Body Image

[andrewducker]

Cheers to moniqueleight for pointing me to a post by anthologie on body image problems. It contains this fantastic quote:

"When I lost weight, [my dad] was very happy with me, and when I gained weight, i became invisible to him. And this taught me: if you are thin, you are loveable. And I wanted to be loveable. So, from the age of 10 I became anorexic and then bulemic, and stayed that way for about 20 years, until one day, I just said, 'Hey, what if this is it? What if this is just what I look like and nothing I can do changes that? How much time would I save if I stopped taking that extra second every time I look in the mirror to call myself a big fat fuck? How much time would I save? How much time would I save if I just walked by a plate glass window without sucking in my gut and throwing back my shoulders?' And it turns out, I save about 92 minutes a week. I can take a pottery class. But more importantly, I pulled myself out of the game."

and this from the actual post:

Years ago, I remember watching a program about supermodels in which Cindy Crawford and others were participating in a panel on teens and self-esteem issues. She said it was difficult to get across to people that not everyone is expected to look like a supermodel, and that much of what we see in fashion magazines is fake -- makeup, wardrobe, airbrushing. The comment she said that stayed with me was: "Even I don't wake up looking like Cindy Crawford in the morning." I thought: if it takes that much work to make a supermodel look like a supermodel, then the rest of us should stop trying. It's a ridiculous and unattainable ideal, including (sometimes) for those who wear that mask.

The whole thing is worth reading.

Comments

[kpollock.livejournal.com]

Ah, but some of us are vain and perfectionists and have managed all sorts of other things other people find impossible, so why not feel we can look perfect :-)