When the aliens come, they’ll eat the skinny blonds first

Thank you, obese white women of the greater Thurston County. When the sun comes out to play, the worst dressed in the city find license to expose themselves in bedroom appropriate attire. If booty shorts and halter camisoles are the “uniforms of hookers and ladies of ill repute the world over,” why is Susie Plumpinstein wearing them to Lakefair?

Does Susie “desire the attention that [she thinks] hookers find comfort in”? Perhaps.
*Interjected aside: we shall currently disregard the discussion of women dressing in competition with other women, and women as horrendous critics of each other*

It is the dilemma of attention seeking. Attention is nice, from almost any one. Differentiating between positive and negative attention is often impossible and perhaps undesirable. It’s easier to live with a false sense of security. Now, either this girl doesn’t know she’s big and therefore can wear a size 8 instead of an 18, or she knows she’s big, but thinks she looks darn sexy in that floral two-piece Paris Hilton was wearing in Hawaii.

In a way, I’m tempted to give props to the boldness of a self-confident woman. At the same time, I’m concerned by the misappropriated pursuit of recognition. Maybe the scantily clad, plus-sized woman is a product of socialization. The first problem is that women have been conditioned to seek attention and validation from men. The second problem is that one stroll down Main St. supports the belief that little is more. The 5’8”, 36-26-36, bleached-blond turns quite a few heads. So if I want a similar response from a thoroughly captivated audience, then I will follow her example in mannerisms and apparel. My result: masculine attention.

What’s the solution? We ought to give attention to, recognize, and audibly appreciate women for substantial manifestations of beauty—inner beauty demonstrated in attitude, demeanor, and character. Men need to step up and recognize their role in the perpetuation of the Plumpinstein phenomenon. Men can be powerful advocates for the transformation of this culture.

In the meantime, we continue to battle societal notions of beauty that are dictated by culturally encapsulated individuals. I recently witnessed an attack upon the notion of thin=beautiful with the new reality show Fabulous and Thick hosted by Comedian Mo'Nique. Granted, I couldn’t help laughing as I stuffed my face with ice cream, critiqued the contestants, and passed handfuls of peanut M & Ms to my sister and friend but the show had a point—the misconception of beauty as transcendent of culture. Hardly. Physical beauty is a social construct. I also want to add that while my previous paragraph listed elements of “inner beauty,” I’ll admit to the influence of my cultural values on what I consider important elements of beauty. Thus I continue to wrestle with myself, surrounding culture, and the shapely, buxom girls who float by on the Green River.