I am frankly very tired of the plethora of perfect Hollywood personalities who regularly occupy the red carpet when the occasion warrants it. There seems to be an increasing amount of events that have a red carpet attached to it. The Academy Awards used to be the quintessential red carpet event. Now it is utilized as a way to get publicity for all kinds of fund raisers, or anything that might allow the participants to parade themselves in front of a camera. I expect to see a red carpet event for a proctology conference soon.
The amount of attention paid to the individuals posing on the carpet often outshines the event. The interviews focus on the outfits, jewelry and hair styles which are often donated by the designers and stylists. After all this gives you a lot of ads for your services.
Each one of the participants has been buffed, polished, and put into an outfit specifically created for their body type. Most of them look perfectly toned and taut. My favorite interviews are the ones that focus on how quickly the person interviewed got back into shape after being pregnant. After just four short weeks their body emerges looking like they never gave birth. After I gave birth, I still looked pregnant for about a year. The one perk was I just kept wearing my pregnancy outfits. It’s also rare to see anyone with roles of fat cascading down their bodies. Yes, there are some random bodies that look more like much of the population, but they are few and far between.
Often the dresses are more like band aids that cover parts of the body that are still considered off base. But I’m sure that simply showing up naked in high heels is right around the corner. Does this sound like the rant of a woman whose body has headed south and is trying desperately to navigate a way back? I’m sure there is definitely a degree of “if only I had managed to not like food so much”! Or “Why didn’t I spend more time ingesting kale smoothies, going to spin class, and slathering my body with anti- wrinkling creams”? But more importantly I find myself getting upset by the messages that I feel help to increase the feelings of unhappiness many women suffer from about their bodies. Research shows that only 12 percent of females like their bodies.
Perhaps that might change if we start to realize that the women who the media focuses on who they consider to be perfect specimens usually have chefs cooking for them, fitness trainers, nannies, housecleaners, and more to help them. The average woman is dealing with being all things to everyone while trying to create a healthy lifestyle for themselves.
How about a red carpet show for those of us who get up every day, work hard, cook, clean, care for our families, and drop into bed at night exhausted? That is definitely worthy of an award.