Thursday, June 18, 2009

Styles Editors Pose "Plus Size" Model Where They Think She Belongs: Right Near The Ice Cream.


ABOVE: Fashion designers and retailers are offering more options for overweight women such as the one pictured above, who -- like most plus-sized females -- enjoys spending time in the frozen food section at the local supermarket. (Photograph by Robert Wright for The New York Times)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

"...who -- like most plus-sized females -- enjoys spending time in the frozen food section at the local supermarket."
Remember the old rule, read before posting? What on earth is this supposed to mean? You're not even doing it the usual snide NYT way, saying "some plus-sized" or "many plus-sized."You go for the top, "most" of them.
This is appalling. It bears no relation at all to the story.
By buying into the mindset you presume exists, you're worse then Styles.
Yeah, yeah, we know you're only trying to be funny, mocking Styles, but you didn't bother to write it funny.
This is the equivalent of showing two gay guys at an art gallery and claiming that they don't go to Rangers games because they're sissies.
On the other hand, you might do pretty well over at the Post.

Lindsay Beyerstein said...

Anonymous, I think you're missing the point if you're appalled by the nytpicker post.

The post is making fun of the picture. The story itself is unobjectionable, but the picture is trafficking in cheap stereotypes that undercut the message of the story.

The assumption behind the image: We're doing a story about fashion for larger women, so let's show a larger woman in her natural habitat, surrounded by ice cream.

The nytpicker is being sacrastic. As in, "Oh, of course all plus-sized females hang out in the ice cream aisle." That comment doesn't make any sense if you substitute "some plus-sized females" or "many plus-sized females."

Roberto said...

Anonymous, Anonymous, Anonymous ... you don't really seem to grasp the nature of the Internet, do you?

The nytpicker is free for you to read, and free for you not to read. The person/people behind the site's posts are not being compensated for their time, effort and creativity (unless ... Rupert???). [Style note: when you post anonymously, you look like a bitchy little girl.]

Chances are you (whoever you are) don't have a perfect record of utility/hilarity in whatever it is you do. [Recently David Letterman pointed out the difficulty of batting 1.000.]

And in this instance, nytpicker makes a decent enough point (as Lindsay Beyerstein noted). Would the Times Style editors arrange to shoot Kate Moss in the frozen food aisle of a supermarket?

The nytpicker prods us to think about the Times's coverage, and from my perspective is interesting, useful and often entertaining. Of course, the comments by anonymous (Times?) people who write like bitchy little girls are entertaining as well ...

Anonymous said...

Roberto, I'm with you. I don't always agree with these guys but ore often than not, NYTpicker makes me laugh.

Anonymous said...

Let's put aside the analysis of humor and ask a more fundamental question: are we sure this is the ice cream section? Sure, there are freezers lining the walls, but they could be filled with frozen vegetables. My eyes can't be certain, but I don't pick up the familiar shape of Ben and Jerry's pints. I really don't know what's in there, but in my supermarket 3/4 of it is devoted to non-desserts like frozen green beans.

But we don't need to let this spoil the fun. Let's just question whether the photo editors at the NYT are suggesting that she go on a diet and eat more frozen greenbeans.