Posts Tagged Body Image
Passing Judgment
Note: This post is all over the place and content-heavy, so … consider it a stream of consciousness and please bear with me.
My post last Friday about the evidently malnourished Australian Miss Universe contestant got me thinking about judgment … specifically, my unconsious (human?) tendency to pass judgment.
I called this woman out here on my blog — a disordered eating recovery blog — for being too skinny (at 5′11 and 108 lbs.) and for possibly having an eating disorder … in spite of her denial of it being true.
I called her out because in looking at her, I was concerned that this is the image our children see.
I called her out because I was both sickened and saddened — sickened that she looked so skeletal, and saddened that her figure personifies “beauty” to some … possibly even some of my own readers or followers of “thinspo” (the pro-ana movement).
The irony is, if I saw a morbidly obese person on the street, who might not be in the best health either, though I might make a superficial judgment in my head (as in, stating the fact that the person is morbidly obese) … would I devote a post about it?
No, I wouldn’t. (more…)
11 comments April 27, 2009
Commentary: Living a Dream
I think you’d have to be living under a rock to not know who Susan Boyle is, the Scottish woman who has won the hearts of millions around the world with her emotionally-charged rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from one of my fave Broadway shows, Les Miserables.
Like everyone else, I was absolutely blown away with her stunning performance … and had I not seen her video, I — like anyone else — would probably just think she was another amazing Broadway star with awesome pipes.
But when we see Susan, we see an ordinary woman who you’d pass on the street and probably not give a second glance to; a woman who admits she’s never been kissed and lives in the house she grew up in, who took care of her ailing mother until she passed away. A woman, just like you or me.
And what is bothering me the most is how she’s being coined “the unlikely star” … simply based on her physical appearance. (more…)
12 comments April 17, 2009
Words of Wisdom from Carrie Bradshaw …
I have been a huge Sex & The City fan since the show began, and this weekend I watched the movie for the thirteenth time or so …
After doing that, I revisited perhaps my favorite line from the entire series, which is spoken by Carrie in the very last episode of the series.
“The most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you find someone to love the you you love, well, that’s just fabulous.”
Coming off a tough couple of months where I am inwardly (and outwardly) struggling with my weight, I really needed to “hear” those words. (more…)
8 comments March 2, 2009
Facing Reality
One of the positives about always being heavy is you never really “gain weight” — you just are always “big.” There’s no yo-yoing, no four sizes of clothes in your closet that all could fit on a day’s notice.
I’ve never experienced the whole “tight clothes dilemma” … or needing to buy new things … until now. Now my body dysmorphia (when I lost weight and was “thin” and still thought I was fat) has turned into full fledged reality; no, I don’t mean to imply I’m fat, but I’m uncomfortably chunky at the moment.
Over the past two years or so, sure, I’ve had to move certain things to the back of my closet; even skinny people experience this from time to time. (Those white capris from the summer of 2005, for example. At my thinnest, they fit perfectly but now? HA.)
But for the most part, I have been able to wear almost everything I used to wear. Until now. (more…)
18 comments March 1, 2009
Springtime Weather & Dress Shopping
I know it’s a tease, but this spring-like weather here in Michigan and this weekend in N.J. has been a gift from above.
Both my husband and I have fallen victim to a minor case of S.A.D. each year since moving to gray, snowy Michigan. It’s not abnormal; apparently, lots of people around here suffer from it.
And it makes sense we’d suffer with it — he is from the land of eternal sunshine (El Salvador) and though I’m from the east coast, we still have lots of sunshine in the winter …
But here in Michigan, it’s cloudy and dark and drab from October pretty much through April (give or take). So the past two days of sunshine have been surreal. Unseasonably warm temperatures, light spring-like winds …
And, in spite of it being that lovely time of the month (which turns me into a crying mess for no reason), it’s made me happier, brighter. We even went for a run last night, which felt incredible — seeing people out and about enjoying the warm spell.
While home in N.J., I had warm weather and sunshine on the brain doing some dress shopping with my mom for our upcoming trip to Mexico.
My request was simple: I was on the hunt for a “hot dress.” (more…)
12 comments February 11, 2009
Great Body Image Quote
“Life is far too rich, interesting and short to waste on hating your body.”
Heather at HangryPants shared this quote in her blog entry today and I just thought it was a such a good pre-weekend, motivating, inspirational quote.
It speaks volumes in just a couple words.
And here’s an awesome interesting article from the BBC that I found over at Thinspired (a healthy living blog, not to be confused with “thinspo”).
The article talks about why some people never get fat; how our bodies do, indeed, have a natural, set weight. Food for thought.
Have a fantastic weekend and health and happiness to all.
7 comments January 23, 2009
The “O” Factor
There’s been a lot of discussion in the blogosphere about the controversial cover story in the new Oprah magazine, where she poses in her 200-lb body next to her former 160-lb body and refers to herself as a “fat cow.”
Steph at Back in Skinny Jeans shares her take (what she’d say to Oprah if she were Oprah’s BFF) here.
Weetabix at Elastic Waist shares her take (that Oprah needs to love herself as she is and shouldn’t think of herself as a failure) here.
Mark at Mark’s Daily Apple shares his take (that Oprah has been yo-yoing forever now and it’s clearly not about food and exercise; she’s been victimized by all her gurus, etc) here.
If you want to know my thoughts, I posted in the comments of both (as Melissa or Lissa10279) but I’m curious to hear what you think, too.
How about you? What do you think about Oprah’s cover and her desire to, once again, lose weight and get healthy?
14 comments December 10, 2008
“Meet Your Body Where It Is”
I thought I’d share this inspirational quote today in honor of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.
I found it in Courtney Martin’s book, Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters, which I finished this past weekend and probably will be talking about quite a bit going forward.
The quote was in relation to one young woman suffering with an eating disorder who finally one day snapped (in a good way) and “woke up” during a yoga class when the instructor shared those six small words with such ginormous meaning.
“Meet your body where it is” (more…)
16 comments November 26, 2008
Separating Rational & Irrational Thoughts
I had therapy last night and, as always, it was a great session with Dr. G.
Now I’m going every other week, and we’re building off each past experience every time we meet. I’m much more comfortable, and it’s awesome how she really “gets” me…and helps me “get” me, too.
Captain Obvious would say, “OK, but she is trained to do this, Melissa.” This much is true.
Still, I marvel at the thought of someone who can really help me see me for me, and accept me as I am, helping me to sort through my thoughts — even if they’re not about anxiety or eating issues — teaching me techniques I can use for the rest of my life.
One of the biggest things therapy has helped me do is separate rational and irrational thoughts. This requires thinking before speaking, something I’m not accustomed to doing.
That said, I’ve really been trying to think more before speaking … to make sure that my spoken (or written) thoughts are rational ones, to make sure I’m not putting demands on myself that are too high or unnatural.
This also means gauging my audience and thinking about them before speaking: be it at work, at a social function, amongst friends, or even here on my blog ….
Which, in a rather long-winded manner, brings me to today’s post about how I’ve been feeling about my body lately, an internal battle of sorts: accepting myself as I am, or struggling to re-lose these last 10 or so again. (more…)
23 comments November 14, 2008
Book Recommendation: Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters
I haven’t read this book yet, but, given my interest in (and experience with) disordered eating issues, MamaV recommended it to me this past weekend, and it’s the next book I’ll be picking up.
Courtney Martin’s acclaimed book is called Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters, and you can read the Amazon reviews here.
Straight from the Amazon review, “This eye-opening look at twenty-first century culture and its impact on women reveals how food and weight obsession, driven in no small part by images of celebrities openly wasting away, threatens a new generation of girls as the feminist exhortation that “you can do anything” is twisted into “you must do everything.” It also inspires readers to consider what wonderful things might happen if the madness stopped once and for all.”
MamaV’s book club is reading it and discussing a chapter a week — an awesome idea! Since I haven’t read it yet, I don’t have much to add … but you can bet my thoughts about it are going to find their way to this blog.
How about you? Have you read this book? Would you like to join me?
15 comments November 11, 2008
