This is one of Charisma Carpenter. Of course, she had some "images" produced by Hugh Hefner ent. earlier this year...... and I won't post a link. 8-)
Posted on 12/03/2004 10:32:11 PM PST by nickcarraway
In the flesh: Today's female stars reveal 59% of their bodies to media flashbulbs - up from only 7% in the 1970s. So what will they be wearing on the red
Mae West once remarked that if you've got personality, you don't need nudity. So it makes sense that in the Age of Paris Hilton, celebrity skin is as ubiquitous on the red carpet as paparazzi.
According to a new study, today's female stars reveal a startling 59% of their flesh to media flashbulbs at red carpet events -- up from just 7% in the 1970s. If risque fashion trends persist, researchers predict celebs will be exposing an average of 75% of their bodies by the year 2010.
"Nakedness on TV, in particular, is so prevalent as to be banal," says Kim Blank, who teaches cultural studies at the University of Victoria. "But you can count on producers, marketers and fame-makers to come up with new angles -- literally."
Commissioned by cinema giant Odeon, researchers in the United Kingdom calculated the average percentage of nudity exposed on red carpets dating from the 1950s. Ten iconic photographs were chosen from each decade, then placed together on a body template to determine how much skin was on display.
Fifties stars such as Ava Gardner revealed an average 20% of their bodies, with particular emphasis placed on the upper arms and cleavage. By the '60s, that number sank to 9%, when screen sirens such as Sophia Loren and Brigitte Bardot popularized glamorous formal gowns.
?From the '70s to the '80s, the celebrity skin index shot from 7% to 13%, as red carpet fashion began mirroring the ethos of casual sex. And, in the '90s, Elizabeth Hurley -- finding an accomplice in Versace and some "designer" safety pins at the Four Weddings and a Funeral premiere -- upped the ante to nearly 40%.
"You have to go back to the Garden of Eden to understand how nakedness became naughtiness," says Blank. "Adam and Eve were tossed out of Eden because they were embarrassed and fearful about being naked. Nipplegate and red-carpet skinny-dipping suggest we never got over this."
This year, Janet Jackson's infamous nipple exposure engaged North Americans in a debate over moral values and was said by some to be a factor in the Democratic defeat in the U.S. election. But that doesn't mean the majority is strictly opposed to celebrity skin, notes an expert.
"There has always been a presence of sex within any historical discussion of moral values," explains Dawn Esposito, chair of sociology at St. John's University in New York. "Part of moral values is that you don't have sex, which is not the same thing as not looking at it."
Esposito calls it "vicarious pleasure without the sin."
Ontario's Lisa Brandt, author of Celebrity Tantrums: The Official Dirt, believes stars like Lil' Kim who "split up one handkerchief's worth of material to make an entire outfit" to be the exception rather than the rule. Although celebrity flesh attracts attention, she says most fans would rather capture an A-lister "slothing around in sweat pants than mooning [the paparazzi]."
Dismissing the study's predictions, Brandt says she finds it unlikely that bikinis and thongs will be the uniform of the 2010 Academy Awards. Blank, on the other hand, offers a different fashion forecast.
"Maybe one day medical students will be able to get their anatomy lessons on the red carpet," he quips, "rather than in their course texts."
Homosexual fashion designers, art directors, choreographers, etc. Their ideal of beauty is a 16-year-old boy. Adult women in arts and entertainment conform to their perverted hebephilia, or they don't work.
-ccm
And the fake breasts are so heterosexual men will go along with it. Because if we complained, it would come to a crashing halt. Of course, we're pretty easy to please. Whatever image they're selling, put some knockers on it, and we're good to go.
That's not Charisma Carpenter.
Imagine sitting down with your kids to watch Wizard of Oz on television and during one of the commercial breaks you and your family are treated to an advertisement for the latest Girls Gone Wild! Campus Cuties Uncensored!. Hyperbole, yes, but I think this is exactly how many Americans felt. Ambushed by the garbage that has become MTV.
In short, it was something that was inappropriate for the program it aired on. What goes for late night MTV or Comedy Central may not be right for a show that many people consider (rightly or wrongly) family viewing.
For the record, I was more disturbed by the unsightly appearance of the increasingly Michael-looking Ms. Jackson's breasts than I was by the mere fact that she had just flashed herself.
Remember Maralyn Monroe was a healthy size 14. She would be considered "Plus Size" by current standards and would have to shop at Lane Bryant for her clothes.
I agree with you though, I cannot stand the bony-faced, anorexic look that serves for beauty in the eyes of casting agents and fashion designers.
Then let me link it...
Some gay fashion designer.
And how in the world do they accomplish that? It seems to me that there must be health issues that accompany not letting one's body develop properly.
Well most of these gal have almost 0% body fat as is the current "ideal". If you're basically emaciated it is pretty easy to have a small butt. I would think that is a lot of the reason these gals have fake breasts so often. With no body fat you really can't have very large breasts. It is very weird to starve yourself to the point that you have no figure and then build one out of man made materials.
Nipplegate? This is a word? It's stooooooooopid!
Hello!!! Those buttermilk bunnies look REAL!
Double ditto!
Yeowsa!
I'd add more commentary, but my wife is a FReeper too . . .
You man the helium tank and the chicken, and I'll make sure the monkey throws the marmalade accurately at the scuba fins.
Then we can get kinky.
Irresistible! Where have yoiu been all my life?
Oh, wait, it doesn't matter. I don't even know where I've been.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
