Ridiculous Photoshopping--Our Standard of Beauty in 37 seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-02ivpIPJKo


This short YouTube video only adds to the nonsensical standard of how we look at people in this country. After they're finished altering her for the photo, she looks nothing like herself. What does this say about the women (the subject) herself? This simply means being herself isn't good enough for the like to the fashion industry, or society. I take it the fashion industry know what sells, and what society and the people want to see. And of course it turns out they/we all want to see flawless, unrealistic images of people. The reason why these industries do things like in this video all over the world, is because we, as a species tend to judge people solely by their body image. Moreover, its not even like the women in this shoot has the chance to be judged because after she clearly a different person. Everywhere we go we are literally looking at fake images for real people. This can only make us feel bad, and influence us to maybe eat less, redundantly exercise, and just make us feel like we aren't worth much.  

An American Bride in Kabul

http://nypost.com/2013/09/21/my-life-of-hell-in-an-afghan-harem/

This article merely touches on the oppression of women in the middle east, specifically Afghanistan. But in this case an American women meets an Afghan native in the states, marry's him, only to move to Afghanistan with him. It didn't take long until she realized how little (if any) rights women hold in countries like this. Women aren't seen as agents in themselves, but only objects that distract men, therefore they are forced to cover their bodies, and restricted to be seen in most public venues. Phyllis got a taste of this sort of treatment during the 5 months she was held prisoner in Kabul. Before she realized it, she was being manipulated, converted to Islam from Judaism, discriminated again, and segregated from everyone in the outside world, plus being turned against her husband by his own family. For 5 months she only but a few times left the house she was bound to, not to mention her mother-in-law attempting to poison her on the regular and her husband abusing her bot sexually, physically and emotionally. She wasn't allowed to go out in public by herself (not that she wanted to), only to stay in the home with her mother-in-law and other female members of the family. Once she went out on the patio to sun bath, wearing a bikini, and before long she was the talk of the town, and its wasn't a good thing. The complaints of her sun bathing were mainly that she was distracting the local men. We thought America we bad, take a look at how they treat women in the Muslim world. It's like their animal slaves that are only allowed to obey the men of society. They have to cover themselves at all times, showing of the face in public is much like showing your breasts in public in America. Over there, if they don't conform to the patriarchy they are subject to, body dismemberment, cutting off of limbs, death, and much more evil and horrendous torture. I have no doubt that if Phyllis would have stay their much longer, her fighting back against the oppression could have most likely ended in death

We have to remember that the objectification of women isn't morally permissible. This oppression shouldn't be tolerated in any part of the world, as we are all human beings, and we should all fight for the same cause, protecting women.    

Attractive Spouse Leads to Happier Marriage?....For Men Only?

Happy wife, happy life? Not anymore -- a new study suggests it’s an attractive wife that leads to a satisfying marriage.

In the study, which was recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, psychologist Andrea Meltzer tracked over 450 newlywed couples during the course of four years and posed the question: does a good-looking spouse lead to a more satisfying union?

What Meltzer and her team discovered was that spousal attractiveness does play a major role in marital satisfaction -- but only for men. In other words, men care about looks more than women do.

The authors write, "The significant effect of wives’ attractiveness on husbands’ satisfaction was significantly stronger than the nonsignificant effect of husbands’ attractiveness on wives’ satisfaction, indicating that partner physical attractiveness played a larger role in predicting husbands’ marital satisfaction than it did in predicting wives’ marital satisfaction."

Interestingly, the attractive wives also reported higher levels of satisfaction, all because having a happy hubby made them happier too.

A study conducted in 2008 at the Relationship Institute at UCLA reached a similar finding. Researchers theorized that men who felt they "lucked out" by marrying attractive wives were happier and more likely to care about their wives' needs -- and in turn, the good-looking wives were happier in the relationship as well.

“The husbands seemed to be basically more committed, more invested in pleasing their wives when they felt that they were getting a pretty good deal,” study author Benjamin Karney explained.

Karney said the opposite occurred when the husbands felt they were better looking than their wives, explaining, "They didn’t seem to be quite as motivated to help out their wives when they were more attractive than their wives."

What do you think, do you agree with the "hot wife, better life" theory? Sound off below.

Then, check out the slideshow for more fascinating marriage findings.

My note: I tend to be Switzerland when i comes to this particular study. On the one hand physical attractiveness is a big deal for me in an intimate relationship. My current girlfriend is 5'7 130 lbs, and I'm very much attracted to her. However, in the past I've dated women who are much more curvy, but I was still attracted to them. I'm not sure if it's the culture we live in? Everywhere we go there are pictures of half-naked women, and frankly on college campus' there seems to be very attractive young ladies prancing everywhere. Could this have had/has an influence on my standard during the development of my life? Perhaps. Again, attractiveness is pretty much a necessity for my in an intimate relationship. If I'm not attracted to that person it's going to be really difficult for me to engage in sexual needs, and emotions needs. A few girlfriend's ago, this girlfriend in particular gained a lot of weight over the course of a few years. When i started dating her I was very attracted to her. But for some reason she let herself go, and that influenced me in a lot of ways. I was not only starting to be unattracted to her physically, I was maybe more so unattracted to the fact that her will to stay healthy, her exercising methodology, etc were diminishing fast. This wasn't appealing to me at all physically or mentally, so I began to look at her differently. However, on the other hand, I can, with the upmost respect, agree with people that aren't necessarily fitting the standard model of attractiveness. I respect these plus size women and commend them for showing off their bodies to the world, unashamed. They shouldn't be afraid of who they really are. I would just suggest maybe to start exercising, only from an health standpoint. Furthermore, this study I think shows how men really are in society and how they/we objectify women. After all, this study really only applies to men. So, I'm not really sure if i should be ashamed of myself or not, because honestly, I'm am truly happier when I'm attracted to the person I'm in the relationship with. I tend to agree with the theory from a personal standpoint, but in practice its seems morally wrong and demeaning because it disrespects women's autonomy.             

Curvy Girls

The world of plus-size modeling has grown seemingly overnight, with gorgeous faces like Robyn Lawley and Tara Lynn modeling for more covers and ad campaigns than ever.

But even plus-size models are still models, leaving some regular women wanting for even more diverse body imagery to look up to. According to Chrystal Bougon,owner of plus-size lingerie store Curvy Girl, "There are so many pictures of models in lingerie, but I'm constantly asked for pictures of our products on 'regular' bodies... In the fashion world, anything over size 4 is considered plus-size. I know, it's a big joke."

So Bougon decided to use her San Jose store as a platform to celebrate what average, non-model women really look like with her newly-launched "Regular Women" campaign. Announced today in a press release, Bougon stated:

"Inspired by a customer, I wanted to show that women with rolls, bumps, lumps, scars, stretch marks, surgery scars and natural breasts that have nursed babies can be stunning and beautiful."

And women have responded in full-force, posting their own photos to Curvy Girl's Facebook page in high numbers. Bougon tells HuffPost Style that since starting the campaign, Curvy Girl's page grew by 3,500 fans in just 3 days, a response that she says is "so touching and empowering, too."

Of course, by stripping down and showing off their unairbrushed, imperfect bodies, Bougon says, the women are making themselves vulnerable to criticism. "We all know some people will hate on these curvy girls, saying mean, nasty things about their beautiful bodies," she stated. "But you never know who you might help or empower when they see they're not the only woman with cellulite, rolls, scars, saggy breasts or stretch marks. After all, life is not Photoshopped!"

Nussbaum's Capabilities Approach

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoD-cjduM40

Nussbaum's formulation

Martha Nussbaum offers an analysis of gender issues in development that flows from the “capabilities” approach to the analysis of quality of life (Nussbaum, 1995). Advocated and developed by Amartya Sen in a variety of writings, this approach attempts to define well-being in an objective way, by identifying a set of core human capabilities that are critical to full human functioning and assessing well-being (and the success of development policies) by the degree to which the individual is in circumstances which lead to the realization of these capabilities. The approach is studiedly critical of standard utility and preference-satisfaction approaches to the measurement of well-being. Along with its predecessor volume, The Quality of Life (Nussbaum and Sen, eds., 1993), the book provides a superb basis for discussions of justice and morality within the context of economic development policy. (It should be noted that the Human Development Report, published annually by the United Nations Development Programme, offers development statistics for about 150 countries that are designed to provide empirical information about quality of life in developing countries. The methodology of these reports is very much influenced by the capabilities theory advanced by Sen, Nussbaum, and others.)
The core of the theory is a principled account of a set of fundamental human capabilities which are held to be essential to a good human life. The Aristotelian origins of the approach are manifest. Martha Nussbaum's essay, “Human Capabilities, Female Human Beings,” provides an effective exposition of the theory (as does David Crocker's piece). It is Nussbaum's contention that we can say a great deal about what is needed for a good human life; and this account is substantially independent of cultural variations (that is, human beings have the same capabilities for functioning in a wide variety of social and cultural settings). The capabilities involved in a good human life may be listed and justified, and the resulting list can serve as both a guide and a critical standard for development policy. Nussbaum devotes much care to the composition of this list; in brief, it includes:

• Being able to live to the end of a human life of normal length.
• Being able to have good health, adequate nutrition, adequate shelter, opportunities for sexual satisfaction and choice in reproduction, and mobility.
• Being able to avoid unnecessary and non-beneficial pain and to have pleasurable experiences.
• Being able to use the senses, imagine, think, and reason; and to have the educational opportunities necessary to realize these capacities.
• Being able to have attachments to things and persons outside ourselves.
• Being able to form a conception of the good and to engage in critical reflection about the planning of one's own life.
• Being able to live for and to others, to recognize and show concern for other human beings.
• Being able to live with concern for and in relation to animals and the world of nature.
• Being able to laugh, to play, to enjoy recreational activities.
• Being able to live one's own life and no one else's; enjoying freedom of association and freedom from unwarranted search and seizure.

Nussbaum characterizes the significance of this list in these terms: “My claim is that a life that lacks any one of these capabilities, no matter what else it has, will fall short of being a good human life” (p. 85). Further, she maintains that the list, and its associated argumentation, ought to be taken seriously by development theorists in the design of development strategies. Public policy must be guided by a conception of the human good that gives the policy maker strong guidance in selecting goals and priorities for the development process. “The basic claim I wish to make . . . is that the central goal of public planning should be the capabilities of citizens to perform various important functions” (Nussbaum and Glover, p. 87).

Pussy Riot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grEBLskpDWQ

On the crisp morning of February 21, 2012, five young women walked into the Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Situated in the heart of the Russian capital, the cathedral is the tallest Orthodox church in the world. Wearing a blaze of color in sleeveless dresses, neon tights, and their signature balaclava ski masks, they jumped on the altar, turned their backs to the lavish icon screen, took out their electric guitars, and began a song that was a mix of punk-rock riffs and traditional Orthodox chant. The lyrics criticized the close relations between the Russian Patriarch Kirill and President Putin, the Orthodox Church’s conservative anti-woman and anti-LGBT rhetoric, while the refrain—styled as a traditional Orthodox prayer chant— addressed the Mother of God directly, pleading her to “oust Putin” and “become a feminist.” The women were apprehended by security before they could finish—a key moment in the trial that would follow, when a judge determined that it mattered very much just which of their lyrics were leashed upon confused onlookers. Following their initial release from the church, they mixed a video of their performance with a more elaborately scored soundtrack and scenes recorded elsewhere days earlier, and released their work on YouTube. Less than two weeks later three members of the group were arrested, and a long trial commenced that would make this “punk prayer” world famous.[1] The members of the all-female collective known as Pussy Riot were eventually found guilty on charges of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” and received two-year prison sentences in distant, all-female Russian labor camps.