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- The Week in Pics
- 7 lessons we learned from celebrities this week
- Best and Worst and all the rest
- What daggy song do you secretly love?
- They share a home but does that mean they should share a life?
- Struggling to conceive… the journey continues
- THE FIND. What have you found lately that’s fabulous?
- Trapped underground for 4 months. Toilets anyone?
- Election 2010: ARE WE THERE YET? And do you care?
- An intimate video chat with Lisa Wilkinson
Comment Rules Imagine this is a dinner party. Differences of opinion are welcome but keep it respectful or the host will show you the door. If you're rude or abusive, your comment will be deleted (so will comments responding to other rude comments because they won’t make sense - so save your breath). And if you’re offensive, you’ll be banned. Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That's how we're going to be - cool. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation...
@nicolejensen Mia responded to her comment here http://www.mamamia.com.au/weblog/2010/06/mtv-movie-awards.html
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i’m not ususally huge on green but i think Scarlett looks fab!
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I love the MTV awards, the frocks are always so fun!
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Love Scarlett Johansson’s dress and Anna Kendrick’s shoes (Anna’s dress was cute too).
Kristen Stewart looked gorgeous.
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Wow, how pretty does Jessica Biel look? Gorgeous.
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I have no idea who Anna Kendrick or Audriana Partridge are, but MAN they have good shoes
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Is there a special make-up trick to make your boobs glow like Katy Perry’s? I’m jealous!
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Mia, I have a problem with your continued frock watch blog posts and how they conflict with your commitment to enhancing body image in women.
Criticising other women for their fashion choices may seem innocuous but women vs women activities like this contribute to negative self image in a huge way because we are constantly comparing ourselves, and knocking other women down just so we can feel better.
Self acceptance and positive esteem does not come from getting a leg up on other women.
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I absolutely love the frock watch posts, because i love fashion!! i absorb all the magazines like vogue, etc (not gossip magazines), work in fashion and just love people watching and what they are wearing. This is why i love frock watch, just as in interest in clothes, what people in the public eye are wearing. Just like looking at a fashion show and getting ideas, as they all gradually filter down into the chain stores anyway. I don’t see it as anything to do with body image or criticising other women for their fashion choices. People may make critical responses to the posts, but i have never made a comment in these sections before now as have not felt the need. I just like looking at the clothes! When has there ever been a suggestion that the frock watch sections are to get a leg up on other women?? Mia’s website is in the public forum for a number of things and fashion is one of those. Hence the new clips lately with Paula Joye talking about what to wear for winter. I think you are being very critical. I would hate to see this post go. Don’t look at it if you don’t want to, but let others enjoy something harmless.
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I see where you’re coming from, however it is called Frock WATCH…
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Thanks Natalie for your comment. You raise an interesting point.
Frockwatch is not and has never been a post about women’s bodies, it’s about clothes. Pretty clothes, unusual clothes, interesting clothes, clothes you could only dream about and clothes you wouldn’t wear in a pink fit but are fun to look at.
People’s opinions about those clothes are 100% subjective and 95% of the time the comments on Frockwatch are limited to fairly benign and mostly positive views.
Whenever a comment that is snarky or anti-women somehow slips through the moderation net, we have an ‘alert moderator’ button so you can draw our attention to it.
This community is pretty good at self-regulating and I rely on that and appreciate it.
Frockwatch is one of the most light-hearted and frivolous parts of Mamamia and to me, it is not incompatible with my over-arching desire to be supportive of other women.
In no part of this website do I encourage women to be critical of other women or each other, either directly or indirectly. However, not every word and opinion on this website belongs to me.
Different voices (like yours for example) with different viewpoints also feature. Like in any conversation or dinner party. There will always be people whose opinions you don’t agree with.
To suggest that Frockwatch is inviting snark is like saying showing a movie is inviting criticism of the actors/screenwriter/director. Writing about a book is inviting criticism of the author….Looking at beautiful homes is inviting criticism of the architect or decorator….
Perhaps the crux of it is the sub-head ‘best/worst dressed of the week”? Again, this is subjective. Your ‘worst’ could be my ‘best’. Never do I direct opinion or encourage it to go in a particular way.
Overall, I’m comfortable with the inclusion of Frockwatch. Thanks for the reminder to watch the comments closely and if I can come up with a better name for Best/Worst Dressed then I will consider changing it.
Meanwhile, if there are any particular comments that you think contravene the commenting policy, alert the moderator.
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How about something like ‘Weekly Wonders’? I know that may sound tacky but it leads to ‘wonders’ at the beautiful clothing as well as ‘wonders’ of how on earth someone would leave their house dressed in that manner!
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Hi Mia (and Lana if you see this),
The problem with the “Alert Moderator” button is that it automatically tries to open Microsoft Outlook to send an email. There are a couple of comments in this very thread that are the snark Natalie is talking about. I only use online email accounts such as gmail so it is frustrating to try and report these comments. I’m sure that a lot of other people would be using these same clients so maybe another form is needed to try and report bad comments.
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Thanks for pointing that out illuminadora – we will certainly take that on board and see if there is way we can improve our system. However in the meantime please don’t hesitate to send me an email at lana@mamamia.com.au (through your gmail) if you see a comment that you find offensive.
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Cheers, and thanks for the speedy reply!
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Frock watch is called “frock watch” because it’s only about looking at dresses. Seriously, why are you kicking up a big stink about nothing?!
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Exactly! That’s what i was trying to say….
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I stand by a comment I made on Twitter after reading this: making women afraid to share an opinion (controversial or innocuous) for fear of being anti-feminist is way more problematic than frock watch.
As with all restrictions and changes: where does it stop? Do we stop posting images of women alongside stories to discourage this in any context? Are we allowed to say that we like something, but must keep our mouths shut when we don’t?
Women have come a long way. We’re able to embrace our own personal style, and know that it’s okay not to try and please everyone all the time with our opinions. I’d argue that it’s more detrimental to tape our mouths shut than encourage light-hearted discussion that all sorts of women can engage in.
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Natalie I DO know what you mean – reading trash mags, engaging in frivolous celebrity culture, comparing outfits, judging other women’s choices is my guilty little pleasure. I try not to take any of it too seriously and make a conscious choice to limit myself.
I don’t think it’s healthy to place too much emphasis on a woman’s appearance. It’s much more uplifting to celebrate women in terms of their achievements, successes, and positive attitudes. When we judge a woman on her appearance – whether it be her sex appeal, choice of outfit or the girth of her hips – we’re objectifying her.
I had an addiction to magazines when I was a teen and I think this kind of thing really invites envy and comparison – leading to overall lower self-esteem. It wasn’t just that the models were skinny (I was skinny) – just that too much comparison making of ANYTHING can leave us feeling inadequate.
I guess like with most things it’s all about moderation. A little bit of fun and frivolity never hurt anyone!
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I agree with Natalie’s points. Frock Watch doesn’t help with positive body image for two reasons:
1. It is encouraging women to critically analyse other women based on their appearance, and therefore focusing solely on appearance as a measurement of value.
2. It is setting extremely high standards of beauty and appearance for women, by focusing on glamourous, rich, physically attractive celebrities.
Both of these effects of Frock Watch cause women to compare themselves, consciously or subconsciously, with the women portrayed. As it is extremely difficult for average women to look and dress like celebrities, the comparison is almost always going to be unfavourable, which can lead to negative body image.
People might say “it’s just about the clothes”, but even if that’s the case, how many women can afford to wear clothes like that?
Frock Watch is encouraging a shallow, materialistic view of the world and a culture of comparison that cannot be healthy for body image.
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So what about those of us who love fashion and just want to see what celebs are wearing???? I think that’s what the crux of frockwatch is and nothing else!
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Nothing wrong with viewing what celebrities are wearing, nothing wrong with viewing what (skinny) models are wearing.
But I DO think that if you are concerned about the impact of overexposure to (airbrushed) models then it does seem somewhat incongruous to be focused soley on the physical appearance of celebrities.
For the record I don’t have a problem with airbrushed images – I think people will always aspire to beauty. But I would imagine that if you’re against the mainstream practice of airbrushing women, then you should also be wary of encouraging any practice which involves objectifying a woman’s appearance.
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Katy Perry looks like she’s made out of plastic!
Lots of skinny legs (yeah, jealous much
)
And what the HELL happened to Eva Mendes? Where did her curves go?!! Men the world over mourn.
Kristen Stewart looked happy. No outfits that inspired, although this *is* the MTV awards and I am so very very old lol..!
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I must be getting old, I have no idea who half these people are!!
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Why does Katy Perry look like a sexy smurf with her blue wig? Its the not first time she’s paraded about with the blue hair. Lindsay Lohan what were you thinking, that outfit is too long (your stylist should’ve hemmed the legs) and someone should’ve told you to wear a supporting bra with a sexy camisole to cover. Those puppies look like they’ll pounce any minute LOL
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I know what you mean! Re: the pants, I am thinking that LiLo REALLY wanted to cover up the chunky “can tell if you are drinking” ankle-bracelet-device-thing…
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Scarlett Johansson looks stunning! I wish I could have her outfit.
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I think LOLhan looks GOOD. Wtf am I on?!
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Scarlett Johansson FTW. Whitney Port (whoever she is) also looks terrific. All the rest: Meh.
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do we think just once Paris could look normal in a photo and not like she just GL?
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don’t know who Miranda Cosgrove is but I LOVE her red dress!
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Haha you obviously don’t have kids who live for foxtel TV!
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Love Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Biel.
Kristen Stewart seems sweet – I like her.
Don’t know a lot of the others…
Russel Brand = HOT!
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the girl in the red dress before stephanie Pratt is Lo not Lauren (she quit the hills).
Also Snooki = LOL so funny.
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Lo’s real name is Lauren too.
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Russell. Fucking. Brand.
That is all.
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