Impossibly Beautiful

Below is a picture of Sarah Jessica Parker, a woman who is effervescent, smart, has had extraordinary professional success, and is legendarily stylish.


Parker arrives for the screening of Wu Xia in Cannes, May 14, 2011. [AP Photo]
Whether she is beautiful has always been a subject of much debate, because she does not conform perfectly to traditional definitions of beauty. It will not be debated in this space, because to debate it is to tacitly concede that there is some objective Beauty Standard, some platonic ideal of feminine beauty, and that conformity to that ideal is an issue of character.

What matters is not whether any of us find Sarah Jessica Parker beautiful; what matters is that, yet again, Marie Claire has found her to be not beautiful enough.

Just over a year ago, I wrote a piece about a Marie Claire cover featuring SJP in which her famously wrinkly hands were Photoshopped to look like babydoll hands stuck on the ends of the arms of a confident 45-year-old woman. Now she is on the cover of their September issue, and they've done the same damn thing to her again.


[Click to embiggen.]
Compare to the image at the top of this post, in which SJP's unretouched hand is visible as she blows a kiss to fans.

That Sarah Jessica Parker has a life rich with family and friends, and is a successful actress on stage and on screens small and large, a savvy businesswoman, and a well-respected arts advocate and philanthropist, isn't enough. She hasn't yet earned the right to be Who She Actually Is on the cover of Marie Claire, because Who She Actually Is isn't good enough if she's got WRINKLED HANDS at age 46.

I have wrinkled hands not terribly unlike SJP's. Marie Claire would evidently like me to be ashamed of them. Fuck that. I love my hands, and I love Sarah Jessica Parker's hands, too.

The real ones.

------------------------

By way of reminder: Comments that try to suss out what changes, exactly, were made, and even comments noting that, for example, the removal of laugh lines because they are ZOMG wrinkles actually robs a face of its character or humanity, are welcome. Discussions of how "she looks prettier/hotter/better in the candid picture" and associated commentary (which would certainly make me feel like shit if I were the person being discussed) are not. So please comment in keeping with the series' intent, implicit in which is the question: If no one can ever be beautiful enough, then to what end is the pursuit of an elusive perfection?

Recommended Reading

LADYBUSINESS!

Something that you should know about me is that I love Retta. She is very funny, and this is a good interview with her!

And here are DC Comics' Dan DiDio and Jim Lee promising "exciting news about new projects with women creators in the coming months" in response to the criticisms at ComicCon about their lack of female creators. It's always reassuring when it takes a huge blow-up to get two dudes to say they'll address a wild gender imbalance, and even then they insist on naming virtually all the female creators and characters they support, as some sort of evidence of diversity, despite the fact that THEY CAN NAME THEM ALL BECAUSE THEY CONSTITUTE SUCH A SMALL AND EXCEPTIONAL PIECE OF THEIR BUSINESS.

Meanwhile, over at Fox News, their resident anti-birth control "expert," Family PAC Federal Vice President Sandy Rios, wonders: "We're $14 trillion in debt and now we're going to cover birth control, breast pumps, counseling for abuse? Are we going to do pedicures and manicures as well?" Totes the same!

The War for Women

Some qualified good news...

Earlier this month, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, an independent advisory panel of health experts, recommended that all new health plans should offer to female policy-holders, sans deductibles or co-pays, coverage of prescription birth control, voluntary sterilization, breast-pump rentals, counseling for domestic violence, STD testing, and annual wellness exams.

At the time, the US Department of Health and Human Services promised to review the panel's recommendations and issue new guidelines shortly.

Today, they have announced those new guidelines, which indeed do require "health insurance plans beginning on or after August 1, 2012 to cover several women's preventive services."

According to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius the decision is a part of the Affordable Care Act's move to stop problems before they start. "These historic guidelines are based on science and existing literature and will help ensure women get the preventive health benefits they need," she said in a news release.

...Besides contraceptive use, the list includes free screenings for conditions such as gestational diabetes and the human papillomavirus (HPV), as well as breastfeeding support and counseling on sexually transmitted diseases. The full list is available on the Department of Health and Human Services website.

You can go here to see the new guidelines.

Naturally, the American Family Values Children Christian Liberty Freedom Patriot Association Foundation Organization is pitching a fit, but the Obama administration "released an amendment to the prevention regulation that allows religious institutions offering health insurance to their employees the choice of whether or not to cover contraception services." With which, frankly, I disagree, but it does render the AFVCCLFPAFO's whining even more ludicrous than usual.

Anyway. I noted this was qualified good news: Note that these new guidelines only benefit women who are already insured.

In fact, technically, it only benefits insured women with new plans starting in August of next year. Presumably, those of us with existing plans will still be charged per our existing agreements, and, if you've got coverage via an employer, you'll have to wait until your employer changes plans or the contract renews before you can benefit from the new guidelines.

And of course women who are uninsured do not benefit from them at all.

The War for Women

How about a little potential good news to start the day?

Virtually all health insurance plans could soon be required to offer female patients free coverage of prescription birth control, breast-pump rentals, counseling for domestic violence, and annual wellness exams and HIV tests as a result of recommendations released Tuesday by an independent advisory panel of health experts.

The health-care law adopted last year directed the Obama administration to draw up a list of preventive services for women that all new health plans must cover without deductibles or co-payments. While the guidelines suggested Tuesday by a committee of the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine are not binding, the panel conducted its year-long review at the request of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

In a statement, Sebelius praised the committee's work as "historic" and "based on science and existing literature."

"We are reviewing the report closely and will release the department's recommendations...very soon," she added.

There is no guarantee these recommendations will be adopted, and, naturally, the "pro-life" brigade is already throwing a shit-fit about the possibility because, despite whatever bullshit rationale they tack onto their protestations, they hate women having agency, choices, and autonomy. But, as Digby points out, this is a fight worth having, especially because "liberals will win it."

Think Progress has more.

Number of the Day

7,196: The number of tweets per second during yesterday's Women's World Cup match, Japan vs. US, setting a new record. Neat!

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