new wave feminism

Apparently H&M doesn’t even use entire models. They’re at the point where they just copy and past various heads on the same computer generated and “completely vitural” body.

-_-‘

“Othering” reports: How they’re not so positive, after all. →

So I ran across this long ago, but never posted it. Read & tell me what you think -

From BlackFemininity.Com:

Call me a pessimist, but at first glance the below report on self-esteem seems quite positive. And generally it would be, when an effort to examine how black women feel about their bodies is all-inclusive of our humanity in equal proportions to all other women in question. But are they truly positive, when the method for forecasting self-esteem puts other women’s context at the center of the model?

The report (from Allure magazine) says:

* African-American and Hispanic women are twice as likely as Caucasian women to report not wanting to change their body in any way.

* A third of African-American women think of themselves as the most attractive person in the room.

* African-American men are directionally more likely to embrace and aspire to curviness – they say they want curvier hips and a higher/rounder butt or a larger butt.

Such studies:

- never include or ask women how they feel about complexion, over things like wrinkles.

- never account for black hetero women’s self esteem as it relates to what they will sacrifice in relationships, and the standards and treatment they will accept.

- mentions findings on things such as anorexia, but not how self-esteem deducing it may be for a male partner to claim his preference for you, not for the beauty of your eyes, smile, facial features, and your heart, but instead, for your nipples, butt, labia, or any other erogenous zone for his personal sexual fulfillment.

- never includes how women may feel about their natural hair texture.

- never begins to examine how women with “rounder” features may feel about their lips, cheekbones, nose shape or facial profile when in the mirror.

- fail to acknowledge that reports of insecurity are severely skewed if said women learned that discussing typical female insecurities is “self-hatred” (as punishment for not conforming to the myth of super-human). Such women would, of course, report more incidents of positivity overall to avoid stigma.

-etc.,

We relate to people (rather average people or celebrities) who discuss their imperfections, over those who view themselves as perfect and lacking any flaws. They are human, like us. In fact, the normal custom is to despise the people who do not and we consider them incapable of human emotions.

I cannot state enough that there are no statistical solutions for socialized problems. What are women, if they don’t have basic things like insecurities and sensitivity in common? We do. They just continuously go unreported.

I think the main value of this article is that is shows us how even the very methodology that goes into creating a study to uncover a greater truth is a product of, and only works to maintain and perpetuate existing systems of dominance and privilege

The Lucky Strike endorsed cigarette diet… because smoking every single time you’re hungry is so much healthier than … just eating regularly.

I hope she has enough lung endurance left after marathon smoking for 5 years straight to actually swim in the pool…

Why I Am Not A “Tiny Little Asian Girl”

Thoughtful & thought-provoking testemonial

thickdumplingskin:

Identity. Noun. “The condition of being oneself or itself, and not another.”

This is something that I’ve struggled with in my life as long as I can remember. I was born to two immigrant parents. One German and One Malaysian-Chinese.

Since I was young, you could say I lived the “stereotypical” first-generation Asian American childhood. Piano, viola, chinese brush-painting classes, get togethers with “family friends”. Deep down inside I always knew I belonged to my Asian heritage even though I was only half. Yet people were constantly finding ways to take that feeling away from me.

When I was younger, I had a “petite” figure, which my mother could dress me up in nice dresses (that I hated). This all changed when I hit middle school. I grew far taller than my mother, aunts and female cousins. I was the one being called “big boned.” Since my body didn’t have a similar metabolism to other asian girls my age, whenever I would gain weight I would instantly be accosted. This never really bothered me; I was a little insecure but still comfortable with my weight. That is, until I hit high school.

My freshman year, I went to a school with an accelerated program, renowned both locally and nationally. Naturally, the school attracted a diverse student body. I went in knowing very few people and found myself attached to the familiar. The Asian Girls. A group of six or so girls who had known each other through Chinese school and other various gatherings. I was the tallest, the widest and the most non-stereotypical “Tiny Little Asian Girl.”

This came to their attention very quickly and was pointed out at every opportunity. To me, it seemed like every time one of them felt they were lacking an aspect of being small, fragile, graceful and adorable, they could point out that I was far less. Five plus years later, I still wonder why I put myself through that shattering of self-esteem. The worst of it came when one of the girls flat out told me to my face, “You are not like us, you are not Asian”. It seemed from that moment onwards, I have fought even harder to become one of them. Tiny, skinny, porcelain-faced, jet-black straight hair. This wound festered to the point of attempting to starve myself. Making myself miserable to please those who used me to boost their own self-esteem.

Even to this day, I’ve struggled with my identity. Yes, I am not a “Tiny Little Asian Girl.” I’m proud to be an Asian-American Woman, regardless if I fit a stereotype or not. My best advice to girls who are struggling with their own identities is to cultivate your own image of yourself. Don’t let others or the media put a label on what you “should be.” Be yourself. Love yourself. Peace, Love, APIA.

Anonymous

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Slightly unrelated - Special K Red Berry is pretty decent.

Sexism and Body shaming still sucks ass though

(via alarmswillring)

Think of all the women you know who will not allow themselves to be seen without makeup. I often wonder how they feel about themselves at night when they are climbing into bed with intimate partners. Are they overwhelmed with secret shame that someone sees them as they really are? Or do they sleep with rage that who they really are can be celebrated or cared for only in secret?

bell hooks in Communion: The Female Search for Love

Since its summer, I’m going to put up this Modern Lady video about Bikini Season!

thedailywhat:

Barbie IRL of the Day: People talk and talk about how unrealistic Barbie’s 39-18-33 measurements would be if she were a real live girl. Hamilton College student Galia Slayen took the talk a step further and actually built a real life-size Barbie.

Slayen, who dressed her 6-foot-tall Barbie doll in a size 00 skirt she wore during her battle with anorexia, says she created the model to get people taking about eating disorders, but doesn’t blame her illness on the plastic icon’s distorted proportions alone.

“She’s one small factor, an environmental factor,” Slayen told TODAY.com. “I’m blond and blue-eyed and I figured that was what I was supposed to look like. She was my idol. It impacted the way I looked at myself.”

[huffpo / msnbc / dlisted.]

fun fact of the day, Galia goes to my school. I actually blogged about this during NEDA week when this Barbie was put on display.

Skin bleaching a growing problem in Jamaica slums →

this clearly hits close to home. My moms from Nigeria and spent a good part of my earlier years (maybe still a little) bleaching her skin. Going out in the sun was an issue for her. But what are your choices when you understand that darker skin automatically makes you feel less valuable? When you internalize so many comments and images that make it clear that your dark skin is a set back.

Mikeisha Simpson covers her body in greasy white cream and bundles up in a track suit to avoid the fierce sun of her native Jamaica, but she’s not worried about skin cancer.

The 23-year-old resident of a Kingston ghetto hopes to transform her dark complexion to a cafe-au-lait-color common among Jamaica’s elite and favored by many men in her neighborhood. She believes a fairer skin could be her ticket to a better life. So she spends her meager savings on cheap black-market concoctions that promise to lighten her pigment.

“If we really want to control the spread of the skin-bleaching virus, we first have to admit that there’s an epidemic of color prejudice in our society,” said Carolyn Cooper, a professor of literary and cultural studies at the University of the West Indies, writing in The Jamaica Gleaner newspaper.

Felicia James, a 20-year-old resident of the Matthews Lane slum, said skin bleaching just makes her feel special, like she’s walking around in a spotlight. She was taught to bleach by her older sister and her friends

Obviously, i’m in a gloomy mood this morning. Internalized racism and self hatred isn’t going to make it better

strange confession about insecurity

So at my school, Hamilton College, for the first time, we’re celebrating National Eating Disorder Awareness week. *trigger for discussion of body image*

This morning i woke up, went to my suite’s shared bathroom, and the entire mirror was covered with inspirational messages. It’s apparently mirror-less monday. (while i appreciate it now, it scared the SHIT out of me at 7am)

There are trying to educate about eating disorders, they have tables set up, and even two life sized barbies for people to see.

But what stuck out to me was that they’re selling “I <3 By Body” t-shirts for 7 bucks. I definitely want to buy one, spread awareness and support the week -I suddenly realized how uncomfortable the idea of wearing the shirt makes me, when i can’t honestly say that i do, in fact, LOVE my body. And this upsets me. I want to buy the shirt and wear it everywhere i go and spread the message, but whenever I wear it it’ll just trigger all of my negative feelings toward how i look.

and i know, for a fact probably, that i wouldn’t feel this way if every-time i went home for break my parents didn’t repeatedly remind me about losing weight. But even that loses it’s sting after a while. What really affected me was when my dad ACTUALLY told me that the next time he sees me, he expects me to weight less “because he’s concerned” and what-not.

Just for fun, here’s a picture of me, (ignore the awkward look on my face - this is the only recent picture of myself i can find) haha:

It just honestly sucks. It’s complete bullshit to act as though images in the media have absolutely no affect on how we perceive ourselves, and what standards we hold ourselves to. It’s strange because i’m known as this “outspoken feminist” how calls people out on being oppressive, critiques the media about perpetuating gender roles and is… insecure about her body? I don’t even like telling people i go to the gym because I don’t want to call attention to how insecure i actually am. But when you think about it, insecurity is so mind-blowingly common and rarely even talked about. I think just about every girl i know probably compares her body/looks/beauty to every other girl she knows. If every girl comes together and just talks about the daily pressures they feel to be thin/pretty/sexualized it would just make all of us feel so much better. One of the worst thing about insecurity is that you feel that you’re the only person in the world that’s insecure. Even seemingly confident people probably hates something about themselves that is absolutely ridiculous. We’re our own worst enemies.

Unless you’re a heartless jackass, i highly doubt people just go around and size people up saying “she can stand to lose those love handles, and that girl clearly had an extra dessert for dinner.” But we walk around, or at least i do, with the conception that everyone is hyper critical of our bodies, when in reality - no one cares. We spend more time internalizing the standard of beauty than rejecting and questioning it. We can’t tie our self worth to what we see in the mirror. It’s a very fucked up aspect of this culture…

I wish I could go through just one day without seeing images of what my body should look like, where i don’t hear some guy describe another girls body, or I just didn’t have to hear someone talk about how they need to go to the gym.

I wish the shirt instead said: “Body image issues are fucking stupid. We’re all beautiful. shit…” Yes. All the profanity is absolutely necessary. Because that’s honestly all we need to hear.

well, this was nice to get off my chest, time to get ready for work!

an image from the article i just posted about fitness magazines. You never really notice how pressured we are to have “perfect” bodies until you see all of that bullshit layed side-by-side.

A lot of things bother me about this. Lets begin, shall we?

Does anyone else get a weird, supernatural vibe from how these women are being represented?
These women, especially Kim Kardashian, are ALWAYS on some magazine talking about how they dieted and lost weight. ALWAYS. & Kim Kardashian, at the same time, has ALWAYS been seen as someone who’s body is perfect. What does thus teach you? No matter what, or how “beautiful” people tell you you are, you could always stand to lose more weight. Like, why are we encouraging a life built around dieting and losing weight.
If someone wants to be healthy and what-not, i’m all for it, shit i went to Yoga last night. But i’m not going to carry around a calorie counter and spend hours reading about new diet tips, because life is more than just policing your outer image. That’s not happiness. There’s no medical necessity for us to be thin, yet it’s something that everyone aspires to and associates with success and all these great things. “Diet Winners”? SERIOUSLY? ugh…
Lastly, these images look photoshopped anyway. Talk about unrealistic standard of beauty. What are we doing guys?!
If you actually read the articles, all these secret tips are just like “eat less, work out more.” Why are we acting like this is fucking news? Thats what everyone does when they wish to lose weight, but making all these magazine covers just promotes the idea that “if you don’t look like these women in 3 days you’re doing it wrong.” Media: can you just back the fuck up with the pressure already?

7 Ways to Love Your Body Through Thick and Thin →

Nice article =)

Excerpt:

I’m writing this because I, like many women, used to diet until I was dizzy. I looked at my body and hated the parts that stuck out, and the ones that didn’t stick out far enough. And I believed that having the so-called “perfect” body—at any expense—would guarantee success and eternal happiness.

Do I need to say it? I was deluded.
As women, our relationships with our bodies are dysfunctional at best. With multibillion-dollar diet and cosmetics industries barking at our heels, and even role models like Queen Latifah caving to the “thin-is-in” pressure, loving our bodies is no stroll in the park. It’s especially hard when our friends complain about their bodies, and our moms have been on diets since we were in diapers.

I took more hell for being fat than I did for being an absolute raging drug addict. I will never understand that. Now I’ve actually read in some magazines that I’m too skinny. You can never ever ever win.

Kelly Osbourne

Why is it so much worse to be “fat” than risking your life daily with drugs?