views on Gok Wan?

[tvmum1976]

I know that many view him as some kind of 'saviour of modern womanhood'- personally I can't stand him or his shows and find them patronising and demeaning. I have written a blog post about it if anyone's interested (also talks about a couple of other programmes)

www.calmdowndear.wordpress.com

Would love to know if anyone agrees with me?

whoops - don't know how I managed to post that twice!

Yes, the UK Queer Eye was rubbish. It was the characters on it that made it. They were so bitchy but always witty. I remember one moment particularly fondly: 'It's the 70s, they want their look back.'

The show has been going for a while now and I presume that the women who take part want to be helped to "look good" in this particular way. We may think it is sad but this is how life is, you can see how the husbands and family of the women who are subjects are so very proud of them and generally think they look wonderful. For those of us who are interested in fashion it is so easy to get into a rut with what you wear and how you look - I'm not saying this is a good thing, but it is true.

I rather like Gok. He was once fat and (he says) ugly himself, so it is clear he has this as a mission rather than a desire to see people comply to some strange norm.

I wouldn't say no to a make over myself.

Here is the article about the naked beauty contest.

I like Gok Wan. He's had terrible problems with body-image, self-perception and low self-esteem so I think he is operating from a position of understanding. Focusing on clothing and make-up may be shallow but being able to look in the mirror and like what you see is something that a lot of people (men as well as women) genuinely struggle with. The naked part is obviously a gimmick but those that go from being too upset to use a communal changing room to feeling confident enough to do a photoshoot in the buff have obviously acheived something significant.

I fell on the 'quite like Gok' side of the divide - for his 'love yourself' message rather than the 'wear control pants' insistence - until I caught one episode of 'Miss Naked Beauty' in which plastic surgery was discussed.

One contestant stated that while the cosmetic surgery industry was vile, created problems were there were none, etc, and that treatments such as lipo and breast enlargements were terrible, she didn't see anything terribly wrong with surgery in certain, limited circumstances. I think the example she gave was someone whose confidence and self-worth was totally rock bottom - felt they couldn't succeed at work, in relationships, etc - because of a bump on their nose. Nothing could get them over this nose bump. In that case, said contestant, what is so terribly wrong with having the bump smoothed off? Sure, it would be much better for us all to love our nose bumps (and I speak as someone who has learned to love mine), but should someone who has tried - and failed - for forty years to love theirs be denied the chance to get rid of it?

Well, the poor contestant was flayed by the judges and booted from the competition. Seemed pretty bloody rich coming from someone who, as others on this thread have pointed out, crams women into uplifting bras and corsetry.