The realization that we no longer need to be slaves to the dictates of taste force fed upon us by the mass media has been slow in coming. If we are adventurous enough, we are free to explore and discover what is new.
It is interesting to be able to re-consider and possibly re-define the notion of feminine beauty and sexuality outside the narrow parameters set by those who have the power to influence us.
I'm here thinking of the fashion industry, the advertising industry and the movie industry.
Maybe it's time to shake off the notion that skinny is the embodiment of beauty. Not too soon I'd say for all those young girls who decide at a young age, I'm here thinking of pre-puberty, that they are too fat. The epidemic of anorexia and bulimia must be attributed directly to those who want us to believe that skinny is beautiful. In fact, most women would accept that notion and compare their body to the ideal image which has nothing to do with reality.
And so we come to the adipositivity project.
But the discovery doesn't end here. The realization that there are porn sites dedicated to what is known as BBW is mind boggling. Would such an opportunity ever have existed before the net made it possible? I doubt it.
The Adipositivity Project aims to promote size acceptance, not by listing the merits of big people, or detailing examples of excellence (these things are easily seen all around us), but rather, through a visual display of fat physicality. The sort that's normally unseen. The hope is to widen definitions of physical beauty. Literally.
For those of you of an adventurous nature you can check out dirtylittlediva.com. ![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=e70b030e-4e2e-424e-bf99-cefc71968dbb)
5 comments:
It would be good indeed to have more normal sized people represented in all media not just "pornish" ones. I've long noticed that it isn't men in general who want skinny girls - back in the 60's & 70's they were quite vocal about it. I think it was gay men in the fashion industry who prefer women skinny. They do not find bulges and curves attractive - they want the fabric to "drape" and it is easier to drape over sticks than breasts and hips. It is also easier to fit a stick than the myriad shapes of real women.
If only beauty weren't a "universal" quality and so could be subjected to re-definition at the whim of Madison Avenue executives. The problem that the exec's at Madison Ave. have is that there really are some rather narrow limits within which they are forced to operate.
Fat will not be the "in" look in 2009, nor in any year to follow.
ps- Think "phi"!
Jeannie, I agree the gays in the fashion industry are accountable for their influence on the female body image.
FJ, although there is a scientific explanation for beauty that coincides with the golden mean, we as a society are influenced by what is projected on us via the media. That is why I refer to the "perception of beauty". Beauty can be also influenced by cultural factors. For example, in India, a fat woman shows that she is wealthy. In a country with so much poverty this makes sense. And so the opposite for America. Remote African tribes would find distorted earlobes beautiful. The old Japanese culture of binding female feet to create deformities was considered desirable and erotic. Other African tribes stretch the female neck with multiple rings to create their perception of beauty. It ain't as simple as we might first think.
Yes, even your African tribesmen and Chinese coolie have Madison Avenue types trying to stretch the definition of 'beauty'. But the farther each attempt strays from healthy-fit, the greater the penalty that society pays when a time comes where only the healthy-fit human body type can survive.
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