Sandra Bullock, People’s Most Beautiful Woman of 2015 speaks out on the pressures women face in the media. She makes some strong and valid points, she gives us voice!!! I hope so people are listening! “I feel like it’s become open hunting season in how women are attacked, and it’s not because of who we are as people,” she said. “It’s because of how we look or our age.”
I’m shocked — and maybe I was just naive. But I’m embarrassed by it because my son is getting ready to grow up in this world and I’m trying to raise a good man who values and appreciates women and here we have this attack on women in the media that I don’t see a stop happening.
I am so honored, pleased and proud to be a Vivey Lifestylist.
One of the things that I love about life, well my life is that I have been so fortunate to have students turn into friends and fabulous designers!! Celia Arias is one of those people. We met #$% years ago when she was a student at Hollins (then College) University and I was her ballet teacher, an artist in residence. I moved on she graduated moved back Argentina, and then back to NYC and when she returned she was pregnant. Well not literally but creatively. In a way she asked me to be a Godmother of sorts, and finally the day arrived. Viveylife is here! I have garments named after me, how cool is that!?
About the brand
Vivey® was created to bring a dancer’s effortless grace to every woman. Our mission is to bring our knowledge of the human body, every strength, limitation and curve, to the clothing we make. We create more than a look that matches your day — we create a feel that matches how you flow from moment to moment. Designed by combining the intuition of a professional dancer with that of a designer, Vivey® is more than activewear, more than dancewear.
From work to workout to out for the night, Vivey® is the way we dress, the way we create, the way we live. Ours is a curated collection to match your femininity with the possibility that each moment holds. We are dancers, dreamers, and doers. We make every move count. Forget grace under fire. Our motto is: ‘Bringing Grace back into Power’
Check out Viveylife you are going to love the style, functionality, the MESH SHIRT!!! if you order use the promocode theresa20 and get 20% of of you purchase!!!
5 day Mesh Skirt Challenge!! Celi gave us the challenge of wearing the skirt 5 days in a row 5 different ways, here are some of the looks.
Shirtless man standing in kitchen with arms crossed, mid section, close-up
Women don’t just want equal pay, we want equal body standards!
AS IF WE DIDN’T KNOW IT ALREADY but apparently we women are ALL about what is being called the “Dad” Bod. Just in case you are not “on Fleek” with the new trend or have no idea what this new fad is here is a definition of Dad Bod:
The dad bod says, “I go to the gym occasionally, but I also drink heavily on the weekends and enjoy eating eight slices of pizza at a time.” It’s not an overweight guy, but it isn’t one with washboard abs, either.
First of all can we just address that DAD’s don’t actually CARRY and BIRTH the BABY, for 9 months, expel and feed it from their bodies, and most men do not bear the brunt of caring for the baby, all of which leaves little time for working out after having said baby. Men are not charged, even shamed into having a “post baby bod” that bears virtually no evidence of bearing life in hopes of being branded a MILF. The term MILF is such crude, rude, and sexually exploitative acronym, that women should repudiate and be offended by instead of aspiring to… No construction worker’s cat call could come close and yet women will wear the label (some times literally) proudly “I had a baby and someone still wants to F@$k me!”
I’m not a dad but I’m out of shape like one.
The most unbelievable about this Dad Bod nonsense is that THESE MEN DON’T EVEN HAVE TO BE DADS! They can just look like they do…which according to the description is drinking and eating in excess and playing a ball a bit in on the weekends. Is that like that commercial “I’m not a doctor but I play one on tv”? I’m not a dad but I’m out of shape like one. It’s just a bit too convenient and fits comfortably into that time honored and upheld gender double standard. Women have to be superhuman (give birth to humans) and be flawless to be worthy of love while men get to be human, hence, flawed yet get to be loved, and accepted for who, and how they are. Women are not afforded this generosity, perhaps the fact that men can rest assured that no matter what they look like women will love them and find them sexy is a testament as to why we are considered the fairer sex. We are not weaker, but we are more compassionate.
Here are the reasons stated as to why women (that’s us—BTW no one asked me) prefer the Dad Bod:
It doesn’t intimidate us.
Few things are worse than taking a picture in a bathing suit, one being taking a picture in a bathing suit with a guy who is crazy fit. We don’t want a guy that makes us feel insecure about our body. We are insecure enough as it is. We don’t need a perfectly sculpted guy standing next to us to make us feel worse.
We like being the pretty one.
We love people saying“ its they look cute together.” But we still like being the center of attention. We want to look skinny and the bigger the guy, the smaller we feel and the better we look next to you in a picture.
Better cuddling.
No one wants to cuddle with a rock. Or Edward Cullen. The end.
Good eats.
The dad bod says he doesn’t meal prep every Sunday night so if you want to go to Taco Tuesday or $4 pitcher Wednesday, he’d be totally down. He’s not scared of a cheat meal because he eats just about anything and everything.
You know what you’re getting.
Girls tend to picture their future together with their guys early on. Therefore, if he already has the dad bod going on, we can get used to it before we date him, marry him, have three kids. We know what we are getting into when he’s got the same exact body type at the age of 22 that he’s going to have at 45.
Nice Try! Why do these reasons make women sound insecure and vapid? Why can’t we just switch the profound and be done with it?
MEN like their WOMEN soft, round curvy because it doesn’t intimidate them. MEN like their WOMEN slightly out of shape because they like being the pretty one. MEN like their WOMEN fuller because it’s better cuddling, who wants to snuggle a skeleton? MEN like their WOMEN thick because Good eats, A women who is down with carbs is HOT! MEN like their WOMEN with some junk in the trunk because You know what you’re getting. Ladies cast away your spanks and control support garments, stop sucking in your stomach and jiggle it just a little bit because your MOM BOD is all the rage
It’s a good question, and one that many of us would have a answer to. We are constantly bombarded with what the media considers a perfect body, and we try everything form cremes, make-up fad diets and cosmetic procedures to attain it and yet it is ephemeral and mercurial. If the standards keep changing how do we keep up with them? Once it was a gloriously honorable thing to have a few extra pounds lingering after having a baby, now we are not only expected to get back to our pre-pregnancy weight after delivery but we are expected to not look pregnant while carrying.
There is also an expectation for trainers, and yoga instructors to look a certain way. Personally I do like for my trainer, yoga instructor to look like they subscribe to the regime that they are torturing me with! However I have had plenty of dance instructors who have had a wealth of information and have been awesome teachers who didn’t look like they had been dancers. So quite honestly I am somewhere on the fence with this issue.
What it boils down to for me is discipline, as a dancer/teacher I can look at a body and tell straight away if that body is trained, and how it works (the work works). The body looks as thought it has been disciplined, trained. That having been said dance is an art as much as a “sport” therefore it is not merely about execution, but the way in which you do so. Though the body ages the, muscles remembers, thus elder dancers though unable to execute the movement, (or even look like they ever did) can pass that information on to their students. IF that is how I feel about dance, then the same could be said of trainers (not the art part, but the knowledge aspect). I suppose the only difference is that often we look to our trainers and yoga instructors for body inspiration… That is the conundrum, we want the information, but we want the inSPIRATION … That is fair.
What is unfair is to judge, or prejudge someone from their appearance before we experience them. The shape of your body is not always an indicator of the type of shape you are in or the knowledge you possess. We have a right to an opinion about who we want to be instructed by, but we might well be doing ourselves a disservice by not experiencing what they have to offer before we make a judgement as to whether or not they are “fit” to do their job. I have had some pointless, directionless yoga classes instructed by a tight bodied flexible instructors, and some very thoughtful and informative classes by people who are zaftig and full figured. The reality is, sometimes those who have to battle for their bodies have greater insight to the information, and have a broader knowledge of working with diverse body types, and “problem” areas, (after all they had to master their own) . Here is a video from trainer Cassey Ho that might make you rethink your perception of fitness professionals.
Well they have done it again! Dove has created a context that reveals the depth of the Body/Beauty image issues that plague women. Dove is a company that has launched a full on assault on marketing that feeds on, and creates the feelings of inadequacy that women harbor throughout our lives. Dove was one of the first companies to realize and address the damage that the beauty (and fashion) industry inflicts on their consumers in order to make a buck. Their success has prompted other companies like Aerie to follow suit, ditching photoshopping and telling women to “Love their real selfie”.
The Real Beauty campaign has always been well thought out and well crafted, beautifully shot, and always tugs at your heart strings. Honestly I can’t get through one clip without crying. There are several reasons I get emotional, the first is because of the subject, how can a women, any woman, (or man for that matter) not be moved by a human being’s deepest vulnerabilities, the bravery it takes to publicly express them, and then see them sublimated and transformed? It’s a tear jerker for sure. But I always have the Chicken or the Egg dilemma, am brought to emotion because I relate, or because it is crafted in such a way that it psychologically pulls me their, kind of like how Disney kills a poor creature off then there is some sort of redemption…I can never tell, THAT is the art of good marketing you don’t know where your thoughts or emotions start and their campaign begins…
There are some who are questioning the campaign, well not it it’s sentiment but let’s say it’s limitations. The idea that though Dove is asking, and challenging women to confront their perception of themselves, and their images, (all good) HOWEVER, there those who see the scope of “beauty” being defined solely in the physical manifestation as being too limited and ultimately sexist. The reason? Because the idea that being “beautiful” is still one of the most important things to women because the world has given it the highest value for a woman. Beauty has cache, it opens doors, creates greater possibilities for women, even more then being brilliant. the idea that a women can earn more on a stripper pole than she can with a PhD is a reality, one that men are not beholden to. The value of a man is not measure by the smoothness of his skin, the firmness or roundness of his buttocks, or the fullness of his lips or breast. It is not even measured by the hardness of his abs or the size of his penis but by his accomplishment and what and how he contributes to the world.
Kat Gordon, founder of the 3% Conference, which advocates more female leadership in advertising, called the “Choose Beautiful” campaign, released last week, “heavy-handed and manipulative,” while Jean Kilborne, the filmmaker behind Killing Us Softly: Advertising’s Image of Women, termed it “very patronizing.” Dove, The Guardian says, “has mastered the art of passing off somewhat passive-aggressive and patronising advertising as super-empowering, ultra PR-able social commentary.”
The article goes on:
Put aside the cinematics and girl-power uplift, and there are questions: What exactly made the women switch doors? Might it feel a bit immodest to tell the world, “I think I’m beautiful”? Why only beautiful or average—how about fetching or charming or magnetic? How is a beauty bar or body wash empowering? And what about men? Don’t they get a door?
Over on Buzzfeed an article by staffer Arabelle Sicardi was momentarily taken down then reposted (The site posted, then removed, and then reposted a piece about the campaign though not, the editor says, because Dove or other Unilever brands have advertised on his site.)
Sicardi made the salient point:
Dove is at it again with a viral beauty video meant to have women question the way they see themselves: beautiful or average.
You know, maybe those women described themselves as smart, funny, generous, kind, but we’ll never know, because the soap manufacturer wants to tell us how we feel about ourselves. And then fix it for us. With soap.
The ad as already spawned parodies, a male version where the men are asked to choose which door represents them–and their penis size, “average” or “big”. When you see the “experiment” in this context it does change the way you see Dove’s commercial. It makes the very question seem…manipulative and limited to who these women are. check it out:
Game of Thornes’ Kit Harington let it be known that the label “Hunk” is not desirable to him. He finds it demeaning. Here is what he had to say to News.com.au (via Page Six):
“To always be put on a pedestal as a hunk is slightly demeaning. It really is and it’s in the same way as it is for women. When an actor is seen only for her physical beauty it can be quite offensive. Well, it’s not just men that can be inappropriate sexually; women can be as well.
I’m in a successful TV show in a kind of leading man way and it can sometimes feel like your art is being put to one side for your sex appeal. And I don’t like that. In this position you get asked a lot, ‘Do you like being a heart-throb? Do you like being a hunk?’ Well, my answer is, ‘That’s not what I got into it for.’”
This brings light to the reality that double standards, tend to lean to one side, however the blade cuts both ways. When women are labeled a “Bombshell” or “Sex symbol” and most recently “MILF” we can certainly understand it as a reduction. We understand that she might feel a great portion of her being has been overlooked and negated, and we stand fist raised in solidarity to fight for her right to be acknowledged as a complete, thinking human being (albeit bent over in booty shorts, looking over her shoulder, with her finger in her mouth on the cover of a fashion magazine.. but I digress). Why is it that men who are branded with the male equivalent of these labels don’t have a force of opposition behind them. It’s just as sexist to call a man a “hunk”, and say that he’s probably “As dumb as a bag of bricks, but I wouldn’t kick him out of bed” . Hey dudes have feelings too, they are just not sinewy lunks of meat there for our visual pleasure (ok then there is Magic Mike, the Ugly Coyote for women)…
There are reasons why actors like Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp crafted their careers they way they have. These were “pretty boy” “hunks” who saw early on careers of being typecast in those limited roles, unless they took themselves out of the stud lane. Whether it was Depp’s entering Tim Burton’s wacky world, or Brad Pitt mixing it up playing a psycho killer in Kaliforna , the gritty detective in Seven or beating the crap out of people in Fight Club, both pulchritudinous actors stayed away from roles that had them shirtless, and mindless.Though blessed with leading man looks they took “character” roles (as leading men) and earned the respect of the acting community.
Pitts other half, Angelina Jolie…Pitt took a similar route, but it is Farrah Fawcett tho comes to mind when I think of beautiful women who repudiated their sex symbol labels. The thick maned Charlie’s Angels actress who’s nipples skyrocketed her to a level of fame that was unparallelled at the time actively worked against type later in her career. Though Fawcett was one of the most desired women in the world she desperately wanted to be recognized as a “serious” actress. She ditched the lip gloss and got “ugly” taking to Broadway in the play Extremities (where she held a man captive in a fireplace) and then starred in the legendary television movie The Burning Bed. The television special not only solidified Fawcett’s dramatic talent but shed light on the shrouded world of the women who suffer under domestic violence. There are others who have been able to rewrite the wording on the labels they have been tagged with early in their careers either through acting, or business…Think Jessica Simpson, the buxom blonde singer went from not knowing if tuna was chicken to creating a multi-million dollar fashion empire, how’s that for a dingbat?
The reality is, that though some actors and personalities may balk at being considered “hotties” or hucks” or “MILFS” ( and they have every right to) in truth those labels are is their tickets to the dance. Where it may be demeaning, and limiting even tiresome, they cash in on it, and rightfully so. You have to get in where you fit in! The more poignant question is: How long do you continue to cash those checks?
I have stretch marks and I wear a bikini. I have a belly that’s permanently flabby from carrying three giant babies and I wear a bikini. My belly button is saggy… (which is something I didn’t even know was possible before!!) and I wear a bikini. I wear a bikini because I’m proud of this body and every mark on it. Those marks prove that I was blessed enough to carry my babies and that flabby tummy means I worked hard to lose what weight I could. I wear a bikini because the only man who’s opinion matters knows what I went through to look this way. That same man says he’s never seen anything sexier than my body, marks and all. They aren’t scars ladies, they’re stripes and you’ve earned them. Flaunt that body with pride! #HollisHoliday
Rachel Hollis runs the popular lifestyle blog The Chic Site and is a mom of three- that is how she earned her her flabby stomach and stretch marks, the ones that she posted on her Facebook page that went viral. Hollis told CNN that he first reaction to the photo was to crop it, but then she thought again, “gosh I have never seen a woman post a picture like this” and she is right the first reaction most of have it either to delete it, filter it, or crop it. We have become accustom to editing our lives to be better versions of the ones we are actually living, and you wonder why we feel inadequate most of the time. I think this is why a simple photo like Hollis’ goes viral, we are so used to the airbrushed images we see in advertising, and on our own social media sites that this shocks us back in to our reality. We suddenly wake up, like someone doused us with cold water when we see someone unabashedly shows themselves…we have taken to calling this “brave”. Sadly this is what a type of bravery in our world today. showing one’s authentic self has been put on par with jumping out of a plane, running into a burning building, or going into a war zone….it is brave because the media, and the world of social media has become a war zone, and we as women are often enemy #1, targets for attack. So rock on Rachel let it all hang out!!!
So just recently we were talking about defining your adjectives, the ones that other use to describe us, and how we describe ourselves and the power with them. I can across this great article that I can totally relate to . I remember being 18 years old and I wet to a party at a fellow dancer’s house, her brother kissed me…on the dance floor, jaws dropped. Well I was told by a mutual friend said that she asked later “Why her? She’s so….fun loving”…fun loving, doesn’t sound bad but what it sounded like is that she wanted to call me a slut but couldn’t muster the balls..
These words have positive meanings, at least on the surface. Probably you’ve used at least some of them with nothing in your heart but affection and sincerity. And yet… there’s an undertone of snide disdain just underneath. Perhaps it’s because they praise traits or behaviors that are perceived as more shallow or easily faked; if you call a prospective suitor “charming,” you’re stating that he’s capable of easily winning people over, but by using that word instead of calling him “a wonderful guy,” you’re implying that he doesn’t necessarily deserve such approval. Charm is something to treat with suspicion, like PR campaigns or Bill Clinton. If you’ve ever been graced with one of these adjectives, only to find you feel unsure whether you’ve just been complimented or coolly insulted, you’re not alone.
charming: See above — though sometimes sincerely complimentary, it can make a person’s likability sound calculated and even a bit unsavory.
charismatic: Charisma is an intangible quality that draws people in, so it’s often applied to people who seem to attract people despite clear flaws. When someone says “He’s so charismatic!” it seems like they may as well be saying “Everyone seems to love him, but I don’t know why!”
clever: The word suggests smarts, but not wisdom or depth of understanding. It can be deployed to minimize intelligence by suggesting it’s no more than a surface-level quickness. An ironic “Well, how clever of you” is a great way to deflate someone who’s overly impressed with their own insight or ingenuity.
creative: Sure, we all want to be “creative.” But if your new necklace, hairstyle, use of punctuation, or reading of the instruction manual is in question, creative starts to sound more like “bizarre.” For example: “Are those new earrings from the folk art museum? They’re so … creative.”
well-meaning: It’s good to mean well! But if someone has to point out that you’re well-meaning, it’s probably because your good intentions paved a road to hell.
intense: If people frequently call you “intense,” consider that they may simply be afraid to call you “terrifying” or “high-strung.”
capable: It’s wonderful to be perceived as capable at your job, but it’s no “talented” or “brilliant.” “She’s capable” can sound a bit like a dismissive pat on the head at times, implying that higher accolades simply aren’t merited.
pleasant: Is there any more tepid compliment than “pleasant”? It’s not “fun.” It’s not “fantastic.” It’s just … pleasant. Enjoyable enough, but not exciting or noteworthy. Saying someone is pleasant carries a whiff of lukewarm approval, if not slight disdain.
“I’m really scared to put this up,” he says in the emotional video, “I’m scared people won’t find me attractive anymore. I’m scared that all the nice messages will stop. I feel this all the time.” ~Matt Diaz
“I think it’s important for me to share this with you guys … because this is who I am. I can’t preach body positivity and hide who I am,” I wanna control and like about myself the things that I can. But the things that you can’t fix you have to make peace with.”~Matt Diaz
You might have seen this video of Matt Diaz going around the web in the last few days. When he was 16 years old, he weighed 495 pounds. Over the last six years, he’s managed to lose 270 pounds, which is fantastic, for his health, and you’d think that it would also boost his body image. But the truth is Matt still hides beneath is clothes, not because of excess weight, but now because of the excess skin that was left behind after he lost it.
When a person is obese for a long period of time the skin has to stretch to accommodate the extra girth, it eventually loses its elasticity and when the extra weight is lost, the flesh no longer has the natural ability to retract. The person is left with the hanging skin that is impossible to get rid of but for surgery.
Matt was brave enough to make a video that showed what his unclothed body looked like, and shared the conflicted feelings that have come with it. Where he lost the weight and some of the body issues that came with that, he traded up, for the issues that come with his smaller frame and excess skin. Many people who have won the battle with obesity like Matt, find themselves on this fresh battlefield in the aftermath. This one however is harder to win as it is not just about portion control, working out, and discipline, this one boils down to financial resources. If you can afford the surgery, then you can cut away the constant reminder of who you were, the pain that came with it (physical and emotional) and start to heal, or you must face it every day and live in and with another form of “shame” and be judged once again in a different way.
I am so glad that Mr. Diaz was courageous enough to show and tell the world his body story, not because we need to see it, because in today’s fast paced media world there are so many spectacles and tomorrow the world we be on to the next one, no I am glad that he shared for himself. When he posted that video he came out of hiding and let light cast out the darkness of his self imposed shame. When he clicked “publish” he did not merely release a video into the world, but his fears as well, he will be able to heal by knowing through the responses that he is not alone, he is accepted, he is “Okay”, beautiful, handsome, sensitive, worthy of love and kindness, and support. Which he has received a great deal of, by the end of the week I am sure that he will have raised enough money to have the surgery, and that would be a healing. In my opinion by showing the world who he is, inside and out, he has already received the greatest healing of all.
Here’s to Matt Diaz our Body Hero!!!
If you would like to support Matt in his journey ~ click here GoFundMe
Buzzfeed proves that with the support of a photoshop expert anyone can be “cover girl” material. So they took 5 women who they deem “average” and enlisted Francesca Ling, an L.A.-based photo retoucher and owner of True You to do her magic and make them into cover girls! I think the best thing about this experiment is that they asked the women what they thought about their doctored images and their responses are the most moving part…
Kirstin Orininal
How Kristin felt about her original photo her confession:
I hate smiling with teeth. I have really high and pronounced cheekbones, so I feel like whenever I smile, my eyes get swallowed up into my face. But IRL I laugh so much. I think if you can imagine me also making some weird over-the-top hand and arm gestures, this is pretty representative of what I look like.
Kristin Retouched :Slimmer arms and body, neck, and face. Smoothed skin on arms and neck, erased lines, erased scars on neck. Reshaped lips, made fuller, and added some color. Slight teeth whitening. Minor reshape of nose, less shine. Bigger eyes, brighter, added eye lashes, added eye shadow. Filled in and shaped brows. Added blush. Hair smoothed, more volume, and reshaped. Smoothed skin on kneecap.
Kristin’s reaction to her retouched photo:
The lightning bolt scar on my neck has been erased. HOW WILL VOLDEMORT KNOW WHERE HIS LAST HORCRUX IS NOW?! This is like looking into an alternate universe where I am a real estate agent on a bus ad. I know that aesthetically I look much better, but to me I look like an animal that has been stuffed by a taxidermist. Like, it’s technically my (beautified) face — but it doesn’t feel to me like Kristin is actually in there. Also, my kneecap skin was apparently smoothed? What was wrong with my kneecaps?! That said, retouched Kristin has a lovely three-bedroom bungalow in Beverly Hills that just went on the market that she thinks you would just adore.
Allison’s Original Photo
How Allison felt about her original photo:
It’s not my favorite photo of me, but I definitely don’t hate it. I tend to prefer photos where I’m goofing around or pulling a face. But yeah, this looks like me and that’s cool.
What was retouched on Allison: Reshaped torso to hourglass shape and contoured camera-right breast. Slimmed arms, removed hair, and smoothed the skin. Took away some creases on hands. Lowered shoulders. Slight thigh reshape. Smoothed skin on neck and chest. Made the neck less wide on camera-right side. Smoothed skin on face and eliminated most lines/wrinkles. Narrowed face and jaw, smaller chin. Plumped lips. Fixed chipped teeth, whitened. Narrowed bridge and tip of nose. Larger, brighter, more even eyes. Added eyelashes. Evened and filled in brows. Gave hair more volume, smoothed, and reshaped.
Allison’s reaction to her retouched photo:
UM WUT. Who is this person? She’s so smooth and hairless and freckle-free. Kinda looks like a sex doll! It’s like someone else made a decision for me about what plastic surgery I should get and it’s way more intense than I could’ve ever imagined. I enjoy my chipped teeth and weird dimples. Without that stuff I look less human and my smile definitely doesn’t look as genuine. Overwhelmingly, though, I think it’s time I invested in some teeth-whitening products.
Lara’s Original Photo
How Lara felt about her original photo:
It’s certainly not my favorite picture in the world, but overall, it looks like me. I’m kind of an awkward person and usually don’t know what to do with my hands. If you looked up “Lara” in the dictionary, a picture similar to this would appear.
What was retouched on Lara: Reshaped thighs, hips, hip bone, and waist into a smoother hour glassshape. I brought the camera-right side of upper torso closer to center to make her body smaller. Smaller, lower shoulder. Also moved in cleavage accordingly. Smoothed skin on arms, eliminated shadow on forearm across her waist. Smoothed skin on neck, erased all lines. Smoothed skin on face. Reshape of jaw to be a little more pointed. Adjustment of nostril shape. Gave top lip more of a heart shape. Eyes brighter, added eyelashes. Filled in and shaped brows. Hair has more volume and shape. Took away clothing wrinkles. Minimized skin/fat at the crook of arm between arm and breast camera-right by adding some fabric and eliminating shadows.
Lara’s reaction to her retouched photo:
HOLY SHIT, who is that? Because it sure as hell isn’t me. What happened to my face? Where is my swollen stomach? Whose nose is that? HOW DID MY EYEBROWS GET SO FIERCE? A huge part of me wants to say that it makes me appreciate my body more — but I’m going to be honest, it’s hard to look at this retouched photo and not yearn for some of the aspects of it.I just want to get to the place where I can look in the mirror and love every damn inch of my body. I’m not there yet, but I’m a hell of a lot closer than I was yesterday. But also — I’m going to have nightmares about Lara 2.0 for weeks. She looks a bit CRAZY.
Sheridan’s Original Photo
How Sheridan felt about her original photo:
Shine bright like a diamond who sweats easily. I can see some beautiful zits that decided today was the best day to wreak havoc on my face. But I don’t think I look half bad, actually. I mean, this photo isn’t profile pic material, but it isn’t disastrous.
What was retouched on Sheridan: Body: Slimmed waist and thighs, slimmer arms, shoulders smaller and lower. Face less round. Smoothed skin on arms and hands, removed hair, and erased hair ties on wrist. Fixed collar of shirt. Erased lines on neck, smoothed skin, erased mole. Plumped and evened lips. Reshaped jaw to minimize double chin. Cleaned and smoothed skin on face, less shine. Narrower neck. Bigger eyes, added eyelashes, brighter, evened brows. Smoothed hair and gave more volume.
Sheridan’s reaction to her retouched photo:
LOL. Man, my skin hasn’t looked this good since I was 8 years old. It’s weird, I look at this picture and I know it’s supposed to be me, but something’s not connecting. It’s like I’m looking at someone who I’m supposed to be. This new Sheridan seems effortlessly flawless, like those girls in middle school who never got acne and somehow pulled off blue braces. Also, who the fuck has arms that hairless and smooth? I remember growing up and seeing photos of women and asking myself why I don’t look like that. Well, now I know, because I would have to skin a baby supermodel to have a face this smooth and flawless.
I think that I relate to Sheridan’s reaction the most, because it encapsulates how most of us feel when we see magazine covers or advertisements. Before photo retouching was common knowledge we actually thought that the women gracing the covers of our favorite fashion mags REALLY looked like that!! Now that we know the truth!!! And even though we are privy, as we look at those images part of us feels like Lara, yearning for that “perfection” even when we know that it doesn’t truly exist…
So what have we learned?
We are all cover girls, and none of us are average, we are all singularly FABULOUS!!!
To check out the other 2 women’s photos click to JUMP
Creating a healthier body image through Acceptance, Appreciation and Respect
![Sandra Bullock speaks on the [media] attack on women](https://mybodymyimage.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/sandra-436162-500x375c-500x372.jpg)
