Is Thin In Again?

It's not that I thought thin ever went out of style, but it just seems like it's been a while since unhealthy skeleton-like models have been in the headlines. I personally could have left that trend back in the 90's with Kate Moss controversies. Unfortunately the excessive use of photoshop has only made matters worse and what used to be malnourished figures has now become an all out freak show physique. That is where the Ralph Lauren ad with model Filippa Hamilton has created quite a stir.

Kudos to Xeni Jardin and the photoshop disasters blog (which is a pretty entertaining site by the way) for bringing this one to our attention. Of course Ralph Lauren didn't like being called a disaster and tried to have the photo pulled from all websites claiming that it was copyright infringement. The ad was removed from that site, but not everyone catered to the request. The editor of boingboing.net responded to the threat by posting this message to Ralph Lauren

"Copyright law doesn't give you the right to threaten your critics for pointing out the problems with your offerings. You should know better. And every time you threaten to sue us over stuff like this, we will:
a) Reproduce the original criticism, making d****** sure that all our readers get a good, long look at it, and;

b) Publish your spurious legal threat along with copious mockery, so that it becomes highly ranked in search engines where other people you threaten can find it and take heart; and

c) Offer nourishing soup and sandwiches to your models."

Since then Ralph Lauren has admitted fault and publicly apologized. I guess that's a small victory there. I would like to see more though, such as In the UK where they are trying to pass legislation that would ban airbrushing and retouching of images aimed at children and teens. I am the type that tries to let my voice be heard when I feel strongly enough about something and I have written many letters, both complaints and compliments and I feel like in some small way they have made a difference. There is a website called about-face.org that gives ideas and instructions for taking action against sexism and negative portrayals of women particularly in advertisements. I just discovered this site, but so far I really like a lot of what they are doing and would recommend joining the cause. I've never been a part of any feminists movements, but still, I feel like we have come too far to let ridiculous fads corrupt the next generation.