Monday, February 18, 2008

Reading and bidding

Thanks for the support from folks who understand or at least empathize with the winter blahs and other stresses.

In my reading travels I saw this article about a documentary entitled, "“Fifty Nude Women: A Musical Montage.” Margot Roth, the film's creator, made it in response to a male friend's confessed shock at seeing a date's breasts hang down once released from their push-up bra. Roth says she responded, “You just need to be barraged with, like, real boobs.”

She went on to recruit "real" women -- of all shapes, sizes and ages -- to appear nude on film.

My initial thought was positive. We all need to hold in our minds realistic images of unaltered (or naturally altered!) women's bodies. Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty attempts to combat the uniform thinness and bustiness of media models.

But then I got irritated. Get over it! I wanted to say to the guy. Are you really dating for a pair of good boobs? How refreshing to hear him say, "She seemed interesting, but then we got back to my place and some serious talking -- I mean, we were getting deep -- and then she shed her date persona and I was horrified to see how shallow she was. I mean, she had nothing to support her positions."

Should we really go out of our way to "educate" men about real women, when they really only want realLY HOT women'S BODIES? Bang, bang, bang goes my head against the desk.

In more positive news, I have been picking up some exciting knitting patterns. A clear downside (or upside, depending how much cash flow bothers you) of Ravelry is the way its "queue" feature facilitates stockpiling. I thought it would be enough to see a pattern I liked, pop it in my queue and hold it there until I felt like knitting it.

Nope! Instead I want to have the pattern in-hand NOW. Heaven forbid I decide I want to knit it and have to wait a week or two while I track it down. This means for some of the high-ranking queue patterns, I've been aquiring their sources. For knitty or IK patterns, I'm set. They're free or I get the magazine. But what about Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting? Out of print. Or Adrienne Vittadini's Fall 2003 pattern book. Good luck.

So I've turned to ebay for the first time. So far, the results are mixed. I got a Dale of Norway pattern book (#132) that has some patterns I really like. And I paid less for it than if I'd ordered it new. Likewise for Elsebeth Lavold's Book One (Viking Knits).

I also got a Noro Knits pattern book for less than retail. But it was the wrong book. I miswrote which one I wanted and now have a pattern book I'll never use. Looks like I'll be SELLING on ebay next!

I also used a gift certificate to pick up Jackets for Work and Play, a collection of patterns from Knitters.

So. Lots of new patterns, lots of startitis, lots of knitting commitments to wrap up before I start something new. I can't be the first knitter to put the cart before the horse.

Labels: ,

4 Comments:

Blogger gail said...

Yes, I have a problem with adding projects and yarn to my stash--and I haven't started my Ravelry account yet. I'm fearful of getting in too deep--as it is now I'm practically drowning in yarn and patterns the way it is. I'm actually beginning to agree with my husband that I need a year of knitting only from my stash!!

11:54 PM  
Blogger Shells said...

Even if you were to find Aran Knitting on ebay or somewhere, it would probably be around $200.00 That is one hot book! Check your local library, I know mine has more than one copy of it. And though it is tempting to "lose" the book when I borrow it, I know there are many other knitters out there benefiting from our library's possession of it. You may be able to find quite a few knitting books there, our group actually decides which ones to request that they buy, which helps us all out!

11:48 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi! I'm the filmmaker who made the Fifty Nude Women video. I'm glad the mention in The New Yorker is creating some dialogue. I just wanted to say that the abbreviated account of my friend getting repulsed by his date's sagging breasts leaves out some interesting details.

Although it appears this guy is very shallow and caddish, in reality he is quite sensitive, educated, and respectful of women. He was in fact horrified & embarrassed by his own reaction to the woman's breasts. He was just inexperienced in the relationship dept. & hadn't seen very many women's bodies, in person. And the women he had dated up to that point were small-breasted. So literally he had never seen a large breast up close, before.

The guy was truly mortified by his subconscious reaction. (And I was appalled & saddened at the notion that a potentially fulfilling relationship could be cut short because of an unfortunate, visceral reaction to a physical trait. But, alas, the exposure over a lifetime to those hyper-idealized images can really distort a person's perceived notion of what is appealing or even normal.)

Anyway, that was the impetus behind making the video--it's a resource that allows people to easily "check" their notion of what bodies truly look like.

I just wanted to defend my friend's honor a bit. That article made him appear like a real tool!

very best,
Margot Roth

p.s. He grew to love that woman's breasts, as usually happens after people develop a positive connection with a partner... they "rewire" their feelings/reactions about superficial traits.

6:22 PM  
Blogger doulicia said...

Ms. Roth! Thank you for taking the time to comment here and give "the rest of the story." I am heartened to hear your friend is more of a circumspect guy than he came off as in print.

And lest I seemed too crusty, don't doubt that I'll be seeking out "Fifty Nude Women."

7:44 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home