falling away

love taking photos, make up, Japan and finding new and interesting things to do and see :D

· 22/1/12 · 238 · Reblog

melodyxmae:

thevintagerat:

silhouettegirl:

sailorv:

I’m so sick and tired of seeing this picture. Normally when I see images like this (daily on my Facebook feed, actually), I blow them off, because I know that thin is the industry standard and I’m lucky blah blah blah. But people who would tell me to quit complaining would probably be incredibly surprised to know what kind of criticism I receive on a regular basis for being somewhere between Kiera and Kirsten on this scale. When I worked at Godiva, I usually got multiple comments every day about how I should “eat more chocolate,” “probably couldn’t help them out because I looked like I never ate chocolate,” etcetera. Almost invariably these comments were delivered in a mocking or plainly offensive tone.

Every time I see this picture posted, it’s usually accompanied with a comment about how “natural” beauty is no longer valued. Yet people forget what types of self-mutilation women of earlier eras went through to look the way they did: corsets, skin bleaching, hair bleaching (before it was as perfected as it is today), and in the case of Rita Hayworth, electrocution of her hairline. What people fail to realize is that setting any standard of beauty for women is incredibly detrimental to our esteem. Throughout history, the standards have changed, but the stuff we put our bodies through hasn’t.

Furthermore, some women just do naturally look like Kiera Knightley or Kirsten Dunst. I will NEVER naturally look like Marilyn Monroe. No matter how much weight I gain or how much I eat, I will NEVER have curves. My waist-hip ratio is TERRIBLE. I am just not cut out to be a curvaceous woman. And telling me that I’m less “hot” because of it is counter-productive to banishing any sort of societal issues related to women’s esteem. Period.

Furthermore, shaming women for eating disorders (which arguably some of the women on the top may have) is also just plain disgusting. Although the image doesn’t necessarily imply this, I’ve seen a swarm of ed-shaming comments surrounding this photo every time it’s posted on Facebook so I feel the need to address it. Honestly, it’s pictures like this that exacerbate eating disorders in women. Often eating disorders are a pursuit of perfection more than a pursuit of thinness, but the idea of “perfection” becomes so distorted beyond reason that a woman forgets what “perfection” means to her, and so extreme thinness and dysmorphia are the only lasting result. Furthermore, this type of behavior is deadly, so when people say thin women should “get over” negative comments, I cannot believe they would be so insensitive.

I can understand why, from a standpoint of historical criticism, people would want to analyze standards of beauty and why they have evolved over time, but that is NOT what this image does. It is far too provoking and shaming, and in the end, it achieves exactly the opposite of what it sets out to do. Rather than making women feel better about their bodies, it only narrows the definition (notice how the women on the bottom are all still thin) of beauty. So um… let’s quit passing this around, okay?

My thoughts exactly.

i’ve been seeing this picture floating around and haven’t had the right words to explain why it upsets me but this was articulated perfectly.

Every time I see images like this I want to kill people.

Does no one understand that the ideal female form has changed dramatically through history? Really? A thin, no-curves, boyish frame was popular in the 20’s after the war - plenty of women who were blessed with curves lost weight, or they were deemed unattractive.

And then in the 50’s, this wonder era where all the women were this imagined “real women” because they were curvy - women who were blessed with their slim boyish frame were no longer deemed attractive, much like the bigger women of the 20’s.

And by “deemed unattractive”, I mean in the media. Because there was, and still is, fuck all to do with weight when someone finds you attractive. And there’s fuck all to do with weight when you find yourself attractive [Because life isn’t all about who wants to love you].

In the end, this bullshit needs to stop. As long as you are healthy [this is important, and it goes for both overweight AND underweight], your body is your body and it’s no better than anyone else’s and it’s no worse. Because it’s your body. 

Completely agree with these comments. I saw this photo for the first time on a friend’s facebook and she was cheering about curvy being better than thin, in a way that propagated the sentiment in the photo…

It’s such crap.

If you prefer one over the other, that’s fine, that’s your choice. But don’t go round sprouting your opinion as pure fact that we should all abide by.

You know what I thought when I first saw this photo? “damn, Kiera has amazing abs!”

Women come in all shapes, sizes and colours. You might have a preference for one over the other. You don’t have the right to dictate how people should view the “ideal” woman. Get over it.

  1. bluevelvetbikini reblogged this from largerloves
  2. aces-wild92 reblogged this from sundancesandberg
  3. sundancesandberg reblogged this from largerloves and added:
    The real question is, when did this go out of style???
  4. largerloves reblogged this from poyndexter
  5. dancevictoriadance reblogged this from beautyappeal
  6. lived reblogged this from eyre
  7. mazein reblogged this from sailorv
  8. ofwhiskeyandwine reblogged this from chaosbria
  9. lightthehouse reblogged this from apeaceofmyworld
  10. apeaceofmyworld reblogged this from silverywood and added:
    People should stop caring about being the “perfect” weight. Some people are just naturally skinny and no matter what...
  11. whenforevermeansfornow reblogged this from ncctardis
  12. ncctardis reblogged this from raidou
  13. t-lag reblogged this from sailorv
  14. yitbarach-shemo reblogged this from elusivexo and added:
    posting for the commentary… so relevant.
  15. elusivexo reblogged this from sailorv
  16. moresque reblogged this from kindelling and added:
    YES. absolutely. also notice that they are all caucasian…
  17. swampdebutante reblogged this from sailorv
  18. rantingmermaid reblogged this from thevintagerat and added:
    So well argued and I agree 100%.
  19. jasbooker00 reblogged this from sierratmartin
  20. liveindirt reblogged this from eyre
  21. aladdertothestars reblogged this from totalefinsternis
  22. vermillionshadow reblogged this from melodyxmae and added:
    Completely agree with these comments. I saw this photo for the first time on a friend’s facebook and she was cheering...
  23. sierratmartin reblogged this from marilyn2012
  24. shadowrays reblogged this from sailorv
  25. just-another-annoying-kid reblogged this from noregretsjustexperiences and added:
    I’ve thought of this alot but never really expressed it. I even reblogged pictures like this because, well it is kind of...
  26. justonesyllable reblogged this from eyre and added:
    I was on the verge of posting the other day about how tired I was of seeing the term ‘normal’ bandied about in reference...
  27. mylipsarered reblogged this from noregretsjustexperiences
  28. woodrokiro reblogged this from osa-p
  29. echovstheworld reblogged this from contemporarycreature