Recently in Body Image Category

Reported from Cruella-blog.

I have just changed my Facebook profile so that it no longer has my gender on it. Not that it's a secret or that I can't remember what it is any more - I'm just really fed up with every time I log on being bombarded with hundreds of adverts for diet products. I'm not on a diet. I have a BMI in the normal/correct/healthy range, I exercise regularly and I eat when I'm hungry or near a sushi restaurant.

The Facebook advertising system is supposed to allow advertisers to target the customers most likely to be interested in their product. But I don't seem to be getting any adverts that are hitting me because I'm a university graduate, because my favourite film is Secrets and Lies or because I'm a member of the group "I have more foreign policy experience than Sarah Palin". You would think Republican adverts for foreign policy researchers would be over-loading my system. No instead the only measure I am being profiled on is "has vagina" (tick) therefore "must hate own body and want to be size zero" (uh-uh).

Now as a teenager I suffered quite seriously from anorexia. I made a pretty full recovery, but there are lots of women out there who aren't as lucky as me - those currently experiencing eating disorders anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating. And BDD (body dismorphic disorder) along with other related issues - like feeling the need to have extensive sugery or bottulism injections on their healthy bodies. Is Facebook checking to make sure it doesn't send adverts like these inappropriately to those with or at risk of developing issues with their bodies? Maybe they could add an extra box to people's profiles. Are you interested in starting an extreme weigh-loss diet based exclusively on grass seeds and acai berries? No? Oh, ok we'll leave you alone then.

But it works - since going gender-neutral on Facebook I have very few diet ads. Instead my adverts are mainly for theatre tickets, loans, legal services, other facebook apps and christmas shopping sites. I seriously recommend other women do the same if they want to be able to surf the web without having their self esteem sureptitiously eroded!

I and my friend were working on a project for class when she showed me this website. At first I had trouble believing this was true. But yes, it is. In a society that tends to glorify the thin standard of "beauty", we have to deal with this. Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia deny that Anorexia and Bulimia are eating disorders, and some Pro Ana Mia sites promote what they call the Anorexia "lifestyle choice". Then there is this horror: PrettyThin or Thinspiration, which is an actual website. Not only does this site give fasting tips, but for "inspiration", they use photos of super-skinny celebs like Paris Hilton and stick-figure Keira Knightley. At first I did not think these sites could be legal, but then my friend told me that apparently, as soon as one site is deleted, others pop up in its place. Here is a link to this website.

i stumbled upon this today....it's funny because i was on reddit and it was listed like some sort of porn gallery almost....i ended up clicking because i've been spending a lot of time on like del.icio.us and reddit etc and it's always strange to me how everybody seems to have one whole category of NUDES XXX SWEET DUDES but they usually end up being these sort of photo-journalism projects that make me think a lot and tear up.

not to mention i think it's insane how overly sexualized breasts are in the united states. seriously totally insane. anyways just wanted to share! a lot of the quotes are very beautiful and raise a lot of interesting points.

am i curious as to why so many sites like reddit, fazed etc seem to continually confuse these sort of projects with GALLERY OF BOOBIES TEE HEE...any thoughts?

Check out number 11/15 in particular...A little bit of sneaky anti-feminism perhaps? (Working off the stereotype, of course, that feminist = man hater)

This isn't the only article on AOL "HEALTH" (yes, I keep putting "HEALTH" in quotes because many of these poorly composed articles and comments do not seem to be promoting good health for women or men) that I have found offensive.

Browse their site and the links pertainging to sexuality. Here's one more link to an article brimming with gender stereotyping fun.

Its title does not specify if the article is aimed at males, females or both, which first led me to believe it would be gender neutral. But alas, and not surprisingly, owners of small penises are relished and encouraged in this article, while women with bad smelling/ odd looking vaginal areas are told that it's understood if they feel shame or embarrassment about those things. "Women should feel comfortable and attractive unless their partner is indicating otherwise." Why thank you Dr. FuckUp, for placing my comfort and worth in the hands of my male counterpart.

Read on for other gems such as, "Men's fantasies tend to be more sexually explicit than women's, which are more emotional and romantic."

I don't know about you folks, but I'm going to find some contact info for these people have myself a good e-yell.

So I finally get up the gall to write my first post on this site.

I’m a frequent to Digg.com, and some of what I’ve seen posted on there recently I can’t just let go without a fight. It started with a Dugg photo of the Miss Universe pageant competitors, and ended with the final straw today in a dugg interview with Beth Murphy, Director of Marketing and Communication for Digg.com, and the answer to the question: “Are sexist comments defined as hate speech?”

A few weeks ago, a photo of the Miss Universe pageanteers in their bikinis surfaced on Digg.com, and by the time I got to the photo, it had well over 2000 Diggs already. However, the comments in reply to the photo—slugged “plenty-of-yes-please.jpg”—were absolutely disturbing. Thousands of times over, “Thanks for my new wallpaper!”

Plus, some countries’ competitors were singled out:   “I’ll take Nicaragua please, with a side order of Ghana.” “The one from Malaysia is probably a dude.” “Dugg for Mexico. Mamacita!!!!!”

Then there are the general comments: “Dugg for tits.” “Dugg for hooters.” “Dugg because I AM MAN” (and clearly MAN = inability to use verbs…) “Hey look! Bimbos..” “so many open mouths. where to insert!” “top left white bottom bikini. u can see through it.”

Finally, there were the few that tried to inject some kind of other commentary:

“A shame that white guilt means the girls representing Latin America look more European than the European representatives.”  

“Every day we make assumptions by what we can see physically. Even in the supermarkets, we distinguish good products from bad products based on how they look.” “YES. Because it's easier to judge women based on their looks, not on what their intellect or what they have to offer as intelligent beings!   Because it's fantastic to have an entire photo of scantily clad women to stare at for our viewing pleasure! Sickening. BURY THIS.”

-10 diggs for the user on that last comment, by the by. No one wants to hear about how they’re basing their opinions on the looks of a hundred or so scantily clad women. Nor do they want to hear that their disgusting comments are, in fact, disgusting and degrading.

I know some people might not read this.  And I know that some people might flame me.  But dammit!  I'm mad!  No.  I'm Beyond mad.  I'm furious!  Samhita has often blogged about her weight issues and they are something I can much relate to and today's Adipositive post wasn't that different. Usually I find the whole comments section along the same line around hatred and bigotry on fat-hating.  Only that not what was there.  There were comments of that bigotry and hatred.  Okay.  No big deal.  Those typically don't bother me.  I don't invest much in blog comments.  Too much time and energy.  Until I read the quote:

"How about we do smoking acceptance next? Or how about alcoholic or abusive partner acceptance?"

Whaa???

Suddenly my fatness will lead to abusive partners?  *tries to follow logic, but brain explodes*

I'm 5'9" and I"m 240 lbs.  *gasp of horror*  Yes.  You read correctly.  Two-hundred and forty fucking pounds.  Most of it is on my belly.  Some on my ass.  It's basically everywhere except my calves and scalp.  To clarify, yes I do have body image issues.  There are days where I think, "If the fat were gone, my problems would be over,"  but I know that isn't going to happen.

So being fat is unhealthy.  Okay.  I'll give you that.  Being overweight is unhealthy according to every medical science journal.  Fine. 

So what?

Why is this bad?  How does if affect you?  Why should you fucking care whether I'm healthy or not? I don't know you.  I certainly don't care about your health.  You want a bag of chips? Go ahead and eat one.  Have some soda and chocolate while you're at it.  I couldn't care less.  But don't you try and tell me I should fucking lose weight or that I'm unhealthy/lazy/ugly/unnattractive/anything derrogatory.  Seriously.  Don't.  And don't go on about health.  How's your health?  Did you run out of breath taking the stairs?  Or did you take the elevator?  How many miles have you walked this week? How many hours did you spend being sedentary?  What was the fat content of your last meal?

If you're going to talk the talk, then walk the walk. 

And by the way....

Fat people can be healthy.  Runners can have heart attacks.  And naturally thin people can be as unhealthy as the next.  So I don't want to hear it.  I'm fat and I'm proud.  Fat haters, get over yourself.

We've heard study after study on how the inundation of the contemporary ideal form can affect how a girl or a woman feels about her own body. When shows like Baywatch were introduced to Pacific Asia, the numbers of women who felt uncomfortable with their bodies shot through the roof--and unfortunately eating disorders did too. I know I've certainly felt pressure to hit the gym more and fit into that wedding dress. The exposure of unrealistic body types as the ideal has had a horrible impact on generation after generation of women. And it's not just the women who are negatively affected by these images, but men too.

Jennifer Aubrey , an assistant professor at Missouri University, has focused her research on self-objectification , or taking stock of the worth of one's body in how others view it. In her most recent study, she's found that men are likewise impacted by viewing objectifying material. The difference is that men don't feel self conscious when viewing other idealized men, but when looking at idealized women . This seemingly backwards finding is explained in the article. Aubrey hypothesizes that men feel the pressure of finding an attractive woman, and in order to attract the ideal women in the media, they would have to have the ideal bodies themselves.

I find it interesting that both heterosexual women and men self-objectify in order to attract the other sex, but that it comes out in competely opposite ways. Women view their own sex, and men the other sex, before they feel that pressure.

This is all yet another reason to break down the media framework of objectifying women . For further information about objectification of women in the media, you have to watch Killing Us Softy . Jean Kilbourne talks about decades of objectification in advertisement, and she has changed my view on all things media.

    Today I was sitting in The Union at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, enjoying a soup and salad meal when a gaggle of giggling girls next to me stop their laughter to have a “serious ” discussion about what they want in a boyfriend.
    “Seriously, though, my boyfriend needs to have money !” one girl says.
    And the others actually AGREED . This almost ruined my meal. Really.
    Now I went to the type of high school that was rather political and most of my friends were feminists. Sure there were a couple girls like these ones, but I’m not used to them. And there are too many here at UWM! It makes me want to weep a little. Personally I’m at college so I can be independent. I don’t know what they’re here for…
    I really tried to ignore them after that. But when they started talking about salads, I died a little on the inside.
    The gold-digger says loudly, “Salads aren’t as healthy as you think. Don’t get dressing -- all the fat is in the dressing!”
    First of all, who gives a shit about the fat content in salad dressing. Those girls were all skinny as a bitch. Second of all, none of them were eating anyway and this is a cafeteria . Third of all, a salad IS healthy, last time I checked. Because vegetables are healthy. Spinach is healthy. Carrots are healthy. Cabbage is healthy. Cheese is healthy. Fat is not unhealthy in the context of a nice, normal salad. A bag of flaming hots, a Pepsi, and a couple candy bars is not healthy. McDonalds is unhealthy. Not eating at all is unhealthy.
    Starving gold-diggers. I thought college kids were supposed to be smart? It's election day, at any rate. Are salads and rich boyfriends really the most important thing they could discuss?

Shared with permission from MetaHara

I caught myself comparing my skin to the skin of someone younger & my skin to the skin of someone older.

Me? Making comments in my head about how my skin looks younger than the younger woman's and older than that older woman's skin?  Realizing how different levels of melanin make a difference...how clean living, joy, sex, make a difference-

wait- what?

Was that me thinking those silly thoughts?!?

Muah?   Where did that come from? I've always dreamed of becoming an elder, against the odds.  I've known what that would mean to my physicality.  I remember holding grand parents and grand aunts hands and wishing that someday, my hands would look so worn & gnarly, a product of living a long, full life.  I remember being in awe of the tissue paper like, wrinkly skin of a woman I met while visiting my dance twin in the Catskills.  She was a vaudeville performer in her day and she was dancing with the experience of nearly a century dripping off of her like the morning dew on the plants that surrounded us.  I yearned for it and fought to stay alive through the asthma years for that.

But, this?  This, in between, middle aged, puffy under the eyes, some gray, some wrinkling, skin thinning, transition aging- AGING process?  I guess I never gave it much thought.  Till now. I am in it now.  And it is beautiful.  Puffy eyes, hormone pimpled, fat redistributing, showing through thinning skin-

aging is growing 

is beautiful.

I've seen this commercial the last few nights and decided to look at the web site...

Yet something else telling us there is something wrong with us if we are smelly and how to fix it...by using..