Barbie doll fashion show

Jamie Lee Curtis: No Barbie doll

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In August 2002 actress Jamie Lee Curtis did a photo shoot for the magazine More that resulted in Ms. Magazine naming her one of their Women of the Year for 2002.

The first half of the shoot, it took hours to primp her for perfection. The outfit and the lighting had to be just right and whatever imperfections the camera showed, the magazine airbrushed out. After the shoot was over, Curtis decided to strip down to her skivvies and wash off the makeup for some real footage.

More's cover read "Think I'm Perfect? Check Me Out. Jamie Lee Curtis Takes Off Her Clothes." More magazine ran the two pictures. The first picture showed 43-year-old Curtis looking right in line with current beauty standards, with the help of proper lighting and some airbrushing. Next to it, was Curtis in her underwear with not-so-tight thighs and a not-sotight stomach. The photo caused a stir in Hollywood, and media outlets like Dateline were calling her brave.

Curtis' actions showed she was okay with her flaws.

It only takes one to three minutes of flipping through a fashion magazine to make women feel inferior, according to a study done by Laura Mintz, associate professor of education and counseling psychology at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Many outside the feminist world might laugh at this discovery and say people know those images are not real. But if that is true, why do eating disorders affect five to ten million girls and more women get plastic surgery each year? According to the American Society of Plastic Surgery, over 13 million people, of which 87 percent were women, had some sort of appearance-enhancing procedure in 2001.

While Curtis is okay with her flaws now, she previously felt captive to society's demand for perfection, using Botox, liposuction and plastic surgery. In her interview on NBC's Dateline, she explained that the pokes and snips did not help her feel any better about herself.

If plastic surgery doesn't make huge stars such as Jamie Lee Curtis, who are known for their ideal body type, happy, then why are the numbers of women getting plastic surgery increasing every year? From 1992 to 2001, the number of people receiving liposuction increased 313 percent.

Curtis is at an age when women often start to feel they need plastic surgery. The American Society of Plastic Surgery reports that 43 percent of procedures are performed on people between the ages of 35 and 50. The mainstream media says old is bad. As a result, people don't allow their bodies to age.

Curtis' new children's book, "I'm Gonna Like Me: Letting Off a Little Self-esteem," tells kids the only way to acheive good self-esteem is through "hard work, long experience, service to others, and selfunderstanding," she told Dateline. You cannot buy self-esteem or have it created medically.

Just goes to show if Jamie Lee Curtis, who faces the spotlight day in and day out, can be happy with her older, more mature body, we can, too. More women in the entertainment industry need to get real and let it all hang out before we are no longer a society of flesh and blood, but a country of plastic Barbie Dolls.