Understanding Body Image

Obviously, you have landed at this site because you are seeking an environment that sustains your sense of self, regardless of size.

But the question that begs to be asked is: what is our sense of “self” in a world that worships and idolizes thin? To build a sense of self is a difficult process, to say the very least. So much is influenced by society and a significant part of these forces is the media: advertising, movies, television – yes, even the Web! However, if one is a robust individual, what we often find in these venues are images of thinness – emaciated images that equate thin with health, with beauty, with desirability.

Where did this all start? Why is an active, intelligent person of large proportion less of an individual than the size 6 person? Well, let’s take a look at history . . . Yes, I know – history is a dirty word. But I am not talking about the dusty history books we all suffered through in school. What I hope to open up here at PlusStuff is a dialog, a journey of discovery for all of us who live largely.

Picture this — you are in a dark room. You cannot see anything and hence, you are paralyzed because you do not know what surrounds you, what could potentially hurt you. Then, you strike a match and a small flame illuminates the space. You can perceive shapes; you can see the boundaries of the space. You now have a sense of where you are and how you can move about this space. Perhaps you even find a window – and now we have the “aha!” moment. This is what we are seeking here at PlusStuff – windows and thresholds to knowledge, to diversified perceptions of size, of what is beautiful and healthy for each individual. This is what makes PlusStuff unique, and what we hope will bring you back to our site frequently.

Over the ensuing months, I hope to contribute to this journey we all share – with thoughts and observations, perhaps peppered with bits of cultural and social history. Many commentaries will focus on women – mainly because our society fiercely dictates how a female should be, not can be. But I would hope that our male visitors to the site will find pertinent insights, too. We are all in this together. So – where do we begin on this journey of re-envisioning ourselves? Well, let us go back and review where and when the images of thin began to erupt, and how these images created and reinforced a new set of ideals that restricted and ghettoized us.

We have only to look at some of the great masters of art – Rembrandt, Reubens, Caravaggio, Titian – to see that robust women were painted over and over again as ideals of contemporary beauty at that time. Even as recently as Renoir and Picasso, we see women of larger proportions – large expanses of flesh, dimpled and undulating, nary a bone in sight! Over the centuries, a large person with girth and substance was perceived as healthy – afterall, they were surviving times of plague and hunger when thin folks were perceived as poor and underfed. One has only to read Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” and his portrayal of the Wife of Bath to realize that there was one bodacious female! Robust babies were considered healthy babies; men of significant girth were considered successful – all apparently surviving harsh times, health-wise and economic-wise. But I emphasize the term “perceived.”

Perception, which is what so much of this is all about – how we perceive ourselves; how others perceive us. For many of us, especially women, we are born and bred to be the “object” perceived, not the subject who perceives. Remember that – it is crucial to how we can understand how we have been manipulated and, most important, how we can begin to de-construct the false and then to re-construct our true selves.

So, after centuries of being the “ideal,” what happened? Along comes the movie industry in the early 20th century. Suddenly, our heroines become waif-like (look at images of Lillian Gish) or the sultry vamp, such as Theda Bera. Fashions changed, too, to meet the times. After World War I, clothing styles changed to emphasize the corset-less female figure – the flapper era began and youth was now idolized. This was a tremendously new concept for our western civilization which, up until then, had revered its elders, the maturity and wisdom of the older generation. But remember that America had undergone a civil war (more young men were killed in the Civil War than in WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam combined), the Spanish Civil War and now WWI. Youth was at a premium and to be treasured, to be preserved – to be idolized. And the burgeoning advertising industry did just that – Madison Avenue, radio, the new phenomenon of the motion pictures – all worked toward that ideal: youth, vitality, motion – thin.

Now, along comes the Depression a decade or so later. Hundreds of thousands of people are starving, waiting on bread lines and on street corners looking for a hand-out of pennies. Factories are closed; banks have gone under – America is failing. Take a look at the powerful photographic images of Dorothea Lange to see what I mean. Suddenly, the image of the successful businessman is the villain. Obviously, he is eating (too) well while others starve. The large woman is a comic foil to the likes of the Marx Brothers – poor Margaret Dumont! What are the popular movies of the times? “The Thin Man” and Shirley Temple is now the nation’s idol, the promise of the future. Movie starlets such as Jean Harlow, Katherine Hepburn and Joan Crawford fill the silver screen with images of slimness, youth, vitality and sexuality. Need we go on? With the onslaught of WWII, these images are simply reinforced – every GI’s dream is Betty Grable (36-24-36) and, of course, Scarlett O’Hara has given every American girl the unreal ideal of a waistline of 18 inches! As Dorothy would say, “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore!” You bet – we’re in the land of media, and Americans are eating it up.

Comes the 1950s, and America has now swallowed whole the American Ideal – suburbia is growing, families are growing, the economy is growing, and the American sex idol is growing – welcome, Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Russell, and Barbie! Alternately, their counterparts are the waif-like Audrey Hepburn and the ice maiden Grace Kelly. The “New Look” is in, fashion-wise: tiny waists, pointy breasts, all perched on tiny spiked heels, with maybe a tiny apron poised at the tiny waist while the American woman awaits her husband’s arrival from “Work” with the chilled martini in hand. And, within a few years later, the “Revolution” arrives from England – Beatles, Twiggy, Carnaby Street, Rudi Grenich’s topless bathing suits, just to name a few. Again, more youth, more extreme thinness. Even our own beloved Jackie Kennedy seems to feed into this frenzy with her Fifth Avenue svelteness.

So – do we wonder that we are where we are today? This will be a long journey. We will stumble frequently and lose ground. But, ultimately, with that small flicker of knowledge, we will survive – even thrive – as we find those windows and thresholds and move into the light of day. Please come back soon and join us on this journey.

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Online Dating Suggestions for Men

Simply because males are portrayed as our more powerful counterparts, doesn’t denote that they’re programmed to be proficient when it comes to dating. Males have as many insecurities as women when it comes to converging on members of the other gender, especially when they are attracted to the individual. Online dating may be a way of getting to know an individual without personally going up to someone in a club or bar. Men may feel more at ease getting to know an individual on the Internet versus in person for this particular reason, especially if they haven’t had much luck on the dating field or have just been hurt time and time again.

In order for men to get the best of their online dating encounter, there are a number of steps that they can take. The biggest thing that you can do is to create a personal ad or profile that will catch a woman’s attention and maybe instigate her to facilitate primary contact. This can be fantastic for a male who doesn’t like to make that initial approach. When filling out your profile or personal advert, respond to all of the questions with candid answers and not with the idea to impress anyone. If it sounds too good to be true, females will without doubt take little notice of your ad. Also, post images; one is good, but more than one is better. The pictures should be somewhat current and of good calibre. That does not necessarily mean that you should pay a professional photographer to take a profile picture for you, but you should choose candid shots that are tasteful. You don’t want to choose one of you and the boys on game night.

When it comes to speaking with women who have taken an interest in you and your profile allow them to talk about themselves and truly hear what they are saying. Don’t concur with them on topics unless you really mean it. Ladies do not want a man who always thinks they are right, even though we seem to be depicted as ‘always being right.’ You should also facilitate every method of communication that is available to you, i.e. email, voice messaging, chat messengers etc. Email is good because it enables you to write and rewrite a message prior to sending it. Chat messengers are fantastic because you can get a feel for how an individual is thinking and how fast they can respond to questions or opinions. Voice messaging can be a good way of hearing someone’s voice prior to meeting them.

Meeting females can be downright hard for males and they can turn towards Internet dating as a way of avoiding any embarrassing situations when it comes to approaching a lady. There are a considerable amount of things that can be done in order to attract a woman on an Internet dating web site, namely ensuring that your profile is filled out as accurately as possible and has several images. Also ensuring that you spend equal amounts of time speaking about yourself and listening to what she has to say when contact has been made are good points to remember.

Written by Amy Louise Shepherd who works in marketing for the successful e-tailer Venus Sales Limited, operating websites such as Temptations Direct, Sinful Sensations and Purple Pleasures.

Relief Stress Nature’s Way

Adults stress over just about everything today. It can be from fear of losing one’s job to worrying that their marriage is failing. We’ve always been warned not to sweat the little stuff, but what if what you are stressing over is something great, like whether or not you are going to be in a position to pay your obligations this month. One thing many folks with stress issues do not understand is they do not need to just live with this stress in their lives. There are natural strategies to relieve the stress which make it so there isn’t any need for mood-dulling drugs. Possibly the most effective way to naturally shed stress is by practicing relaxing techniques. It may seem too easy to work just relax but research has demonstrated that, by relaxing your tense muscles, you can dreary some of the strain. There are many relaxation strategies available, and no right one, so just try the one you think sounds absolutely perfect for you.

Don’t fret you’re not doing the right one as it will defeat the object of stress relief. One exercise is commonly known as foursquare respiring, which includes breathing deeply and holding it for four seconds. You then breathe out for four seconds before breathing again to initiate the process. Try doing this for 10 sets. Another respiring exercising is led images, where you breathe efficiently and slowly while imagining a tranquil place in your mind’s eye in which you are feeling cosy.

Speaking to oneself differently can also naturally relax. Instead of putting yourself down because something isn’t the way in which it should be in your consciousness, approach the situation with a positive light avoiding any negatives. Another option is to get away for a touch. Take a day off from work or take a short weekend trip to a place you find relaxing. Regularly approaching the stressed situation from the outside can help clear your consciousness and help you to discover a solution to your problem. If you’ve been feeling stressed lately and your muscles tighten every time you mull it over, there are alternate selections to drugs. Often all you’ve got to do is think about yourself and the situation differently for a little natural stress relief.

If you like to read more articles on health, wellness and nutritional supplements visit www.healthylifenow.com
Healthylifenow is an independent distributor of Herbalife.

 

Younger Women's Dense Breast Tissue Limits Effectiveness Of Mammograms, Study Finds

Mammography alone is not effective for breast cancer screening in women in their 40s because their breast tissue usually appears the same color as tumors in the images, according to a Stanford University study published recently in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Newsday/Chicago Tribune reports…

Great Results of Plastic Surgery

More and more people have, until quite lately, been hesitant with regards to considering plastic surgery. The scary looking mask-like visage of an old time Hollywood actress who had bad plastic surgery may have convinced people that the surgical procedure can not be done correctly. Actually, the terrible surgical procedure is by far the minority – in fact, the scary looking surgeries are highly unusual and nearly all surgical procedures these days are usually done so naturally, and so beautifully, by skilled plastic surgeons that it’s nearly impossible to tell that any work has been done at all. When plastic surgery is performed right, which is just how it is commonly carried out with all of the medical advances at the disposal of the plastic surgeon, it is subtle, natural, and accomplishes just what the patient is looking for.

As a potential plastic surgery candidate, knowing exactly what your own expectations are, is very important. Before you consult with your plastic surgeon, it may be beneficial to make a list of exactly what you would want to accomplish, and what type of look you’re trying to get. Some surgeons will have images that might help you choose the look you want, or you might find that you have some photos taken from a magazine or book, or even from the web, that will indicate the plastic surgeon exactly what you’re wishing to do with your brand-new look. After you and your doctor have agreed on the kind of change you will be making, you will normally go over regardless of whether this particular look is attainable in a natural way. If you are thinking of a change that can not probably be achieved in a natural and attractive way, then your doctor can assist you find a look that is as close as possible to what you’re looking for, while still trying to keep it looking realistic.

You should understand that the surgeon got it spot on if you have recovered from surgery and you start to get reactions from your friends, co-workers, and family. When people start to question you what you did differently, and why you look so fantastic, you will know that the doctor has achieved the best possible plastic surgery: One that looks like it could be natural!

Hopefully you have found this information helpful in the delicate area of cosmetic surgery, by the leading plastic surgeon in Aiken, in South Carolina. Our website is www.plasticsurgeonaiken.com  for more information.

 

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