Don’t Lose Those Curves, Christina

Last night my girlfriend and I got into a rigorous discussion over this post, which basically reports that Christina Hendricks isn’t actually going on a diet. “So what?” Michelle, my girlfriend, asked. Her argument was that it was really news fluff. I disagreed.* I think it’s actually pretty important whether Christina Hendricks is going on a diet or not because Christina Hendricks is commonly referred to as the “voluptuous” or “curvy” bombshell of Hollywood and the TV scene. She’s gotten a lot of respect partially for her great acting as Joan Holloway/Harris in Mad Men and partially because she’s not anatomically built like Paris Hilton but is still considered incredibly beautiful and sensual. As a result, I think she plays a really important role in pop culture. As long as she keeps her body type the way it is (and lets be honest, fellows, does anybody object to that?) while sticking to the red carpet and E! news world, she’s vocally resisting the farce that to be Hollywood beautiful you have to weigh at most ninety pounds. That’s an incredibly valuable role to play (although from what I’ve read of Hendricks it’s not one she wants to take on). At this point, though, I think she’s doing more to improve cultural depictions of beauty by staying just the way she is.

–Daniel Strauss