If you spend enough time online and watching TV, or browsing the magazine racks at your local supermarket, you might start to feel like something is very wrong with you. The obsession is on making fun of our flaws, male or female, young or old, and public humiliation rules the day. It is especially troublesome in the comments sections of popular websites where anonymous people can air their secret and true opinions about women and their weight.
Recently, a website posted candid photos of a famous actor’s wife. She had put on a few pounds in recent years so as not to match the usual stick figure prototype in Hollywood. The hundreds of comments aimed at her were so vicious you’d think she’d committed a high crime.
So it is with great relief and joy that Carson Kressley’s How to Look Good Naked has found its way to millions of beleaguered women who have spent their days dutifully following Oprah’s 24/7 self-improvement program to no avail. How to Look Good Naked is what every woman needs right now. It is the best thing to happen to us since the invention of the microwave.
How to Look Good Naked focuses on how to confront who you are and learn to love and accept who you are no matter what. The show, hosted by self-esteem booster Kressley, requires first that women strip down in front of the dreaded three-way mirror and talk about the things they hate.
They then must put themselves in a lineup with other women of similar shapes and sizes. Each and every time the women have proved they have a warped impression of how big they are. Each and every time they are pleasantly surprised. The next step is to see their bodies projected in front of God and everyone on the streets of America. Kressley then asks passersby what they think of the woman’s physique. Almost all of the comments are positive, naturally. They’re certainly not going to say anything negative that will make it on the air.
Somehow, though, even if the women know that folks are just being nice, there is something uplifting about the act of baring it all and then getting positive feedback. The women do change, little by little. Surprisingly, all it takes is a little TLC. It isn’t that much, is it, to teach women that they can love themselves, even if they aren’t perfect.
While it may sound too cornball to believe, the show is a breath of fresh air in these times of constant dieting and self-improvement regimens. It is nothing short of pure joy watching Kressley and his team of experts help the women puff themselves back up into fighting shape. To the show’s credit, they never stuff the women into body shapers; rather, they work with confidence as the main ingredient.
They build confidence first with a great bra, or “The Bra Whisperer” as Kressley calls her, and matching panties. Next, it’s the right clothes to shave off years and inches. Finally, hair and makeup complete the transformation. The women, who always look gorgeous by the end of it, then must partake in a mostly nude photo shoot.
It is a show you have to see to fully appreciate, even if you’d never find yourself within miles of the Lifetime network. As for Mr. Kressley, it turns out that he has more than a “queer eye.” His enthusiasm and compassion may help change the world, one sad sack at a time.
