On body image:
“I’m so jealous of people who completely love their bodies. I think most women have trouble areas as well as areas that they like. So you play up your favorite parts and learn to dress around the others. I used to hate my legs, but now I always wear minis. It was an accident. In an effort to look taller, I started wearing really high heels with shorter skirts and ended up showing off my legs a lot.”
… says Lauren in Comopolitan Magazine.
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i think her legs are pretty decent. definitely better than mine. which is why I love winter! no more short anxiety.
not sure why she’s still relevant though.. her “fashion career” is such a joke, she always looks about 5 years outdated.
What do you guys think? I genuinely think that men don’t have these kinds of problems. I feel like they never worry about their bodies and reject them and if they do it’s on a far smaller scale than women. I just can’t see a man thinking “Oh my god, what will she think about my pinky toes? And then there’s that mole on my upper thigh and that hair on my butt I just can’t pull out myself…” Whereas I can clearly see a woman worrying about stuff like that. At least I do, cause when I have one… Read more »
Guys have insecurities too, like everyone of them. Every guy I’ve been close to or in a relationship I had to assure them that they’re hot. Even the one who was like 190cm tall and had a sixpack. Insecurity is human.
Two words – patriarchy and capitalism.
I don’t think the average man thinks about his appearance as much as the average woman. Plus they don’t have as much to think about; we think head to toe and very complex (hair, make-up, weight, tone, dress, shoes, underwear/lingerie, poise, body hair, etc.), while they think “Do these clothes match?” “I should work on my delts.” “Should I grow a beard or shave?” I also think women stress constantly over things they have no control over (body shape), while most men don’t obsess about how short or scrawny they are even if it does bother them.
i know plenty of guys who are insecure about being short though. The difference is that women are told if youre short, wear clothes and shoes and get your hair done to make you look taller, so we feel compelled to do all those things and spend money on it, whereas with guys, they just have to learn to deal. There is less consumer pressure on them, and so they end up worrying about it less. We women end up worrying that we’re not doing everything we can to “make up for” our perceived flaws, and that causes a lot… Read more »
This is a really interesting question. If you want the opinion of an MA Comm. Studies student (me .. hehe), I would say it’s because of the socially constructed values of beauty. We are constantly bombarded with images of what is perfect, the best, etc etc, and because we all talk about these things, it sustains this value of whatever the media is bombarding us with (images of models, thigh gaps and whatnot). Guys don’t seem to have this social construction of needing to look ‘perfect’ like women do but they definitely suffer with their own socially constructed values like… Read more »
the level of social comparison that women engage in is definitely above and beyond that of men. Biologically, the male’s role is simple: have sex. So they worry about their appearance in terms of getting laid. For women though, we need to have sex to procreate and then KEEP THE MAN AROUND. I think its the fear and worry about keeping our mate that makes us more insecure and engage in more social comparison, because if we see a woman more attractive than us, we worry that our man will leave us for her, leaving us to care for our… Read more »
You know I think some men do, my husband has always been a self confessed exercise junkie and puts effort into maintaining his look, when he doesn’t work out for a while he starts complaining that he feels fatter and that his abs are less defined etc it’s actually very annoying to be on the other end of that lol. When I tell him to be quiet because he looks good he reminds me that I complain more than him about such things and he’s allowed to feel less that great sometimes too. We all have our bad days.
From MY personal experience (no overall truth) men DO worry. It’s just a tad different. At the gym I usually see men compare their bodies to each other in front of the mirrors, not women. Women worry about their arms not being skinny enough, men worry that their arms look too scrawny. Women worry about their little “pooch”, men about their (non-existent) sixpack. Women want to have shiny, beautiful hair, men do not want to get bald etc. Even though most do not let it ruin their day the pressure of fitting a certain beauty standard is getting to them… Read more »
AGREE! I’ve met a lot of guys who are extremely self conscious about skin/acne. My ex would NOT eat sugar, no cookies or candy or anything, because he was worried about getting acne. he was also obsessed with his six pack (mind you this is when we were 15/16 so not quite mature but STILL. no sugar).
the guy i’m dating now is not as intense as that but when I try to pop his pimples he gets really insecure and upset :O 🙁
hahaha its kind of cute with guys though. Like “awww you care about your appearance”. I dont think you should pop his pimples though, doesnt that just make them worse??
IT DOES it’s really bad and he really doesn’t like it. I’m just one of those weirdos who thinks popping pimples is fun but I never get very many… so sometimes I get really distracted by them. but i’m trying my best to stop because I know it annoys him!!!
I agree…women can never be “too thin” and men can never be “too big” or “ripped”…although I do think men do escape a lot of judgement with respect to being overweight and with the aging process. If a girl has an extra few pounds on her, shes criticized and feels insecure, but plenty of chubby guys have all the confidence in the world.
“Is there something wrong with us? Why are women constantly criticizing and judging themselves, why are we always comparing ourselves with others to see what’s better/worse?” You should read “The Beauty Myth” by Naomi Wolf. I don’t think I can explain her argument as eloquently, but as women made progress in the professional world, the corporate world saw an opportunity to cash in on their higher income status by creating a larger pressure to conform to beauty standards (and sell them products marketed to help them do just that). Not saying I agree with her whole argument entirely, but I… Read more »
” but as women made progress in the professional world, the corporate world saw an opportunity to cash in on their higher income status by creating a larger pressure to conform to beauty standards (and sell them products marketed to help them do just that).”
Spot on! And all that profits to….men because we are subjected to the pressure and they are far, far less.
Oh come ON!!! Men are pressured to be rich and successful AND good looking. A five foot women who’s 800 lbs can just walk outside and half 10 men drooling over her.
Oh come on, that is the dumbest book ever and is full of inaccuracies and illogical arguments. Naomi Wolf is a joke, now she’s writing conspiracy theory books lol. Im still amazed people buy into something that stupid, all it takes is one look on tho site to see that women create their own problems.
well, who could argue with that sound logic and unbiased reasoning?
Logic is useless with you women anyways, nobody takes Naomi seriously outside of ridicoous self absorbed academic feminists. I use to be a feminist, now I’m so fed up with women.
don’t feed the trolls, y’all 😉
Sounds like an interesting read. Also love your name cakes on a plane hehe 😉
@CakesOnAPlane:disqus that actually sounds like a very interesting read. I might just check it out.
I highly recommend it – and I hope this is actually Lauren Conrad replying to me (just kidding!)
Lol! No, but I am aware that I share her initials!! XD Thanks for the recommendation.
Guys worry about other things like getting a six pack and how gross they are. Guys see sexy ladies and real world ladies walking around in skirts and shorts with nice smooth legs and such, and then they look like the wad that comes out of the shower drain. 🙂
Ah, love her and her style so much! She’s looks very fit and healthy, I think she has great legs.
I have a distinct lack of strong feelings or opinions when it comes to Lauren Conrad, but I do love that first photo- it actually seems like a genuine and authentic moment, kind of endearing.
Her legs aren’t the best, but good that she learns to accept them and play to her strengths.
Lauren is a pretty girl with a nice healthy looking body. I’m more impressed by her watching her on TV (The Hills) than I ever am seeing photos of her. She comes across as a bit boring in photos for some reason.
yes I agree, I think some people look better in motion than in pictures and for some people it’s the other way around. I look not so good in photos too so I’m hoping I’m in the better in motion category lol.
She’s gorgeous! I love her style.
I see nothing wrong with her legs, though. Maybe they’re edited, but they look nice to me. Either way, great of her to overcome such obstacles. We shouldn’t pressure ourselves too much on beauty standards.
What does she mean by “effort to look taller”?! Isn’t she 5’7 or something? I just googled it don’t know if it’s true though..
no i think she’s like 5’4″
Yeah I guess most celebs lie about their height and stuff. She doesn’t look short but she definitely doesn’t look 5’7 either.
This is a great editorial, she looks extremely cute and pretty, and her body looks great. Can Cosmo send me the clothes they used … 😉
so cute. got nice legs, why insecure?
So pretty. I luv her style :).
I can relate to her…I never liked my legs, and I’ve been criticized by people because of them. Although I’ve hated them much more..And I prefer mine to some straight up and down legs (not to offend anyone) My body looks a lot like hers, same height, so I too found some comfort in high heels. They do look good in high heels.
what is she talking about? she looks great! her legs are awesome.
she always looks great, i’ve seen her post pics of the stuff she eats she seems to take really good care of herself
Lauren Conrad is pretty….boring! Never really found her interesting. She’s pretty sure, but her personality is not memorable.
She’s a phoney liar-