"This Is Who I Am"

Have you been following this brouhaha over Keira Knightley's publicity shots for her new movie, The Duchess? Essentially, the powers that be wanted to, ahem, enhance Knightley's A-cups in the movie's promotional shots and she said, "No way." Well, good for her. It's never a bad thing when somebody stands up and says, "This is who I am."

Knightley's been criticized a lot -- called anorexic even -- for being very thin. I wouldn't pretend to know whether her thinness is all natural or if she works hard to stay that way. But I respect her for owning her image and not allowing it -- and all the young girls and women watching -- to be manipulated.

Digital "enhancement" is everywhere. If I pull out all 12 of the columns I wrote for Shape in 2007, I can pick out what's been changed in the photos. My daughter can, too, because I've taken the time to teach her how images can be changed. Many girls have been through media literacy classes these days. But there are still plenty who haven't yet learned that what you see isn't always the truth.

Still, even those of us savvy enough to know better are still affected by what we see around us. A new study by professors at Villanova University and the College of New Jersey found that even though advertisements featuring thin models make women feel worse about themselves, those same ads make us more likely to buy the brands being featured. Jeremy Kees, a business professor at Villanova, told Advertising Age that, "Despite the negative effect on their body image, women preferred ads showing thin models and said they were more likely to buy products featured in those ads than in ones showing 'regular-size' models."

It's the "ideal" we're buying -- the fantasy that if we just use this product or that, we could make ourselves over into something else, someone different.

But being thinner isn't an automatic ticket to happiness. Trust me, I know. My problems, concerns and annoying personality quirks didn't magically disappear when I dropped from a size 12 to a size four. What has made me happier is learning to say, "This is who I am."

Every time we say that, in whatever small way, we're pushing ourselves further along the road to self-acceptance -- and we're showing our daughters, our mothers, our sisters and our friends that they can do it, too. Keira Knightley just happened to get the world's attention while doing it.

Good for her...and good for us.

Comments

[Sagan]

I love that she's doing that. A certain size isn't a guarantee to happiness, but being comfortable with yourself and showing yourself for who you really are and being proud of that is definitely associated with happiness!

[Mark Salinas]

I an enjoying the reading...thank you!

[Mark Salinas]

I an enjoying the reading...thank you!

[Kaolee]

Kudos to her!

I have a new found respect for her. She has always annoyed me a bit because I always think that she's pursing her lips a little in every photo to accentuate her already gorgeous cheekbones, but she is setting a great example for women!

[Dara Chadwick]

Sagan, I couldn't agree more. It's all about the attitude.

Mark, thanks for stopping by!

Kaolee, that "pursing her lips" thing made me laugh -- I'd never noticed!