Hollywood actress Garcelle Beauvais in Playboy magazine

Garcelle Beauvais is known by many fans for her role as Fancy on The Jamie Foxx Show and a popular role on NYPD Blue. She has also appeared in many films including the Wild Wild West, starring Will Smith. It seems that she has recently added "Playmate" to her resume. The beautiful and talented actress "bared all for Playboy" according to Nudography. She posed in the August 2007 issue of Playboy magazine. If you are just getting this news and interested in the feature, it is not too late to pick up a copy of the magazine. It is only about one month behind.

Posing for Playboy magazine is not something that many fans would expect Garcelle Beauvais to do. In the end, it is her perogative. What concerns me is why she chose to post at this time. The actress is currently pregnant with twins that are due this fall. Nudography quoted Garcelle Beauvais as telling In Touch Weekly Magazine that it was the perfect time to do Playboy. She has concerns about what she will look like after her children are born. This is a major issue that has been an ongoing concern among everyday women who may not have children and mothers alike.

While movie and TV fans may see some female celebrities gain weight during and after pregnancy, many of them lose those pounds. Catherine Zeta Jones, Madonna, Jada Pinkett-Smith and even Garcelle Beauvais have lost weight after pregnancy. Garcelle Beauvais is 40 and still looks great, even after having a son from her previous marriage. Victoria Beckham is not an actress, but is a great example of how celebrities remain attractive to the masses (especially the opposite sex) after having multiple children. These actresses continue to look great, no matter how many kids they have.

Despite this usual trend among celebrity mothers, Garcelle Beauvais is concerned about her outer appearance due to the changes that pregnancy (and possibly aging) brings. This reminds me of the thousands of "regular" women in our society who are worried about their looks. It also brings up some interesting questions about women and physical appearance. How does pregnancy or aging make it a "perfect" time to pose nude for Playboy magazine? Also, why must women do something drastic to remind them of when they used to look good? The sad thing is, posing for a men's magazine makes women feel good about themselves because they have it in their head that "I still have it!" and others will be attracted to them.

This is really sad. There is so much talk in our world about pro-life and how pregnancy is a beautiful experience and lost of other crap that makes women believe that this whole ordeal is natural and will be welcomed by all. However, once women give birth or gain weight or age, there is a shift in what people consider "attractive". Here is something to keep in mind. The human body changes. Men never have these problems. Women are always the ones trying to get more attention and feel attractive. Our society has made it so that older women who may not have perky breasts or are not a size 0 or may have small physical flaws are made to feel inferiror and less of a "good catch".

If our shallow society will allow this to go on, why aren't we putting men on a scale and making them lose weight, develop more muscles and six packs? Actresses like Garcelle Beauvais and women in general do not need a spread in Playboy Magazine to validate their level of beauty. A naked Garcelle Beauvais is seen by many people as "hot" and "sexy" while a slightly older Garcelle Beauvais who may develop stretch marks, sagging, weight gain or other physical changes will not get the same positive reactions from fans. This is completely imbalanced.

What is your position on this subject ?Leave your comments below.

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Comments

[Jenn]

Oh, where to even begin? Well, I think it would take a considerable amount of time and discussion to truly engage in a conversation about the subject of female self-image. There simply is no clear cut answer as to why we seem to all feel this incessant need to be beautiful in the eyes of everyone. But as to your questions:

How does pregnancy or aging make it a "perfect" time to pose nude for Playboy magazine? >> Any time the confidence is right is the perfect time to pose for Playboy. Lets face it, if Garcelle truly has issues with her body, she wouldn't have posed nude. No one in their right mind who is seriously struggling with low self-esteem would expose themselves so publicly and subject themselves to ridicule. Part of her reasonings could stem from the mentality that pregnancy is beautiful, which it is, in theory. My pregnancy, however, was not "beautiful". I got fat, stretch marks galore, broke out and lost my hair. Suffice to say, I was not submitting applications to Playboy. (lol) The idea of pregnancy is beautiful and obviously the physical components of growing a child is beautiful, but not every woman exudes that glow of radiance that's for sure. Demi Moore set a precedence when she posed nude and pregnant back in the early '90's. Ever since then I think many Hollywood women have tried to emulate that in hopes of proving that they've still got it, too. Just as she did and continues to.
The thing about these Hollywood women who bounce back after popping out babies, though, is that they can pay to have chef cook the right meals. They can pay to have a personal trainer wake them and work them to the bone to lose weight. They can pay for a little nip or tuck here and there. The average woman does not have that financial luxury and we often forget about that when we're ogling over these celebs who look fantastic 6 weeks post-partum. Unless you're genetically blessed (or a robot) that simply isn't a reality for most women. In the moment of self-doubt, we forget about that. I certainly have. We become obsessed with an image which is a flagrant distortion.

Aging women can be beautiful, definitely and for those who choose to pose nude I'm sure there is a lot of that "Look at me! I'm still smokin'." Perhaps behind the scenes they are trying to thwart any myths about aging not being graceful or beautiful. And I agree to that, certainly. But by posing nude, I think it taps more into the vanity side of things rather than simply stating, "Look world, you can still be sexy at 40 or 50".

Why must women do something drastic to remind them of when they used to look good? >>I don't think drastic steps are taken as a reminder that we used to look good, but rather, that we still look good. And that's all about reassurance, plain and simple. Our own interpretations of what qualifies as beautiful -and how we might fit into that- doesn't always do the self good, so we seek it out in those around us. We crave that validation because we fail to give it to ourselves.

On a personal note, I continue to struggle with this. People tell me I'm cute and/or pretty and for the life of me, I can't see it. I see the breakouts, the split ends, the pooch belly, the stretchmarks, the cellulite, the sagging tits. As I age I see the wrinkles. I see all the things that I cannot change about myself, things that I don't find attractive. If I don't find parts of myself attractive, how in the world could I possibly believe others? So I self-sabotage myself regularly. I want people to think I'm cute and I want those compliments, but at the same time I can hardly ever accept them. I have better days, of course, when I feel cute or attractive, but it is a daily struggle. I don't try to fit some society image of what beauty is. I don't buy in to that, and I couldn't even if I did. It's not about my weight or the length of my hair. I simply want to feel beautiful to me, first and foremost because once you own that, you've won the battle.

[Ms. Nicole]

Thanks for the comment Jenn, you have made very good points. Older women can definitely be beautiful. It is just such a shame that many men do not see it that way, therefore it can be very difficult for lots of women to find a good mate. Men who want that perfect outward appearance tend to go for that or worse, leave when things change.

Still, I guess women can still find good men even when they are older and have children. After you mentioned Demi Moore, she is a good example of that, and she even has a younger guy....you go girl!

[Jenn]

I actually think men are for more forgiving than women. Women, I really believe, are the reason we're so insecure. Yes, men have their fantasies and we have Playboy and the porn industry to thank for that, but if you ask most men, they will agree that they prefer a natural, shapely woman. At least that's been my consensus over the years in discussions on this matter with friends and family.

Men are easy. Give them a sweet face and boobies and they could care less about much else. Be good to them and they'll adore you.

Women, on the other hand, well, we're vile, manipulative, jealous creatures. We yearn for attention and we tend to want to be the one that all the guys want. With that, comes the jealousy. We don't want another woman being the top dog, so to say. Part of it is animalistic in nature, but the majority is just us feeding off one another. We're the ones who put each other down most often. We're the ones envious of each other. We're the ones sizing ourselves up against every other woman. We're the ones being overly critical of each other and ourselves. The media has played a monumental role in feeding the female self image, but men, I think are far less guilty in that manner.

No doubt, there are pigs out there, but by and large, it's the women who hurt each other the most.

[Ms. Nicole]

You make an interesting point there, Jenn. While I have not thought about that aspect of the issue that contributes to the insecurities that many women have, some ladies are manipulative and just plain cruel. It is a shame that women have to be that way toward each other. It would be much better for women to try to build each other up rather than putting each other down. You have made a really good point.

[Paid Opps]

Great article! You are totally right about pregnancy. To tell you the truth, I HATE BEING PREGNANT! I had two children in two years and being pregnant made me feel terribly insecure. I blame it on the media as well. There's so much pressure for us everyday women to go from our size 13's to our size 7's a month after giving birth, and it's damn near impossible.

i felt so fat and ugly after having my first son that I was intentionally missing meals and living off of slim fast for months. I made myself very sick doing so, but like you said, we can't afford personal cooks or all the special "diet food" that celebs get. And it's just not right that people like myself feel the pressure to lose weight so bad that we hurt ourselves.