Sorry guys, don’t take it personally…but Lord do men piss me off royally sometimes.

Last week, driving in the car, I paused while scanning through the stations to hear those yahoos Don and Mike talking about American Idol. It was mildly entertaining, and I laughed a few times. Then they started talking about The Swan. One of them had watched it, the other had not. One of them suggested that a better show would be to do the reverse…to make really beautiful women make themselves as ugly as possible. Only without the plastic surgery and stuff. “Kind of like Renee Zellweger did for that Bridget Jones movie,” he said. “Except they’d have to take it a lot further…”

are you ready for this? get ready. my outrage is hardly containable.

“Because she was still kinda pretty. EVEN FAT.”

At this, erin-go-blog abruptly turned the station. Because really, what we need in this country is more idiots perpetuating the unrealistic, largely unattainable, twisted ideal that anorexic equals beautiful.

Never, ever in a million years would I have ever used the word “fat” to describe how Renee Zellweger looks with an extra 20 pounds. (Because really, she’s all of, what, 130? Maybe? With the extra weight on…) In what universe is that FAT?

What our society does to women’s self-image is deplorable. Work in a middle or high school. Listen to stick-thin teenage girls tell you that they’re fat. It’s disgusting…but how can you really blame them? Everywhere we look, we’re bombarded with images that tell us that only tall, leggy, bony women are beautiful. The Victoria’s Secret catalog shows us pictures of concave stomachs and boyish hips. Over the years, we watched Rachel and Monica look increasingly frail. Drew Barrymore and Kate Winslet are referred to as “larger” actresses. I’m all for being healthy, being in good physical shape, but for God’s sake, that doesn’t mean sickly. Dammit, women have CURVES.

And that is all I have to say about that. 😉