So Tyra, is it Only Bad When it Happens to You?

Tyra Banks is a model, producer, TV talk show host, actress, and judge on her own reality TV show "America's Next Top Model." A few years ago she was criticized for gaining weight, and unflattering photos of her in a bathing suit started showing up. When these photos got shared, Tyra held her head up high and argued that she was still beautiful.On her show she started talking about airbrushing and anorexia.
When I heard Tyra Banks talking out about these things, I was ecstatic. To finally hear that someone was talking about these important issues, and a model no less! I felt that someone had finally stepped up to the plate and was ready to challenge the media's idea that super thin is always the best. But then I started watching America's Next Top Model.
In the last season of the show I saw about 4 women who might be considered a normal size and weight, and 10 women who I thought looked too thin. There were no plus-size women. Now, I realize that the cycle ten winner of the show was a plus-size model and that Tyra has had larger women on her show before, but the vast majority of the contestants on the show are stick thin. Out of 12 seasons, only one winner has been plus-sized.
In my opinion, Tyra Banks needs to make up her mind. Her different opinions confuse everyone. On one hand, its wrong for the media to be so obsessed with how big someones body is. But on the other hand, she is perpetuating this image of super thin women being the most desirable. Based on her show, it seems that she is saying the only people who make good models are the thin ones.
If Tyra Banks really wants to make a difference, she needs to make changes everywhere. She can't say something on one show and then show the complete opposite on another one.

Chanel Perfume: Do I Have to Be Naked to Wear it?

While reading a magazine recently I happened across an ad for Chanel perfume. In the ad Keira Knightley is sitting completely naked, having only a white piece of cloth across her lap, diamonds along her throat and a man's hat covering her chest. In the photograph she looks completely sexy, skinny and seductive.

In today's society it seems necessary for everyone to take advantage of women's sexuality. Every type of media uses some sort of stereotypical woman to sell whatever it is they are selling. This ad further illustrates the point that women are completely over-sexualized in our culture. No one can seem to sell anything to anyone, including women, without making women a sexual object that someone is either lusting after or wishing they were. In the ad Keira Knightley is obviously the woman every female wants to be and every male wants to sleep with. She is essentially selling her body to get Chanel more money. Couldn't they have had her wearing clothes? Doesn't a woman wearing beautiful things also sell, especially when it's something like perfume? Or are they hoping for the shock and awe factor? If someone sees a naked woman selling perfume, they might be curious or desperate enough to buy it.

Some people may not think a naked woman in a magazine is such a bad thing, but that isn't really the point. What does a naked woman have to do with perfume? Is our culture so obsessed with objectifying women that they will sell pictures of a naked woman and pass it off as an ad? I suppose so. But why do they feel the need to make a woman an object, to essentially sell the woman as the product, instead of just selling whatever it is they are selling without objectifying anyone in the process?