One of the most disturbing articles I've read in a long time

[ellen_datlow]

I find it hard to believe that 1) that a bride would ask this of her friends and 2) that if asked the friends wouldn't beat the s...t out of their supposed friend, the bride. Am I overreacting?

It’s Botox for You, Dear Bridesmaids

Comments

[splinister.livejournal.com]

I think this is a sign of the worsening pressure on women to stay young and attractive. After all, that's one of our primary functions! What's the saddest thing about this article is that the women have bought into the myth. The fact that only one bridesmaid out of five had the good sense to refuse cosmetic surgery (a push-up bra did the job after all) is telling.

I thought the reporter, Abby Ellin, didn't present any alternative to this upsurge in obsession about perfection. The issue is normalised in her piece, and the women who don't participate are subtly depicted as the odd ones out.

In fact, I'm a little leery about the careful placement of companies offering these services in the article - which struck me as being close to product placement. I noticed this the other day in another NYT article I read online.

[vee-ecks.livejournal.com]

"I agree - there are good, hard-hitting articles in the NYTimes, and then there are fluffy commercial pieces loosely disguised as news, targeting a very small and specific financial class of reader."

That would be why this article ran in the *fashion* section, yes.

[vee-ecks.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I know: I'm pretty fucking stupid to think I'd find actual news in the fashion section."

"Pretty fucking stupid" doesn't seem likely, but then, neither does finding hard news stories in the style section of the paper. Those are generally up in the front sections, when you can actually find them, that is.

[vee-ecks.livejournal.com]

Did I tell you that your kneejerk hostility is *delicious?*

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Now now everyone, play nice.

[vee-ecks.livejournal.com]

Sorry. I've been reading The Economist lately for etiquette and dress tips, and neither seems to be working out. OTOH, I *am* now a total fascist with seventeen gold-colored suits whose lapels were used to pull the Exxon Valdez back to shore, so I've got that going for me.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Well, the article IS in the section called "Style" --I'd expect a more critical piece in the "news" section...

There was a health piece about Lyme Disease a week or so ago that mentioned my friend and former colleague Pam Weintraub's well-researched book on Lyme Disease (see: product placement here :-) )...but yeah, it seems to me all those women who jumped threw the hoop could better use some good psychotherapy rather than cosmetic surgery or Botox...