piece suit feels more comfortable. And it's prettier. It draws attention to your legs and chest instead of your belly. Don't choose that unless it looks better. It's just basic "What Not to Wear" reasoning."
That's completely legitimate, but your original post clearly stated that you didn't know why anyone without a PERFECT BODY would wear a bikini -- not that one pieces are more attractive or comfortable. And my point is that I find the attitudes towards normal bodies to be more open in Austria. You don't see a lot of grossly overweight people here, but regular lumps and bumps that come with age seem to be accepted.
Trooper's blog is genius and he celebrates women of all sizes on it.
Do we have any 57-year-old female bikini volunteers in the vicinity?
What the FAT! She can't wear any types of Tuxedos I think.
nice post love it
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