Women, please stop; I'm begging you

[wayfaringwordhack]

I hate, hate, hate the "sexy" pout thing that women think they have to do when they are being photographed.

Women, your lips are fine the way they are. Poking them out makes you look many things--including but not limited to: ridiculous, desperate, unattractive, insecure--but they do not, I repeat NOT (yes, I broke out the all caps) make you look sexy.  

You cannot know how uncomfortable it makes me to see my adolescent nieces with their lips jutting out, thinking they look pretty, thinking that looking "sexy" is the only way a woman can acceptably look.

How can they think otherwise when women with full mouths like Angelina Jolie also do the exaggerated lip pout?  This is the photo that brought my desire to rant about this to a head:

(image via Telegraph.co.uk)

   Unfortunately the pout is not flagrant at this size, but the image I saw was a full page on the back of Polka magazine.  The ad is for Louis Vuitton's Core Values campaign.  I just wish it was a core value to teach girls to respect themselves as humans and not sex symbols.  However, big kudos for Jolie's natural pose and down-to-earth clothing.
   
Oh, check out Jim C. Hines  Striking a Pose (via PW Genreville). I hope cover designers and editors are paying attention.

Comments

[frigg.livejournal.com]

Well, if it's any comfort, I don't think I could pull off a pout even if I tried, plus I always look horrible on photos. Ancient eyes and rubber-face doesn't blend well. :p

[frigg.livejournal.com]

PS. Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has been accused of being the queen of pout photos.

[judo100.livejournal.com]

Well, sex sells, so the people putting together ads will continue to include whatever they think is sexy, whether it's pouty lips or puffed out boobs. Unfortunately it teaches both girls and boys that this (and only this) is sexy in females. It's the same reason in all the ads with young dudes, they badly need a shave. The three-day stubble is supposed to be sexy. Grosses me out, but what do I know?

The real issue is what we, as a society and as individuals, are doing to start conversations with young girls and boys about what real people look like, what is attractive, and what is artificial. Very little is my guess.

[learningtoread.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, it's Tyra Banks who scolds model wannabes about their mouths (and the "booty pop" and "booby pop"). She's always saying RELAX YOUR MOUTH, and calling people out for being too "men's magazine" when they do such poses. And I would thing for a high-profile designer like Vuitton, the photographer and art director would've gone for something more editorial -- especially with Angie as the subject matter.

Agreed entirely. I'm watching way too much reality TV that has 13 y-o girls with dyed hair and intricately applied eye makeup, not to speak of the clothes. And my nieces' Facebook photos? Make me hurt.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I agree! As does Kate Beaton, who has done comics parodying that:

From 2009 (http://beatonna.livejournal.com/78941.html)



From 2011 (http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=270)

[sunflower-sky.livejournal.com]

^^^^THIS.

And it's not just ridiculous looking and gross. It's deadly.

~D

[luna-e.livejournal.com]

AMEN! Furthermore, I can't stand all of the princess attitudes, hair, makeup and slutty costumes that start as soon as a girl can walk. I've long wished I could make the time to volunteer with some kind of random girls' group. That small chance for positive influence seems to be the only opportunity to counteract all the awful messages about sexuality and womanhood. Boys need those role models as well, but that wouldn't be my forte.