Hi Kate,

What a great project! Here are my responses, hope they will be of some help:

1. While I haven't really talked about body image on feministing, I find that talking about any feminist issue in this forum is really helpful in my off-line life, and I'm sure body image would be no exception. It's hard to find a comparably intelligent and committed group of people in "real life" with whom I can discuss my feminist concerns/thoughts/issues. I think it's extraordinarily beneficial to be able to think through complicated issues and problems on feministing, with the help of multiple feminist perspectives. This is a great place to develop, expand, and test out ideas, as well as to feel connected to a feminist community, which can be hard to find in "real life."

2. To be perfectly honest, body image is one of the issues I REALLY struggle with as a feminist. I totally resent the pressures society places on women to look a certain way, yet at the same time I feel extremely vulnerable to them. Furthermore, the pressure to look a particular way has caused so many of the women in my life so much pain and anguish, and in that way issues with body image have strengthened my commitment to feminism. That said, feminism has made a huge difference in the way I perceive body image, if only because it has given me the analytical framework to understand that the pressures society places on women are unfair and unrealistic. Even if I still feel susceptible to these pressures from time to time, I am enormously grateful for the ability to take a step back and say "that's wrong, and I don't agree with that."

Hope that helps! Good luck with your paper!

Hi, other Kate! I'm happy to contribute. :)

1. Discussing body image and communally breaking down patriarchal reasons for our weight obsession has definitely helped in real life. It helps me understand that weight is not tied to morality (for example, carrots are not "good" and desserts are not "sinful"). It's also made me realize that since our narrow definition of feminine beauty is a social construction basically equivalent to an iron maiden, we can all work together to shirk off those shackles.

2. As someone who has been larger than average since puberty, I've always felt the pressure of society to slim down or risk being unattractive. Realizing the complex relationship between institutionalized misogyny and our obsession with thinness is one of the things that led me to feminism, and eventually Feministing. Talking about body issues here has helped me appreciate not only my own body, but those of every other woman: it's assumed that naturally heavy women should snark about naturally thin ones, but this site has helped me acknowledge that they didn't choose their body any more than I chose mine. Having a large chest and hips doesn't make me any more "real" than them, and their trim waists and thighs don't make them any more "beautiful" than me.

Being a feminist makes me feel really guilty about what I think about my body. My first thought this morning, before I'd even opened my eyes, was that I was a fat piece of shhhhhhhhhhht. I'm supposed to be smarter and not "buy into" it as you put it, but I'm not. So feminism doesn't really help me, just makes me feel more conflicted and bad about myself. Its just something else for me to fail at, you know?

1. How does talking about body images on feministing.com help you in your off-line life? Please give examples if you have any..

1. Discussing body images in a feminist forum allows me to criticize media/hegemony's view of "pretty." It makes me aware of some of the more subtle aspects of advertising. It makes me excited that there are so many women of so many different body types who have the confidence to be awesome. Also, I realize that women who have the "right" body type are still viewed as not as good enough, either with ads telling people to be tanner, skinnier, blonder, more plastic or by forcing awesome women who happen to have the body wanted by the media-created public to simply be objects of the public and their continuing steriotypes (ie- dumb blonde).

2. I truly think that being a feminist does. I do want people to think that I am awesome and to think that I am attractive, but I won't change the way I look for other people. Instead, by being my strong, feminist, opinionated self, I find other people who want to be with me because of the person that I am. From these are people who also realize what the media is attempting to force, so they are not searching for the "blonde bombshell".

And - wherever this fits... Discussing body image makes me so much more confident in myself, so when I do go out (I guess I should say "have gone", I'm in a monogamous relationship now) for the purpose of hooking up, I don't sell myself short and do go after someone I view as attractive.

I found that a lot of issues with my body image that resulted in me having an eating disorder and being appearance obsessed were the main reason I became a feminist. Being a feminist and visiting sites like this one help me in several ways. First off, I get to feel like I am not alone and realize that other people struggle with these types of problems also. Solidarity. I also am able to recognize why I feel so much pressure to look a certain way and where that pressure comes from (the media, a sexist culture that devalues women's actions and over values their appearance, etc). This helped me tremendously because I used to just feel angry at myself all the time for not looking a certain way or alternately for caring so much about looking a certain way. Now I can say, ok, this is what is contributing to this and here is what I can do about it. For instance, feminism did teach me (by reading articles, books and learning from other wise women) to not just absorb the media's message but to analyze it. It gave me power to fight back. Even if I can't change what I see when I open a magazine I now have better control of my response to it. I can recognize that the goal is to make me feel insecure so I buy the product, recognize that the pics are often airbrushed, realize that it is sick that my energy is even directed towards wanting to look like that, etc. Feminism is about valuing myself as a woman and a person. I learned to value myself for what I can do instead of what I look like and it helped me to be brave enough to speak up for myself. Feministing has really helped me too, because Jessica and the other posters are so honest about their struggles, perspective, etc. When I first realized what feminism was and why I was such an angry sad person focused on my body it gave me the power to get over my ED (I credit feminism about 50% with helping me in my initial recovery and it continues to help me make progress in areas of body image and not relapsing) However, I also felt some guilt at that time for still caring how I look and caving to pressure. This site helped so much with making me not feel like a bad person or feminist for caring how I look or sometimes still having body issues. I continue to make progress but never on this site have I felt shamed for not being perfect. Instead I feel understood for what I have gone through and the struggles I still have and supported because I am not the one to blame and being a feminist does not mean being "perfect". My feminism is a work in progress and may always be as I learn more and come to deeper understandings of the struggles of others and myself. Feminism plain makes me feel good about myself though, which is ultimately why I choose to identify as a feminist.