Love Your Body - yesteday, today, EVERY day

Too fat. Too flabby. Too short. Too tall. Small boobs. Big belly. Pimply. Hairy. Flat butt. Fat butt. UGLY.


This is no dark Dr. Seuss tale of One Girl, Two Girl, Ugly Girl, Pretty Girl.

For many of us, it is a daily dialogue with ourselves. Because we don't feel good enough.

We NEVER feel good enough.

Why is that?

There are a host of reasons but I believe the media is a huge culprit.

Take this short quiz (only 10 questions) to see if you agree. If you don't agree as of now, I feel like you will by the end of the quiz. Seriously, take it.

How did you do?

I'm embarrassed to say I didn't make a 100% (I missed 2) since I have been focused on this topic all semester for my WGS Capstone class. I chose this topic because, though I haven't suffered from an eating disorder myself, I have lived with and talked with several friends who have.

In an attempt to combat the issue of self-hatred (like the list above) and eating disorders, I embraced as my activism and educational project the Love Your Body Campaign.

Yesterday, October 20th, was the National Organization for Women's Love Your Body Day.

I made flyers and, with the help of CofC's NOW and Peer Counselors, handed out candy and zines. I also created complement cards to spread the love and encourage self-acceptance; They said things like "You look lovely today," "You are funny," and "You are very intelligent."

The most fun aspect of bringing the Love Your Body campaign to campus was having people create their own "Love Labels." I simply bought a bunch of blank labels and pretty colored pens and had people write "I love my body" or whatever else they'd like to put. Make your own!!!

Some of the Love Labels included:

• I love ALL of me
• I love how short I am 
• I love my butt
• I love my legs
• I love my boobs
• I love my smile (from a girl with braces... how fantastic!)
• I love my beard
• I love my whole body

It was great fun but, I must admit that much of my campaign boiled down to my presentation on media literacy. 

I included my own slides (which will likely show up in subsequent blogposts) but my presentation centered around NOW's Love Your Body Campaign official powerpoint. It was so fabulous that I honestly didn't feel I could create one any better.

So, obviously, I think y'all should check it out. Seriously. Don't be intimidated by the number of slides; it is a lot of images so it doesn't take long.

K, really. Did you view it? I. HOPE. SO.

And if you are now thoroughly pissed off, as I suspect you are, check out these 20 Ways to Be a Media Activist.

But most of all, realize that the media just wants your money.

The way they get that is by using a simple formula:

Step 1: The media creates unattainable, "perfect" images of so-called-beauty

Step 2: We end up feeling not good enough

Step 3: We are eager to buy their products that supposedly provide that "perfect" beauty

Step 4: We give them our money but their products never allow us to reach their false image of "perfect beauty"

Step 5: Repeat the vicious cycle. And feel like crap. 

This leads to self-hatred talk:
Too fat. Too flabby. Too short. Too tall. Small boobs. Big belly. Pimply. Hairy. Flat butt. Fat butt. UGLY.

Don't let it.

Fight back.


LOVE. YOUR. BODY. (Here are 7 Ways to do so right now).

And not just on Love Your Body Day but EVERY day.

Embrace YOUR own, one-of-a-kind, absolutely stunning body and beauty. 

I Wanna Move to Mauritania: a different view of beauty

fat:

Pronunciation: \ˈfat\

Function: adjective

1 notable for having an unusual amount of fat: a : plump b : obese
2 well filled out : thick, big

This is according to Merriam-Webster Online. 

But if you asked the average American woman, she would probably define "fat" as "ugly."

In America, this is in. Always.

But what if being bigger was seen as beautiful?

It is in a place called Mauritania, located on the northwest coast of Africa.

Believe it or not, thick ankles, plump arms, and a big butt are considered the most beautiful parts of a woman!?! I feel like I could fit right in after all of my exam stress binges (namely on coconut m&ms! SIDE NOTE: try those if you haven't already... they are delicious!!!) ;)

In Mauritania, thin women are thought to be sick and bigger women are thought to be sexy... the men even like stretch marks. I am not making this up!

Many say the more you weigh the better chances you have of finding a husband. Like I said, I wanna move to Mauritania ;)

In all seriousness though, this is actually a problem. The overweight ideal became exaggerated to an unhealthy state and just as the American ideal of thinness lead to health problems in the form of anorexia and bulimia, this country's young girls also suffer from eating disorders.

Theirs, however, is known as gavage, a practice of force feeding. This is the same process used to fatten up animals for slaughter and nourish hospital patients using a tube.

In Mauritania, "some young girls spend hours each day in the stifling heat, forced to stuff themselves with couscous and high-fat camel's milk. Vomiting only leads to another helping of food." (1)

This is so much the ideal that "even in Mauritania's more progressive cities, some women are willing to do anything for a fuller figure, including buying black-market drugs meant for animals." (1)

Not fun, right? This is all done to increase their desirability to a future husband.

Just like American girls starving themselves is not fun and is often not done for themselves but to look desirable in the eyes of men and a society that holds a nearly unattainable beauty ideal. A beauty ideal that is the polar opposite of Mauritania's.

So, as bathing suit season approaches, be encouraged that you are beautiful, even if not by the standards of your own country. Whether you are thinner or bigger, as long as you are healthy, have fun at the beach and don't be afraid to bust out that bikini!

Reference:
(1)The information on Mauritania came from Oprah.com's Beauty Around the World. The slideshow details not only that country but several others and their views of beauty. Check it out... 

Models have known for a long time that short hair and small boobs are sexy ;)

I read that quote in a magazine years ago and I often remember it. It may not come as a surprise to you that I have short hair and small boobs ;)

But are these really sexy in our society?

They were in the 1920s!

My first focus in this post shall mostly be on the short hair aspect since I recently got my hair cut.

Before I describe this recent haircut, let me fill you in on my first "short" haircut...

It was a Monday in 9th grade and yearbook pictures were to be taken the next day. Since my usual hair salon was not open on Mondays and my mother informed me I needed a haircut, I tried a new salon. That afternoon I went in with shoulder-length hair and requested a trim and some much needed bangs to cover my high forehead... as suggested by my mom.

When I left, my new bangs were the longest part of my hair!?!

I was almost in tears.

The next day I entered school, wearing our androgynous uniforms of baggy khaki pants and a shapeless maroon polo shirt. Mind you, I am not a particularly voluptuous woman (back to the small boobs thing) and so more than once that day I was mistaken from behind as my twin brother.

Being confused for a boy = NOT good.

Documenting this day and this hair for all of posterity since it was picture day = even worse!

Since others confused me for my brother, I began to associate short haircuts as "boy" haircuts.

I now have another "boy" haircut after entering a new salon with shoulder-length hair. It seems this is a bad pattern that I should guard against in the future. Unfortunately, I am too trusting of hair stylists in that they are the professionals and I assume their preference trumps mine.

Having said that, the hair stylist did do a great job and I know that it is a good haircut, it just gives me flashbacks to that tragic 9th grade "boy" haircut and causes me to feel unfeminine.

This is almost ridiculous since I am about the girliest girl I know... currently wearing bright pink nail polish and a purple polka-dot top as I type this.

But I cannot escape the sense that in our society the length of a woman's hair seems a direct correlation to her femininity.

Yes, we have the rare exceptions such as Rihanna, Sienna Miller, and Halle Berry BUT for the most part, our ideal "sexy" women have the long, luxurious hair.

Feedback that I have gotten on my recent haircut has been that it looks "grown up," "sophisticated," and "stylish" but never once was it said to be "pretty" or "sexy."

Fortunately, I am taking my History of Fashion and Manners class and ever so conveniently, the era we were focusing on right after my haircut was the 1920s when short hair was
VERY sexy.

First there was the classic bob of the flappers.

Then came the shingled look... think Roxie Hart from the movie Chicago.

And lastly, and most extreme, was the "boy" haircut known as the eton crop.

Those were the divas, the sexy ideal, from back then... all with "boy" haircuts.

As I sit here with my new short do, I am getting used to it and appreciating the following:
1) As summer is approaching, it will be quick to style and cool in the heat
2) Hair always grows back

However, I am not sure yet that I shall grow my hair out.

Until then, I realize it is cut and I cannot put it back on or grow it back to the length it was overnight. Thus I plan to be positive, hold my short-haired head high and embrace this look.

My second focus of this post shall be small boobs.

It turns out that this was also a popular look for women in the 1920s. So much so, in fact, that they had something called flatteners rather than bras. They literally smushed the boobs against a woman's body to give her a more boyish and straight-lined look.

Here is a video of some of the women and their fashions from the 1920s. About 2:40 into the video, you can see a woman get her hair cut into the bob and then styled into the shingled look.

So whether you are a model or an everyday woman, take confidence in how you look, even if it does not fit the beauty ideals of the present moment.

That is the key that models and these daring women of the 1920s seemed to have in common: confidence.

If you are confident, you are beautiful... short hair, long hair, big boobs, small boobs and everything in between.

So I plan to be confident as I am bringin sexy back all the way from the 1920s with my bob "boy" haircut and small boobs!

The Princess and the Frog

I am a feminist but I also adore Disney. Sometimes this proves to be a difficult situation.

I may be 20 years old but that did not quell any of my excitement at the fact that Disney would be releasing (A) a new movie and (B) a princess one!!! It was the first Disney princess in 11 years!?! I grew up with the princesses and loved each one of them for one reason or another.

SIDE NOTE: one reason I know I have always been a feminist - even before I knew what that was - my favorite Disney heroine was Mulan (the defiant fighter in a man's world and very patriarchial society)... followed closely by Pocahontas (who wasn't afraid to defy her father in the name of love and who stood up for what she believed in) and, lastly, Belle (who was brunette, a big fan of books, and didn't fall for the muscle head who was quite the sexist).

Anywho, the current Disney female lead was Tiana, a hard-working waitress who was African American and living in New Orleans. There were concerns about her - the first black princess - from the get go. People were worried she would look to white, had a name that sounded like a slave (her previous name was Maddy), would not be as glamorous as other princesses, etc. A full list of these worries can be found here.

However, that article brings up a good point "Aren't we all just overreacting here? After all, this is an animated movie for kids about people who transform into frogs; the main characters even spend most of their screen time as... amphibians." For the most part, I agree.

Overall, the movie was cute with good music and some memorable characters like the gator who played music and Ray the lightning bug. However, it did not completely wow me. Maybe I have just grown up too much to be mesmerized by the princesses anymore. As a southerner though, I really enjoyed seeing her cooking shrimp or hearing them say "y'all" or seeing the plants and trees that I have grown up around all my life.

I did have a couple issues though.

1) She was still mostly white painted black. She did have a bit bigger butt and lips and maybe nose but mostly this just added to her waist looking even tinier than usual. Disney still sets up that almost impossible beauty standard :(

2) Her prince - A) he wasn't black like her BUT (as the previous linked article points out) his different race is positively showing an interracial relationship B) he was laaaaazy (she was the one that had to nag him to help with cooking, getting back to town, etc).

Overall though, it is pretty cute. I hope this is the first of many more princesses to come from Disney - let's just get them looking a little more like the girls who look up to them!!!