Hot, but Not Hot Enough
By FrancescaVia Manolo’s Ayyyy blog, we learn that this is a photo of America Ferrera as she actually is, with her super smile, beautiful skin, curvalicious bod, and aura of sweetness and confidence.
According to the cover of this month’s issue of Glamour, “Ugly Betty is HOT!” Francesca is not so sure about Ugly Betty, but America Ferrera is . . . well, if Francesca were male or homosexual, she would be having many a fantasy about slowly stripping that gray pinstriped dress off of Ferrera’s highly womanly body. Heck, perhaps Francesca will fantasize about it anyway. We’re open-minded here.
Now. Having told us that Ugly Betty is HOT!, the powers that be at Glamour decided that Ferrera was not hot enough to put on the cover without making some, ah, changes. And this was the result:
Francesca will not go into the horrible quality of the photoshopping. Please go to Ayyyy and read the comments in which Manolo’s noble readers wonder aloud just how freakish are those arms, or whether it is physically possible for a woman to make her neck bend like that.
No, no, Francesca simply wants to know from the editors at Glamour: Is Ugly Betty only HOT! if she gets rid of all the fat from her arms, every bit, and reduces from a C cup to an A? Is it not possible that Ugly Betty, or at least the actress who plays her, is HOT! exactly the way she is?
Because, you know, America Ferrera as she actually is looks a lot like most of your readers. Your prettiest readers. But apparently she is not pretty enough. So what, exactly, are you trying to say, Glamour?
Don’t answer. We already know.
Dear readers! Does this make you ooze with righteous indignation? There are two things Francesca recommends you do.
One is to go here and write a letter to the editor of Glamour expressing your dismay that not even America Ferrera can meet Glamour’s standards.
And if you are truly pissed off, write to the companies which have advertised in the magazine and tell them they have made a mistake.
You no like-a a C-cup? We will hit you in the pocketbook! Big Girls are beautiful!
September 6th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
How sick. She doesn’t even look well photoshopped. Remember that whole thing with Faith Hill being photoshopped? Even skinny FH can’t make it on the cover of a magazine, so we shouda known AF wouldn’t stand a chance.
September 6th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Letter sent. Grrrrrr.
September 6th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
I sent an e-mail, too. The destruction of her fantastic curves on that cover offends my sense of aesthetics. Her beauty shines through even that terrible digital hack job on the cover of Glamour, but it pales in comparison to the real thing. Thanks for posting a picture of the real America Ferrera!
September 6th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Hi! Thank you so much for posting the link to the comments section. Two things that maybe you should mention in your blog:
1. On the cover, under “Ugly Betty is HOT” is a headline on how to lose weight. While it may be completely unrelated, weight loss articles in beauty magazines kind of make me sad.
2. Maybe address the issue that only women of color can be rubenesque on magazine covers? With the exception of Beth Ditto, I cannot name any other white woman who is big and on a mainstream (or any?) publication, whereas Jennifer Hudson advertises a fragrance and is on covers, and maybe Fantasia from American Idol. I know the purpose of your blog isn’t very political, but I just wanted to bring up my own observations.
Also, isn’t it ironic that the 2nd episode in Season 1 of “Ugly Betty” centered around her encouraging a star to forgo the Photoshop in a shoot and now here she is on a magazine cover with her body shrunk?
But seriously, thank you so much for writing a positive, tasteful and very absorbing blog.
September 6th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Hey, Glamour – this is a big “Don’t”.
September 6th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
I really cant even conceive how the Glamouristas think the PS’d version is remotely an improvement. That woman is just delicious as she is. (And Francesca, I am with you on the, ahem, fantasy thing there.) The skewed perspective is just strange, ridiculous and plainly dull. Who *are* these people who do this?!
Next stop, an email to Glamour…but not before I take a moment to pine, whine and whimper how much I want that grey pinstriped dress! Sigh…
September 6th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
When your arms from shoulders to fingertips look like plastic Barbie’s, you know you’ve been photoshopped WAY too much! Wait — that could be what they did! Molded a Barbie’s right hand into a fist so it looks like she’s holding her dress, took a wonderful digital picture, then cropped the fantastic America Ferrera’s beautiful face and hair onto it! The bodice of the dress looks like pixels gone wrong as well…so it MUST be photoshopped! he he he…
September 6th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
America Ferrera is beautiful the way she is. The cover is not. We’re not all Skeletors or size twos, you know (or maybe you don’t), and sometimes, those of us whom are more curvy than others would like to see “gals like us.” Touching up pictures for a blemish or a shadow is normal and good. Making naturally beautiful people look like Barbie dolls is not.
September 6th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
I hate Glamor magazine – it’s so trashy and every issue is the same, right down to the horrible photoshop.
I love me some Ugly Betty but I think America Ferrara is catering to the Hollywood crowd. She has dropped a lot of weight since the pilot and I don’t think we will have to wait long for her to become a bobble head. This is especially apparent if you compare what she looks like now vs. her old movies.
P.S. Willa – I know it is not your intention to offend but I really dislike Beth Ditto. There is something inherently disturbing about a woman [that is not a stripper], fat or thin, that cannot keep her clothes on while performing. I think she is adorable when she has clothes on but her onstage antics do nothing to help big girls everywhere rise above stereotypes. She uses her proportions to define her more than she uses her music and I think that sort of practise undermines artistic credibility, no matter how talented the artist is. So whereas women of colour like America Ferrara, Fantasia Barrino, Jennifer Hudson, and Queen Latifah are known mainly b/c of their work, Beth Ditto [and for comparison's sake, Christina Aguilera in her *dirrty* phase and Ditto's body opposite, Amy Wino] are known more for how shocking they appear to the eye and outrageous things they say, rather than their work as actual artists.
I think this is changing b/c of newcomer NIKKI BLONSKY! I don’t think I’ve seen her on any cover of any magazine but I think it’s a good thing that she is known for her singing, rather than any sort of crotch bearing antics. I hope she gets more roles that doesn’t require some sort of justification as to why she is overweight since she is rather talented.
September 7th, 2007 at 9:57 am
I wrote a letter to Glamour last night,and this is the reply I received:
Dear Maura,
Thanks so much for your letter about our October cover photo of America
Ferrera. Let me assure you, we did not digitally slim her; as she mentions
in the interview, she wears a size 6/8 on the bottom, ten on the top. You
are seeing her as she actually appears. That said, we deeply value your
feedback. Be sure to take a look inside at the photos of America and let us
know what you think.
Sincerely,
Lynda Laux-Bachand
Reader Services Editor
!!!!!!!!!!!!! They claim not to have digitally slimmed her? Right, and Barbie Arms are natural!
September 7th, 2007 at 10:19 am
I just emailed Glamour about the cover, and got this response:
“Dear Amy,
Thanks so much for your letter about our October cover photo of America
Ferrera. Let me assure you, we did not digitally slim her; as she mentions
in the interview, she wears a size 6/8 on the bottom, ten on the top. You
are seeing her as she actually appears. That said, we deeply value your
feedback.
Sincerely,
Lynda Laux-Bachand
Reader Services Editor”
September 7th, 2007 at 11:17 am
I have feedback for that form letter. Glamour, you are full of it.
September 7th, 2007 at 11:42 am
I got the same reply as Maura and Amy.
Clearly Glamour takes the Little Engine That Could approach to denial. They believe that if they say it often enough and with enough conviction, we will swallow the fetid lump of lies they’re trying to feed us.
I’m terminally clueless about Photoshopping, and yet my first thought when I saw the Glamour cover – even before I knew who it was of or what she looked like in reality – was ‘what a crappy Photoshop job; my cat could have done it more convincingly.’
Now that I know what America Ferrera looks like, it’s even more obscene. She’s a beautiful lady, and deserves to be seen in her natural state.
September 7th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Dear Glamour:
I cannot believe that you actually altered America Ferrara on the cover of Glamour Magazine. I’m not a big fan of your magazine anyway, just because I don’t see much difference between most magazines geared women.
It’s appalling when I see a beautiful, healthy, vivacious woman turned into a robot. Anyone can see that her body has been altered.
Now, when I think of Glamour, I think of this:http://youtube.com/watch?v=zl6hNj1uOkY
September 7th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Glamour’s form letter response might be more convincing if there weren’t pictures of her IN THE MAGAZINE that clearly weren’t photoshoped and are clearly HER AS SHE ACTUALLY APPEARS. Glad I didn’t renew my subscription.
September 7th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Nikki Blonsky is on the September cover of Figure Magazine.
September 7th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
I think it’s far more insulting that they think we’re going to fall for “oh, no, she’s not photoshopped”. It’s like they think her body’s not good enough for their magazine, but our minds are not good enough to perform basic visual comparison. Uh, no. It’s the ridiculous default response that pushed me over the edge into writing them.
September 7th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
I got the same insane form response. My guess? They “airbrushed” the picture and have decided that’s not the same thing as “digitally slimming” her. Hair split, crisis averted! (Not.)
But whatever you call what they did to the photo, there is no way the body on the cover wears a size 10 on the top. I wear a size 4 on top and that cover photo makes me look well-endowed by comparison. They made her chest completely flat! Good grief, when did having breasts become unsexy?
Side note: Francesca and Plumcake, I love this blog!! Although I don’t fit into the traditional “big girl” size range, I have struggled with some body acceptance issues and I find what you write empowering for all women.
September 7th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
So whereas women of colour like America Ferrara
I have used to be blonde but is now just mousy hair and blue eyes. My heritage is northern European and Slovak.
My skin is the same color as America’s is.
Does that mean that I am now a “woman of color?”
September 7th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
[...] P.S. There is also the very spirited discussion of this topic taking place at Manolo for the Big Girl. [...]
September 7th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
class factotum, I hope you are being coy but just in case:
http://bartelby.org/64/C006/056.html
http://racerelations.about.com/od/recognizingmicroinequities/a/weightofcolor_2.htm
September 7th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Ninjarina,
America and I have the same skin color. She was born in Los Angeles (so might speak English without an accent) and is attending USC. I am not seeing the potential racism here based on her skin tone, looks or speech, none of which immediately label her as “of color.”
Respectfully,
CF
September 7th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
I got the same response when I went off on them. What a ridiculous, generic, absolutely useless response.
I hope this gets blown out of the water just like that Faith Hill magazine cover. What liars. They’ve lost a reader for life.
September 8th, 2007 at 12:56 am
I would venture to guarantee that all comments made to Glamour regarding America Ferrera’s cover were the exact same form letter. Come on — even the company that I work for changes it up a bit when giving a lame excuse for when one customer complains to the next. What we got was a steaming load of bullcrap. Glamour — never again.
September 8th, 2007 at 9:42 am
Hello All,
Well I decided to Glamour and voice my concern over their reducing America Ferrera to a boblehead doll and this was the response I received:
“Dear Dawn,
Thanks so much for your letter about our October cover photo of America
Ferrera. Let me assure you, we did not digitally slim her; as she
mentions in the interview, she wears a size 6/8 on the bottom, ten on the top.
You are seeing her as she actually appears. That said, we deeply value your
feedback. Be sure to take a look inside at the photos of America and
let us know what you think.
Sincerely,
Emilia Benton
Reader Services Intern”
I think the “powers that be” at Glamour believe me to be an idiot!
September 8th, 2007 at 11:30 am
There is a reason I stopped buying Glamour…
September 8th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
I, also, emailed Glamour and then I came and read the comments. I was glad to see I wasn’t the only one who was reminded of Barbie! Will not buy this magazine EVER.
September 9th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Can someone please post the email address for Glamour? I tried to submit a comment via that form, but the drop-down link to add your state is broken and your comment cannot be submitted without it. I tried it in both FireFox and Safari and it’s broken on both. Thanks!
September 10th, 2007 at 8:57 am
And the really sad thing is that Glamour used to be a really good magazine, with at least some relevant articles about issues that are/were truly important to women. Then Bonnie Fuller came along and turned it into just another trashy rag to teach you how to please men in bed, what makeup to buy and how to drop 10 pounds in 10 days.
September 10th, 2007 at 11:30 am
class-factotum, the phrase “woman of color” is American shorthand for “not of European descent.” We use it because she is Latina, and here it is considered a polite term to use.
September 10th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Ella – you have to select a country before you can pick a state. That threw me, too.
September 10th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
I looked at the cover up close at a newsstand over the weekend, and I honestly don’t think Ferrara’s been photoshopped. She’s a big girl who’s been stuffed into a dress with an extremely stiff, corsetlike bodice that flattens her chest; below the waist she bulges out. Her elbows are bent, and the resultant foreshortening of her arms in the photo gives them that sticklike appearance.
That said, the dress is ugly and unflattering (they were obviously trying to make her look skinny by flattening her out, and it doesn’t work–besides, the color’s awful for her), and so is the photo.
I hate the new Glamour. Aren’t young women sick of Cosmo-clone “50 Ways to Make Your Man Scream With Pleasure–and Then Ask for More”? I sure am.
September 10th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Sadly, I just renewed my subscription to Glamour (why? I’m not entirely sure…). Had I seen this about two weeks ago, there is absolutely no question I’d have chosen to NOT renew.
How sad, on so many levels, the direction Glamour seems to be taking.
September 11th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Also emailed Glamour, asking them if they think their readers are stupid. How insulting. For a magazine that claims to be espousing feminism and self-acceptance, they really are big hypocrites.
September 11th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
[...] Jessica wanted to make sure we were all aware of this post from Manolo for the Big Girl. (Since I’ve been off getting married and stuff, and I just got [...]
September 12th, 2007 at 12:26 am
I wrote to “Glamour” and this is how they responded:
“Thanks so much for your letter about our October cover
photo of America
Ferrera. Let me assure you, we did not digitally slim
her; as she mentions
in the interview, she wears a size 6/8 on the bottom,
ten on the top. You
are seeing her as she actually appears. That said, we
deeply value your
feedback. Be sure to take a look inside at the photos
of America and let us
know what you think.
Sincerely,
Margie Guerra
Reader Services”
Do they think we are stupid?
September 12th, 2007 at 11:09 am
[...] in popular women’s magazines, particularly America Ferrara. Writer Francesca for the blog Manolo for the Big Girl, comments: No, no, Francesca simply wants to know from the editors at Glamour: Is Ugly Betty only [...]
September 12th, 2007 at 11:11 am
[...] in popular women’s magazines, particularly America Ferrara. Writer Francesca for the blog Manolo for the Big Girl, comments: No, no, Francesca simply wants to know from the editors at Glamour: Is Ugly Betty only [...]
September 12th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
“Do they think we are stupid?”
To be blunt, yes, they do. They send out form letters because the elites in NYC don’t give a damn what the rest of us think. Not one red hot damn.
Vote with your wallet–cancel your subscription and don’t buy on the newsstands/grocery store. The only language of protest the mainstream media will listen to is the sound of $$$.
September 15th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
[...] This… September 15th, 2007 — WSG pisses me OFF. [...]
October 24th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
“Ugly” Betty is actually the most physically beautiful one on the show! I hate white American beauty standards-where an old fart like Judith Light is held on a pedestal as beautiful and America Ferrera who really is beautiful and would get ANY brother in Philly long before any of the others on the show is called fat. Is a size 6 or 8 at 5′5″ FAT? Then this country is in serious trouble if we believe that. SHe isn’t fat nor ugly, the show and our society are just blatantly racist. I love you, Miss Ferrera…and you are far from ugly or fat!
October 26th, 2007 at 11:54 am
[...] Via Manolo Big [...]
November 10th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
I agree with you entirely.
I just wanted to point out that they seem to have done something to her face as well. She doesn’t look like herself anymore, but like that anonymous mask that’s supposed to represent female beauty, or simply put, she looks like any model, with no personality whatsoever. That hurts me as well.
November 12th, 2007 at 4:13 am
[...] images of beauty I’m bombarded with every day. In a world where Glamour sees fit to photoshop America Ferrara down to a size-nothing (and has the nerve to run the headline “1st Annual Figure Flattery [...]
November 12th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
I’m amazed that no one here has pointed out she seems to have been dramatically lightened as well. America Ferrerra, in her natural state, is a total fox. Why they needed to make her white is beyond me.
November 13th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
[...] couple of months ago, we discussed the hack job which Glamour’s cover designers had done on the beautiful figure of America [...]
November 15th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
You cannot stop the photoshop. They photoshop Catherine Zeta-Jones. They photoshop KIERA KNIGHTLEY. They photoshop babies, to “whiten their eyes.”
All you can do is teach your kids not to believe everything they see.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Yea, you are right. Sounds familiar to me, because I also used to think like that.
March 25th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I think you all are blowing this way out of proportion. Ugly America is UGLY. I can’t stand to look at her. She is fat. Also, she is late scrubbing my potty.
Sorry, but she looks like any typical maid.
BTW, before you call me a racist–I have beautiful–yes–BEAUTIFUL–CAUCASIAN/ASIAN children.
Beauty is not related to race, but it is related to bone structure and body build.
And for Sasha–Judith Light doesn’t need to attract brothers–as brothers don’t define beauty in this country–thank God Almighty.
BTW, brothers can be of any race–
March 25th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Also, all of you–size 0 and size 2 haters:
I am 5′6″. I weigh 105 lbs. I have two children and NO stretchmarks. You can’t even tell I have had children. I have excellent bone structure in both my face and hands.
My point:
I am tired of reading about how all skinny people are ugly or photoshopped.
No:
Some of us are just blessed.
And if you think I am rude to plus-sized people:
My grandmother was the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known–and she was plus-sized. She taught me how to care for my body and for my profile.
Class is beyond weight–
My grandmother was plus-sized but she had excellent bone structure in her face and her body was nicely proportioned.
America is not nicely proportioned, and her face is very common.
March 25th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
“Class is beyond weight–”
Class is not posting mean things about people you don’t know under an anonymous name.
I’m glad you’re thin and your grandmother was pretty. I’m happy for you that you have beautiful children. “Ugly” is a classless word.
March 25th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
yeah, i’m not sure i can take seriously the opinion of anybody who doesn’t think it’s racist to compare a hispanic woman to a maid.
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:51 am
[...] in popular women’s magazines, particularly America Ferrara. Writer Francesca for the blog Manolo for the Big Girl, comments: No, no, Francesca simply wants to know from the editors at Glamour: Is Ugly Betty only [...]
April 6th, 2009 at 2:01 am
I keep listening to the news speak about getting free online grant applications so I have been looking around for the best site to get one.
April 6th, 2009 at 10:02 am
I keep listening to the news speak about getting free online grant applications so I have been looking around for the best site to get one.:)
October 13th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
I know her!
October 13th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I know her!