Bodies

Women, as portrayed in the media, come in very few shapes and sizes.

The first is the catwalk model. "Heroin Chic" is a term you hear a lot of in this area, women are as thin as humanly possible and eating disorders are generally encouraged.
The second is the "Page 3" model... all that matters here is the size of the chest.
The third is in video games, which portray women of shapes that simply do not exist in nature, with strangely extended torsos and overly accentuated curves that look like no woman in the world. This is not an oversight of the designer; this is intentional. Technology has allowed for the accurate representation of males but apparently not females.

There is only one industry that features women in all possible shapes and sizes, and provides a more accurate view of what the female body looks like. That is the world of amateur porn. The market that has, in recent years, almost put the professional porn industry out of business as the market is slowly swamped with more and more home-made videos of couples boning each other.

But this is the worry for me. The overly sexualised and "idealised" view of women as portrayed in the media fulfills a very small group of shapes that women can have. Porn features them all.

Why, when we attempt to sexualise women for the market that is safe for viewing on your TV or console at home, do we censor more than just the nudity?
Why do we censor the women themselves, leaving only people who fit into the accepted norm?
Why does porn have to represent the widest range of possible female shapes in the televised market?


I guess what I'm trying to ask is...

When did the most accurate portrayal of women's bodies in the media go underground?