What IS it with the rags' obsession with female stars' weights???

Okay, so I admit I can be a rag junkie, though I have really gotten it down to one that is sent to my house. Every once in a while I will buy another one at the store if it looks interesting. I'm totally ashamed, but one addiction at a time, okay? :)

But what really gets me is this total shaming of starlets if they dare to gain five or 10 pounds! This week it's Jessica Simpson. Last year it was Jennifer Love Hewitt. They were splashed across every magazine you could think of, usually on the front page, AND in some cases they have been discussed on television to boot -- just to rub in the shame and reach those who maybe are smart enough not to buy this crap.

Jessica is 5'3", and they claim she is now *GASP* 135 pounds. *eye roll* My left breast is 135 pounds, so I guess I just can't see the uproar. I don't recall what they estimated Jennifer was, but they were all aghast at her larger tushie. And a few years ago the humiliation du jour was Kate Winslet for being "fat." Yet in this weeks rag, along with the story about Jessica, is a photo of Jack Black with his wife, who just had a baby and looks like she needs to eat a sandwich -- while HE looks to be 11 months pregnant. Not a word.



I mentioned this to DH last night, the unfairness of it all towards women, which then reaches our girls. He said that's because the women are selling their image. Uh, since when?? If she's an actress or a singer, isn't THAT what she's selling? WHY do we have to know every time she has put on five pounds? Why don't they do this to the guys?? When's the last time you saw Val Kilmer splashed all over the rags looking like the Pillsbury doughboy??

Granted, maybe once every couple years somebody like the Enquirer will do something showing all the guys that don't look so great -- Arnold Schwartzenegger, Jack Nicholson, and William Shatner (all older men, as you can see), but I feel these women are BULLIED into unsafe eating practices such as bulemia or anorexia. Have you seen how many of these girls are pin thin?? Who wants to be humiliated in front of the whole world by being called a fatty for being 130 pounds and a size 6?

I am really sick of the mentality of Americans. We must stay young, be thin, and be pretty otherwise our value is virtually nil. Guys, on the other hand, can be fat slobs like Jack Black and Val Kilmer and they get passes.

And don't even get me started on the movie Shallow Hal.

By the way, wtf is this all about??