Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Guest Post: Mary Mauney
* Thanks Mary for this great post!*
- - - - - - - -
“I don’t know why girls want to be skinny and anorexic-looking. I like curvy girls.”
“Guys like girls with curves.”
“Being TOO skinny isn’t attractive to men.”
“Girls need a little junk in the trunk.”
“You should eat, a little meat on your bones looks good.”
I keep hearing this from men. It comes up every time the issue of body acceptance occurs in any way, or even seemingly out of the blue. They seem to think that they’re ‘helping’ in some way by making these statements, that they deserve pats on the backs or cookies for such an ‘enlightened’ view. They seem to expect me just about gush about how RIGHT they are and how GREAT it is to hear a guy say that.
Know why I don’t?
Because it’s not about what men want. Dear guys, I know this flies in the face of everything society tells you about the goals and motivations of women, but it is not about you. The issues of body acceptance--for ALL bodies, not just the ones YOU find attractive, whether those are skinny or curvy or whatever--cannot be boiled down to ‘girls just want guys to like them so they try to be skinny’ and definitely should not be followed, which it usually is, with the additional statement that men like “curvy” women to begin with. There’s a whole lot of fallacy packed into this. Firstly, not all women are attracted to men. Secondly, not all men are attracted to women. Thirdly, those men that are attracted to women are not all attracted to the same body type. And fourthly, thanks for the implication that eating disorders and body image issues is all just our own fault being ~*silly*~ and must be just us poor clueless womenfolk not realizing we already have the body to please men--or at least the male speaker. Yup, this is just about women wanting to please men and getting mixed up about how to do it! But now we’re saved, because a man has assured that he likes curves! Hallelujah!
Oh my god, shut up.
There are a million fucking things that go in to anorexia and bulimia than the idea that men want thin women and we should answer that call. I would say that’s NOT part of it--it definitely is, and we are definitely told that we need a man and don’t deserve one if we aren’t pretty (read: thin) enough. But it’s also that the ‘average’ women we are presented with in our shows, our magazines, every ounce of media we are bombarded with every day, is someone who is being presented as normal yet is, by societal standards, incredibly gorgeous and extraordinarily slim. Take a look at your favorite shows. How do the female characters look? How do the male characters look? Which gender gets to be old, to be fat, to have a facial scar? I love Law & Order SVU, but Olivia could not get away with being Munce’s age and expect to be a regular character on that show. If Danny DeVito and Jack Black were women, they would not, in all likelihood, have been able to make it where they are today, even with twice the talent, and if they had, their bodies, and their worth as human beings, would be judged mercilessly by the public eye. Fat men are seen as having failed at fitness, but fat women are seen as having failed at being people.
And sometimes it’s not even about being thin. Sometimes its about wanting some control over your life or your body in a world where both have been taken out of your hands. Sometimes it about wanting some kind of agency over your body after someone took that agency away by force. Sometimes it’s about punishing your body for having been what that someone used to hurt you. Sometimes it’s about trying to make your outside look as frail and fragile as you feel inside because that is the only way you feel allowed to convey your feelings. Sometimes, dear men, it is not about what you and your cock want from us. And when it is, the solution is NOT to assure women that they are fine the way they are because YOU like them. That just maintains the idea that we need approval for our bodies at all, that the way we feel about our bodies should be dependent on how much they please other people instead of if they’re healthy, not to mention the idea that women should be striving for the approval for men in particular.
You like curvy women? Great. You wanna say what you like? Great. But when you phrase it as if it’s the fucking answer to all anorexia ever, you need to sit the fuck down, shut the fuck up, and get some fucking perspective about just what you’re implying when you basically say that because you prize this body type, women should have it, no matter WHAT that body type is. Don’t tell me shit about what my body “should” have, whether it’s curves or a big butt or a little belly or zero percent body fat. I didn’t ask you. I don’t need your permission. I don’t need your advice. I don’t need your approval. I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU THINK AND IT PISSES ME OFF YOU SEEM SO SURE THAT I AND MY VAGINA DO.
(Oh yeah--and some of us don’t have curves because that’s how we are. I really appreciate all the implications that we’re undesirable or only have these bodies because we MUST be sick and starving ourselves. Fuck you again, my “womanliness” (whatever the hell that is) is not defined by my hips being wide anymore than it is by the number on the scale being low.)
- - - - - - - -
“I don’t know why girls want to be skinny and anorexic-looking. I like curvy girls.”
“Guys like girls with curves.”
“Being TOO skinny isn’t attractive to men.”
“Girls need a little junk in the trunk.”
“You should eat, a little meat on your bones looks good.”
I keep hearing this from men. It comes up every time the issue of body acceptance occurs in any way, or even seemingly out of the blue. They seem to think that they’re ‘helping’ in some way by making these statements, that they deserve pats on the backs or cookies for such an ‘enlightened’ view. They seem to expect me just about gush about how RIGHT they are and how GREAT it is to hear a guy say that.
Know why I don’t?
Because it’s not about what men want. Dear guys, I know this flies in the face of everything society tells you about the goals and motivations of women, but it is not about you. The issues of body acceptance--for ALL bodies, not just the ones YOU find attractive, whether those are skinny or curvy or whatever--cannot be boiled down to ‘girls just want guys to like them so they try to be skinny’ and definitely should not be followed, which it usually is, with the additional statement that men like “curvy” women to begin with. There’s a whole lot of fallacy packed into this. Firstly, not all women are attracted to men. Secondly, not all men are attracted to women. Thirdly, those men that are attracted to women are not all attracted to the same body type. And fourthly, thanks for the implication that eating disorders and body image issues is all just our own fault being ~*silly*~ and must be just us poor clueless womenfolk not realizing we already have the body to please men--or at least the male speaker. Yup, this is just about women wanting to please men and getting mixed up about how to do it! But now we’re saved, because a man has assured that he likes curves! Hallelujah!
Oh my god, shut up.
There are a million fucking things that go in to anorexia and bulimia than the idea that men want thin women and we should answer that call. I would say that’s NOT part of it--it definitely is, and we are definitely told that we need a man and don’t deserve one if we aren’t pretty (read: thin) enough. But it’s also that the ‘average’ women we are presented with in our shows, our magazines, every ounce of media we are bombarded with every day, is someone who is being presented as normal yet is, by societal standards, incredibly gorgeous and extraordinarily slim. Take a look at your favorite shows. How do the female characters look? How do the male characters look? Which gender gets to be old, to be fat, to have a facial scar? I love Law & Order SVU, but Olivia could not get away with being Munce’s age and expect to be a regular character on that show. If Danny DeVito and Jack Black were women, they would not, in all likelihood, have been able to make it where they are today, even with twice the talent, and if they had, their bodies, and their worth as human beings, would be judged mercilessly by the public eye. Fat men are seen as having failed at fitness, but fat women are seen as having failed at being people.
And sometimes it’s not even about being thin. Sometimes its about wanting some control over your life or your body in a world where both have been taken out of your hands. Sometimes it about wanting some kind of agency over your body after someone took that agency away by force. Sometimes it’s about punishing your body for having been what that someone used to hurt you. Sometimes it’s about trying to make your outside look as frail and fragile as you feel inside because that is the only way you feel allowed to convey your feelings. Sometimes, dear men, it is not about what you and your cock want from us. And when it is, the solution is NOT to assure women that they are fine the way they are because YOU like them. That just maintains the idea that we need approval for our bodies at all, that the way we feel about our bodies should be dependent on how much they please other people instead of if they’re healthy, not to mention the idea that women should be striving for the approval for men in particular.
You like curvy women? Great. You wanna say what you like? Great. But when you phrase it as if it’s the fucking answer to all anorexia ever, you need to sit the fuck down, shut the fuck up, and get some fucking perspective about just what you’re implying when you basically say that because you prize this body type, women should have it, no matter WHAT that body type is. Don’t tell me shit about what my body “should” have, whether it’s curves or a big butt or a little belly or zero percent body fat. I didn’t ask you. I don’t need your permission. I don’t need your advice. I don’t need your approval. I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU THINK AND IT PISSES ME OFF YOU SEEM SO SURE THAT I AND MY VAGINA DO.
(Oh yeah--and some of us don’t have curves because that’s how we are. I really appreciate all the implications that we’re undesirable or only have these bodies because we MUST be sick and starving ourselves. Fuck you again, my “womanliness” (whatever the hell that is) is not defined by my hips being wide anymore than it is by the number on the scale being low.)
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
READ ME: The Stripped Project is now taking submissions!
The title says it all. . .almost. Here are some ground rules about the blog's new policy.
By sending me your photograph, you are certifying:
Isn't this exciting? Oh goodie! Now quick, strip!
Email you submissions to Strippeddame@gmail.com
By sending me your photograph, you are certifying:
- That this is your photo and you own the rights to it.
- That you are giving me the rights to use this photo however I see fit.
- Most importantly, you are legally certifying that you are OVER 18.
Isn't this exciting? Oh goodie! Now quick, strip!
Email you submissions to Strippeddame@gmail.com
Redefining "HEALTH"
I recently heard through the grapevine that a distant acquaintance of mine had expressed absolute horror over this blog, because she believed that I was promoting, glorifying even, an "unhealthy" lifestyle and "unhealthy" bodies. But what exactly is health? Let's take a look.
If you think that fat people are disgusting, and should be excluded from media in favor of thinner, more "attractive" people, that's unhealthy.
If you think "fat" is an insult, that's unhealthy.
If you live on a diet of cottage cheese and yams to maintain your weight, that's unhealthy.
If you feel jealous and embittered every time you see a skinny girl, that's unhealthy.
If you assume that all fat people eat their feelings, are lazy, smelly, or any other fat-phobic stereotype, that's unhealthy.
If you assume that all skinny people are starving themselves, anorexic, or using drugs, that's unhealthy.
If you fixate on your "flaws," that's unhealthy.
If you hate when people compliment your body, that's unhealthy.
If you hate looking at your body, that's unhealthy.
If you feel anything but love and acceptance for you body, that's unhealthy.
What our culture defines as "health" is unhealthy. It is an empty, evil, insane cycle that keeps people too busy to actually think. How many people do you know that are the "perfect" size but still unhappy? "Perfect" at what cost? Heck, celebrities (you know, the people who are supposed to embody the ideal? the ones on the covers of the magazines that we compare ourselves to?) are infamous for being miserably unhappy and self-destructive. I'm not promoting any particular body shape on this blog. I'm promoting body love. Because trust me: you can fix the outside a lot easier than the inside.
Tell me, dear readers: how do you define health?
If you think that fat people are disgusting, and should be excluded from media in favor of thinner, more "attractive" people, that's unhealthy.
If you think "fat" is an insult, that's unhealthy.
If you live on a diet of cottage cheese and yams to maintain your weight, that's unhealthy.
If you feel jealous and embittered every time you see a skinny girl, that's unhealthy.
If you assume that all fat people eat their feelings, are lazy, smelly, or any other fat-phobic stereotype, that's unhealthy.
If you assume that all skinny people are starving themselves, anorexic, or using drugs, that's unhealthy.
If you fixate on your "flaws," that's unhealthy.
If you hate when people compliment your body, that's unhealthy.
If you hate looking at your body, that's unhealthy.
If you feel anything but love and acceptance for you body, that's unhealthy.
What our culture defines as "health" is unhealthy. It is an empty, evil, insane cycle that keeps people too busy to actually think. How many people do you know that are the "perfect" size but still unhappy? "Perfect" at what cost? Heck, celebrities (you know, the people who are supposed to embody the ideal? the ones on the covers of the magazines that we compare ourselves to?) are infamous for being miserably unhappy and self-destructive. I'm not promoting any particular body shape on this blog. I'm promoting body love. Because trust me: you can fix the outside a lot easier than the inside.
Tell me, dear readers: how do you define health?
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Submissions?
I got my first emailed submission today. My little heart is fluttering. I have been hesitant to have volunteers mail in their photos...but it's not like I was going to say no! I think that's the absolute bravest thing. And it's got me thinking.
So...should I take photo submissions? It would allow me to do a kind of Post-Secret style blog...which would be neat, and it would also allow me to get photos of people from all around the country (and the world!) instead of just Atlanta. However I'm worried about the legal stuff -- making sure everyone's over 18, etc. Maybe I could get a real (non-blog) website...but those cost money...hmmm...
Tell me guys...WHAT DO YOU THINK?
So...should I take photo submissions? It would allow me to do a kind of Post-Secret style blog...which would be neat, and it would also allow me to get photos of people from all around the country (and the world!) instead of just Atlanta. However I'm worried about the legal stuff -- making sure everyone's over 18, etc. Maybe I could get a real (non-blog) website...but those cost money...hmmm...
Tell me guys...WHAT DO YOU THINK?
"Why I Stripped" #45
1) Did you strip for political or personal reasons? Explain.
I stripped more for political reasons. Everywhere I go I am surrounded by genuinely gorgeous people of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Only a minute fraction of those people are embraced as being attractive and I want that to change. I know that my body is lovely but I did not always think that. I want everyone to know how empowering it is to show off their natural beauty and embrace it.
2) Did you strip to learn something about yourself or to show something about yourself? Explain.
To show that a body with loose skin, scars and stretch marks is not a freak abnormality, nor disgusting. Instead it is often a natural part of life and truly awesome.
3) Put into words the message that your body communicated by the act of stripping.
I will not conform, I will stand tall and proud for this is who I am, and I love it.
I stripped more for political reasons. Everywhere I go I am surrounded by genuinely gorgeous people of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Only a minute fraction of those people are embraced as being attractive and I want that to change. I know that my body is lovely but I did not always think that. I want everyone to know how empowering it is to show off their natural beauty and embrace it.
2) Did you strip to learn something about yourself or to show something about yourself? Explain.
To show that a body with loose skin, scars and stretch marks is not a freak abnormality, nor disgusting. Instead it is often a natural part of life and truly awesome.
3) Put into words the message that your body communicated by the act of stripping.
I will not conform, I will stand tall and proud for this is who I am, and I love it.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Link Roundup -11/14/10
- Tell me, guys, would you take a Fat Studies class?
- So, apparently there's a computer program called MovieReshape, which is basically the movie version of Photoshop. The program allows you to thin out, bulk up, and basically mold an actor's body to the desired form. Is this horrible, or what? What do you think?
- Here's something fun from the NY Times: Model-Morphoses, which allows you to play with shots of models before and after they've been made up.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Survey
I've tried a lot of methods in trying to get my models' opinons, and very few of them have generated a response (which is probably my fault). So, since I'm trying to streamline this opinon-sharing process, I've made a survey for my volunteers. If you've participated, please please PLEASE take this survey:
Click here to take the survey.
Click here to take the survey.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Oh my goodness!
Apparently there's a feature on Blogger called "Stats" that allows you to see who's been checking out your blog . . . lots of people have found Stripped! Wow!
So . . . all you mysterious people . . . one tiny request:
PLEASE COMMENT!
I want to hear what you think: about the photos, about the articles, about everything. Because I love you.
So . . . all you mysterious people . . . one tiny request:
PLEASE COMMENT!
I want to hear what you think: about the photos, about the articles, about everything. Because I love you.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Slouch Conspiracy
Go here. That's right. Go to UrbanOutfitters.com. Now, download their "Late Fall" Catalog.
I promise I'm not selling anything. Look through the pictures. Look at the women. What's wrong here?
They're all hunched over or slouching, like ragdolls. Look at those vacant faces. They look really uncomfortable. Or maybe dead. Now turn to page 15. *GASP!* You can see a hiiiint of breast-curve on the girl in the pink shirt!
Why are these girls posed so awkwardly? And why don't we see curves anywhere else in the ENTIRE CATALOG? Because the models are posed to disguise their curves.
So, for your reading pleasure, I've compiled my very own How To Model for Urban Outfitters guide:
- Hunch. Posture is for confident people. You need to take up as little space as possible.
- Dip your clavicles forward so that you look extra frail and bony.
- Layers, layers, layers. Giant scarves, oversized shirts, big collars = absolute musts. We want the clothes to wear you.
- Think like Eve and cover your lascivious, sinful female body with your hair.
- Strategically place your hands near your face so your arms cover your chest. This move has the added bonus of communicating insecurity because it looks like nervous fidgeting.
- "Artful" poses and awkward action shots are essential to help hide those disgusting fleshbags dangling from your chest.
Once you start to look for it, you'll see it everywhere. I call it the "slouch conspiracy."
Women and Other Endangered Animals
This photo is disgusting. It confronts you, like good art should. It's not a new concept, but is is done quite well here. It's awfully significant that Gaga's "bits" are covered by meat. Her nudity is a consumable product. The meat is just a symbol for what's underneath it. But of course, that concept somehow escaped the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals:
"No matter how beautifully it is presented, flesh from a tortured animal is flesh from a tortured animal," PETA president Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement. "Meat represents bloody violence and suffering, so if that's the look they were going for, they achieved it."
Look kids, I have a serious beef with PETA (No pun intended. Okay, well, maybe). I have my reasons, but my primary issues are that they lay women out like slabs of meat, exploit their sexuality, romanticize violence against women, and butcher their images... you know, to help the animals.
(They also make bad puns and suck at Photoshop.)
(They also make bad puns and suck at Photoshop.)
There are literally hundreds of examples of PETA's sexist and objectifying advertising. One of their major spokespeople is Pamela Anderson who is, of course, best known for her massive tits intellect. I'm just saying, it wasn't witty remarks that were bouncing on the intro to Baywatch. Amiright?
Don't get me wrong. I love animals. I am deeply considering becoming a vegetarian, because I think the meat industry is cruel and evil. But between the whole "I'd rather go naked" shtick (and by "naked" apparently they mean Photoshopped to hell...) and the "Vegetarians have better sex" video, I think enough is enough. It's cheap and stupid to advance the agenda of one oppressed group at the expense of another. Says (my new bestie) Carol J. Adams in her introduction to The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory: "Honoring animals but not women is like separating theory from practice, the word from the flesh." Pot, meet kettle.
So please, PETA, let's talk. Put down the airbrush. Stop using shock tactics that undermine the legitimacy of your message.
(And if still don't see what I'm talking about, guys, just watch this.)
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Link Roundup
- This Hierarchy of Food Needs really helps explain why some of us make the choices in diet we do (HINT: It's because there is no other choice.)
- Is there such thing as gender-neutral clothing? This has been on my mind ever since I read an article in the NY Times about how androgyny is "in." And its true, companies like American Apparel and I Don't Like Mondays are selling more and more unisex clothes. It's a neat idea -- blurring the lines of the gender binary and all that.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
This is shallow, pathetic, and angering.
Well look at these elitist so-and-sos. They're apparently the spawn of of a message board called Get Thin or Die Trying and related to the "End Discrimination Against Thin People" group, which crows "Most (girl) members in this group are US 0-4." Cos Goodness knows it's so damned hard being deemed attractive and acceptable by society.
Some choice bits to seethe over: "This group is not just for skinny jeans, but for people who agree that fashion including skinny jeans are meant for thin, fit, and healthy people. No more of this "overweight is healthy" mentality that America has developed. It's for people against the new rule in Spain that models have to be a certain weight (NOTE: You mean the one that was made to keep anorexic models from dropping dead on the runway? That one?!).We do NOT want to see fat asses walking the catwalk in clothing meant for thin people. We see enough of that in the streets. ALL clothing looks better on people who are thin, and healthy. "
This is how that makes me feel:
So, you bet your furry ass I reported this group to Facebook for hate speech. That kind of bullshit is not acceptable. Remember kids, skinny won't keep you from being having ugly insides. Being an awesome, nice person will.
Some choice bits to seethe over: "This group is not just for skinny jeans, but for people who agree that fashion including skinny jeans are meant for thin, fit, and healthy people. No more of this "overweight is healthy" mentality that America has developed. It's for people against the new rule in Spain that models have to be a certain weight (NOTE: You mean the one that was made to keep anorexic models from dropping dead on the runway? That one?!).We do NOT want to see fat asses walking the catwalk in clothing meant for thin people. We see enough of that in the streets. ALL clothing looks better on people who are thin, and healthy. "
This is how that makes me feel:
So, you bet your furry ass I reported this group to Facebook for hate speech. That kind of bullshit is not acceptable. Remember kids, skinny won't keep you from being having ugly insides. Being an awesome, nice person will.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Very sexy.
Sweet Jeezus, that woman is attractive. Seriously, guys. She has an actual form. . .like, places where her body interacts with itself (beneath her armpit, her sides) instead of looking like some kind of sexless crystalline structure.
Sorry I've been gone so long, darlings. Summer school has been eating my soul a little bit. Also, I've had to take a bit of a break. I've just been feeling a little scared about this project...I mean, what happens if this doesn't go anywhere? Or what if it does? Also, it was getting to the point that every time I saw an example of lookism, I wanted to kill someone. So, you know. . . needed to cool down some. Much better now.
So, here's some good news: it looks like Marc Jacobs might at a size 18 to the label. Fabulous, no?
I've got to get back to comparing the ways that Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Sylvia Plath subvert the patriarchy in their narratives (for an American Lit final), but I'll be posting some more nudie photos soon!
via FabSugar.
Sorry I've been gone so long, darlings. Summer school has been eating my soul a little bit. Also, I've had to take a bit of a break. I've just been feeling a little scared about this project...I mean, what happens if this doesn't go anywhere? Or what if it does? Also, it was getting to the point that every time I saw an example of lookism, I wanted to kill someone. So, you know. . . needed to cool down some. Much better now.
So, here's some good news: it looks like Marc Jacobs might at a size 18 to the label. Fabulous, no?
I've got to get back to comparing the ways that Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Sylvia Plath subvert the patriarchy in their narratives (for an American Lit final), but I'll be posting some more nudie photos soon!
via FabSugar.
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