Latest news with #90sCulture
Telegraph
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
It's no longer the 90s, but Pamela Anderson still makes women feel inadequate
Pamela Anderson has reinvented herself as a 'rebel' against the rules of conventional beauty. Which is great; I genuinely applaud it. Even if it does require a bit of cognitive reorganisation. Back in the 1990s, none of us would have pegged Pamela Anderson to become feminism's last redoubt. She was one of the women who made other women feel bad about themselves. Not deliberately, I'm sure; just by comparison. She looked like a game of Heads, Bodies and Legs, played entirely by the male libido: plump lips, tousled blonde hair, long brown legs, and breasts so round and tempting they looked like iced buns peeping over the top of her famous red swimsuit. Hers were the first 'fake boobs' I had ever seen, and they made me feel – on top of the usual demoralised awe that comes from gazing upon an impossible ideal – a frisson of dread. If even this woman was considered, or considered herself, imperfect enough to require surgery, what hope for the rest of us? The vapid, girl-power version of feminism that took hold in the 1990s (the decade of Baywatch, lads' mags and the supermodel) rejected the idea that there was anything weak or unsisterly about modifying your body in order to meet a tyrannical standard of beauty. Your body, your choice: ergo, anything you chose to do to yourself must be empowering. But what about everyone else? No woman is an island. We all compare ourselves to others, and adjust our self-image accordingly. It's a bit like when you're in a sauna, naked, and then one person comes in wearing a bikini: suddenly everyone else feels hideously exposed. The same is true of people who – whether naturally, or via considerable money, effort and pain – achieve great physical beauty. They raise the bar for everyone else. The result is a constantly escalating cycle of improvement works, turbo-charged in recent years by social media. The more women chase it, the narrower the beauty ideal becomes. The algorithmic symmetry of an AI deepfake is the new perfection. One cosmetic surgery website lays out the maths: 'The distance from the top of the nose to the centre of the lips should be around 1.618 times the distance from the centre of the lips to the chin'; 'the length of an ear should be comparable to the length of the nose'; and 'the model ratio of volume in the lips is 1:1.6 (the lower lip having slightly more volume than the upper lip)'. No wonder we have reached a point where, according to the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, young women are meeting untrained practitioners in public toilets to get cheap Botox, fat jabs and even butt lifts. Failing that, they hide behind smartphone filters. These smooth away all their flaws/idiosyncracies, allowing them to present to the world the melancholy sight of the person they wish they were. And now here comes Pammy, mourning the effects of this conformity. 'With AI technology and filters, people are becoming kind of boring-looking,' she told Harpers Bazaar. At 57, she has taken to walking the red carpet without any make-up on, in order to 'challenge beauty norms. I've always been a rebel.' The trouble is, she looks incredible: cheekbones like scythes, lightly freckled skin, jewels glittering in her Mia Farrow-style fringed bob. Is this what us fifty-somethings must now aspire to? It's a challenge alright: just not the one Anderson thinks she's making.
ABC News
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Ione Skye on surrendering her past and forgiving herself
Gen X It girl, Ione Skye was named for the Scottish island where she was conceived, before her enigmatic folk singer father, Donovan abandoned the family before she was born. A string of stepfathers couldn't remedy her fundamental abandonment and Ione grew up surrounded by creative types who flowed freely through her mother's house in Los Angeles. Following her beloved older brother into the world of acting and modelling, Ione had an early start in Hollywood and it led her to a full, messy life in which she starred alongside the likes of River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves and John Cusack. When she was only a teenager, she began a relationship with Anthony Keidis, the lead singer of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, who was addicted to heroin. This dysfunctional relationship led to Ione's marriage to the first great love of her life, Adam Horovitz of The Beastie Boys, and a period of time she describes as her 90s daydream. This happy period devolved as Ione joyfully and remorsefully explored her bisexuality and the infidelity eventually ended the marriage. Today Ione is happily married to Australian musician, Ben Lee and has two daughters. Further information Say Everything is published by HarperCollins. Find out more about Ione Skye and Ben Lee's creative project, Weirder Together, online. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
What's Something From The '90s You're Convinced No One Else Remembers?
The '90s still hold a strong cultural relevance in 2025. While a lot of life in that decade was captured in movies and TV shows, there are plenty of little things that have been lost to time. For example, the board game Electronic Dream Phone, where you pretended to talk to boys on the phone. Or the Flowbee home haircutting system that attached to your vacuum cleaner. Or Gatorade gum! So, what's something from the '90s you're convinced that only you remember? Or something from the '90s that Gen Z wouldn't understand? Share your thoughts in the comments, and they may be featured in an upcoming BuzzFeed Community post! Also in Community: Eat Foods From Across Asia And I'll Guess Your Hair Color Also in Community: If You Can Name These 15 Recurring Disney Channel Characters, You're Officially Getting Old Also in Community: Enjoy A Buffet And We'll Guess Your Favorite Music Genre
