Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - The bigger you are

UKking · 01-09-2008, 05:27 PM

In 1999, Mena Suvari, the quintessential American Beauty, captivated men and generated millions of box office dollars with this pose:

Nine years later, a provocative Brazilian ad campaign for Fit Light Yogurt uses that image to drive home a controversial point: The bigger you are, the less attractive you are:

The tagline for this ad reads: "Forget about it. Men's preference will never change. Fit Light Yogurt."

Two more:

And here's the Marilyn Monroe one:

The tagline for both ads reads: "Forget about it. Men's preference will never change. Fit Light Yogurt."

Man, those are some fucked up ads. The power of marketing and pop culture. Honestly, I doubt that the popular preference favouring slim women is innate; I think this is something that is taught and learned. But it's so deeply ingrained into our culture now that it might as well be written in stone.

What's even weirder to me, though: In the supposedly instinctive selection processes we go through in determining how sexually attractive a person is, we factor in their potential health. A healthier mate is more likely to raise a successfully reproducing offspring. And nowadays, if you imagine a slim woman in some spandex & running gear versus an overweight woman in the same outfit, which do you label as healthier? The slim woman. BUT, in reality, does the larger woman's weight affect her ability to raise successfully reproducing offspring? Not really. Not today anyways. Well, how about back in the stone age? I'm no expert, but I doubt it.

Anyways my point is that I doubt the slim preference is biological, or instinctive or anything like that. I think it's marketing. Very old marketing, too, whose funky origin has been lost in time, and now it's just some self-perpetuating reality of the unstoppable economy and media in a crazy Chicken-And-The-Egg relationship.

Imagining my preferences were flipped around is like imagining a colour that doesn't exist. Does not compute. So where does that leave me as a guy who blatantly prefers slim women, knowing that there's no good reason for it? Well, for one, the admission makes me feel guilty. It inflicts emotional turmoil on countless women. But the guilt is followed by resentment towards the resistance of the slim preference, since it is 'the source' of that annoying pang of guilt.
A lot of help that is, huh?

This topic reminds me of religion for some reason.

01-09-2008, 05:27 PM	#1 (permalink)
UKking Crazy	The bigger you are - the less attractive you are ??? In 1999, Mena Suvari, the quintessential American Beauty, captivated men and generated millions of box office dollars with this pose: Nine years later, a provocative Brazilian ad campaign for Fit Light Yogurt uses that image to drive home a controversial point: The bigger you are, the less attractive you are: The tagline for this ad reads: "Forget about it. Men's preference will never change. Fit Light Yogurt." Two more: And here's the Marilyn Monroe one: The tagline for both ads reads: "Forget about it. Men's preference will never change. Fit Light Yogurt." Man, those are some fucked up ads. The power of marketing and pop culture. Honestly, I doubt that the popular preference favouring slim women is innate; I think this is something that is taught and learned. But it's so deeply ingrained into our culture now that it might as well be written in stone. What's even weirder to me, though: In the supposedly instinctive selection processes we go through in determining how sexually attractive a person is, we factor in their potential health. A healthier mate is more likely to raise a successfully reproducing offspring. And nowadays, if you imagine a slim woman in some spandex & running gear versus an overweight woman in the same outfit, which do you label as healthier? The slim woman. BUT, in reality, does the larger woman's weight affect her ability to raise successfully reproducing offspring? Not really. Not today anyways. Well, how about back in the stone age? I'm no expert, but I doubt it. Anyways my point is that I doubt the slim preference is biological, or instinctive or anything like that. I think it's marketing. Very old marketing, too, whose funky origin has been lost in time, and now it's just some self-perpetuating reality of the unstoppable economy and media in a crazy Chicken-And-The-Egg relationship. Imagining my preferences were flipped around is like imagining a colour that doesn't exist. Does not compute. So where does that leave me as a guy who blatantly prefers slim women, knowing that there's no good reason for it? Well, for one, the admission makes me feel guilty. It inflicts emotional turmoil on countless women. But the guilt is followed by resentment towards the resistance of the slim preference, since it is 'the source' of that annoying pang of guilt. A lot of help that is, huh? This topic reminds me of religion for some reason.