We are all beautiful
 

Just in case people needed a reminder that "beauty" is a completely culturally defined construct, I dug up some images of beautiful women from the past. Bet you find at least some part of yourself in here to say "hey, that looks like me!" Remember that you are beautiful.

Part two.......

I'm in my cynical bitter mode.. and while it'd be nice to believe that we're all beautiful (well you all are anyhow) and it'd be nice to actualy beleive the lyrics of the Christina Aguilera song...

The truth is... beauty is in the eye of the beholder... and those that behold... don't find beauty in too many places...

To quote George Carlin, "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke!"

That they can't find beauty in too many places is exactly my point - we're all conditioned that beauty means looking a particular way. It's completely arbitrary, and completely constructed, and changes with social whims and cultural shifts.

So fuck 'em if they have no imagination and can only lust after what they're shown and told is "beautiful." I know better and so should you.

i find it amusing that the fourth one down on the first set is actually physically impossible. its said she has at least 2 or 3 extra vertabrae to have a back that long.

but no less, i agree completely.

Thank you Lurkette, as i have suffered with anorexia off and on my whole life as a response to the extremely thin image pressed onto our women and young girls... i learned long ago that i was merely reacting to a concept that some person in a media office came up with and that True Beauty is being healthy and happy with who you are and your body...

This thread made me smile and think of myself in a positive light, thanks for that. :icare:

Sweetpea

Thank you Lurkette.

It is in our nature as women to be beautiful.

Lurkette, those are nice pictures. I hate the way that our culture defines beauty at this moment. It causes a lot of self-esteem problems since most celebrities are airbrushed and have had plastic surgery. When I taught 3rd grade a few years ago, I had a girl who was anorexic because she wanted to look like britney spears. If you look back in history many women who were considered beautiful then would be written off as fat and unattractive today. I find the woman's body to be beautiful and you have a good collection of proving that ;)

If it helps anyone, Marilyn Monroe would be a modern day size 16.

snopes says - not really true...So, what can we say with any certainty? We can at least establish a range of measurements for Marilyn Monroe based on the available sources:

her measurements:

Height: 5 feet, 5½ inches
Weight: 118-140 pounds
Bust: 35-37 inches
Waist: 22-23 inches
Hips: 35-36 inches
Bra size: 36D


http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/mmdress.htm

Oh, I thought she was........

Anyway, I think the point about her still stands, though. In modern terms she would not be considered as beautiful as we all know her to be. Same thing for Jane Russell, I think.

Oh i'd absolutely agree - and if her pics were posted on Fark -or Hot or Not - she'd be torn apart for a bad color job, or being too chubby or saggy boobs. or whatever imagined reasons... by people who wouldn't rate too high themselves...

I've always thought that bigger women were more beautiful than thin women, no offence to those who are thin. As some of you pointed out some of our voluptous (sp?) stars of yesteryear might be judged as "fat" today. Fat or not fat in society's eye, I'd love to have the figure of Marilyn Monroe or Mae West. My boyfriend always says I'd look better with more weight. Like, what freakin' planet did he come from?

I wonder what that is in EU size :hmm:

Thank you for those Lurkette, it's always nice to be presented with images that are much closer to reality. Gave me a smile for the day! :)

http://www.usatourist.com/english/tips/sizes.html


a 44?

Love it. LOVE it. I would have been so popular in the 30's... :p

you are now, darlin'... :D

By the way Lurkette, the woman in your avatar is beautiful. Who is she?

Mal, how'd you know I was susceptible to flattery?? :lol:

No clue - some woman off a postcard. But I want to look like her, so I avatared her.

I see alot of myself in the "Rubenesque" women in the lower set. Good thing hubby likes me just the way I am :)

It is not only shape -- just the other day a friend and I were talking about how girls with curly hair want straight hair. Those with straight hair would "die" for curls.

I, like Medusa99, am "Rubenesque." So was my great great grandmother who happened to be a burlesque dancer. I, for one, vote that we celebrate who we are and what we look like today. We are all beautiful.

Thanks Lurkette! :icare:

No kidding, I'd love to look like her too. Also, never new you could use the word avatar as a verb by adding an ed :thumbsup:

I was just watching a Hollywood Story on her... She also had breast implants and a Chin implant before she started modeling and became famous... so much for natural beauty ;)


Sweetpea

Yup, I verbed it :)

I am always a bit saddened when a voluptuous Hollywood star looses lots of weight to look 'better' when before, I was drooling happily to see every curve jiggle.
I was reminded of that watching Top 100 on VH1 today.

I could so pull off the look in that last one with the right dress.

My problem is the opposite of the girls who look at media images and want to be thinner. I see girls with breasts and hips, and look at my Audrey Hepburn body and feel inadequate, but that's all me. Grace is a perfect size 6, a centerfold body, and she hates having pictures taken because she has some burns on the side of her face. We've had more than one two-woman support group session.

Sometimes I look at, say, Nikki Cox on Las Vegas, and I wonder if she worries about whether she's attractive.

I remember an episode of My So Called Life with the two parents talking, and the dad wonders aloud whether anyone is ever completely comfortable with who they are, and mom answers RuPaul.

Sissy is the only woman I know who is comletely satisfied with how she looks.

Gilda

Ok I must say that I don't know where some of these so called Hollywood experts are getting their data, but Marilyn Monroe did not have plastic surgery and there are nude pictures of her quite young to prove it. She also was between a 14 and a 16 in modern size charts, the measurment system they used back then was completely different. In her day she was like a 32. Like I said, a completely different system, but someone did the math and figured it out.
Also, the really important thing here, is that all three of these architypal women, Marilyn, Jane Russell and Mae West all looked like that naturally and all would have been considered either plump or slightly fat today. An excellent example of how our society has lost it's mind!
I grew up revering all three of these women and their films! If I could look like a Hollywood actress (as a matter of body type) right now? It would be Jane Russell hands down!
Who in their right mind wants to look like a broom stick, UNLESS they were born that way?
You can be really thin and be beautiful..look at Audrey heprburn, she was like that quite naturally, couldn't gain weight to save her life, and she was GORGEOUS!
But it was natural to her, a woman who starves herself to look like that just never looks right.
What it comes down to, is that nature made us all with a certain shape, height and weight in mind. and We will all be beautiful when we make ourselves as healthy as we can( physically and mentally) within the parameters given us by nature; and when we reclaim our right to love ourselves for ourselves!
thank you Lurkette for giving us all a nudge!

The TV show i saw, claimed that she had had plastic surgery and kept it a secret her whole career, indeed, they even showed pictures of her before and after her surgeries and i was convinced.

So, if they were wrong, then i'm sorry for quoting it, potentially they could have been wrong and doctored all the pics. they showed.

Even if she did have plastic surgery, that doesn't make her any less beautiful.

Sweetpea

I would love to internalize this. And I'm trying. I don't want to stress about my ass spreading ever wider, or the way my bra straps cut into the pudge.

But goddamn, it's hard. I think I'll just look in on this thread once a week or so...

The thing about most beautiful celebrities is that they have hundreds of thousands of clothes and makeup and jewelry and hair accessories on when they walk down that red carpet. Of course they look sexy!

But if one of them bought a dress at Target and did their hair and makeup themselves, they would look like everyone else.

Society is so in love with the "porno" girl. What would men do with a girl with rock-hard fake boobs who's only talent is swallowing or taking two men at a time? For a while they would enjoy it, but the novelty would soon wear off.

I may not be "sexy" right now, but at least I have substance to fill my extra pounds. Like intelligent thoughts, and opinions, and thoughtful insights. And a pesonality. I know that if given a popular sexy star, my SO might like it for a while, but he would come back to me in the end.

Though he won't be given the chance any time soon.

Sorry sweatpea! I didn't mean to jump on you dear! I just meant I don't
know who they are and what they think they're doing, but they lied.
However you give me the oportunity to correct myself, I misquoted a source, she was a 12-14, not a 14-16 in size, but I think it still makes the same point. She was always lovely,as we all are.
Again I didn't mean to direct that at you dear, rather at them for wanting to put that out there, the idea that you can only be beautiful if you've had surgery.

K, here are a few more (feel free to post your own examples!)
P.S. I am in love with Camryn Manheim. Sigh.

a size 44? Impossible! That would mean that she was very chubby. Comparing my body to hers I'd say she was a medium size :)

Some great choices there for images. Funny how our opinions of beauty have changed over the years.

The women must be beutiful,but there are many words for women as sex,erotic and many more which means nothing untill to talk about womean,s body.The women body is not to find many words for her.
There are some words for women as her body is and there are some want to say they are women,but they are not.They are a big problem for themselfs.

REZA

I kept coming back to this thread to see the new comments and pictures, still not convinced that I am truly beautfiul. I have always thought of myself as pretty, though never having it reinforced by anyone (including parents) I have drilled in my mind the thought that I have a highly egotistical view of myself and I should stop. I began thinking I really was unattractive... a thought that lasted several years.

After viewing this thread numerous times, this now sounds absolutely ri-goddamn-diculous to me now.

On my way to class this morning, as well as during and after class, I came to the conclusion that my womanly curves are absolutely beautiful, and that I don't need anyone else's approval of my body except for my own. Therefore, I feel it's time I embraced my outer beauty and not allow anyone else to tear me away from these positive thoughts about myself. I've never felt so good about myself in years! So... I guess I'm thanking you wonderful ladies for the comments and pictures. This has been a huge step for me... :)

I hope the pictures keep coming!

HOORAY FOR eMOTIONal20!!!!!

My favorite saying I took from my therapist is: "The only true perfection is to love yourself exactly as you are."

You are perfect!!!!

:icare:

i used to make myself say "i am beautiful just the way i am and it doesnt matter if people see that as long as i do." to myself several times a day when i was younger. now i dont need to becuase i know it and it feels wonderful.

I agreee with emotional. Womanly curves are indeed sexy:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y59...ek/Nigell4.jpg http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y59...k/Nigella3.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y59...k/Nigella2.jpg http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y59...k/Nigella1.jpg

I wish I could feel beautiful, I struggle just to be satisfied with feeling that my body is strong and physically competant. I can hike, bike, carry loads, I'm very limber.

I figured that I should add a couple of beautiful women here...

http://www.art-antiques.ch/special%2...20(Medium).jpg

http://www.julieharrisphotography.co...mens_shirt.jpg

http://aminata.exto.org/gallery/dbim...92-o-43965.jpg

http://www.weinstein.com/otherc/MM0013.jpg

I needed this today. Woke up saddened by the extra 5 gained at my 6-day Thanksgiving vaction with my family... who is convinced I'm hiding an eating disorder. No matter how hard I tried to convince the women that I love food waaaay too much to avoid it or puke it up, it was the men that surprised me. They told "their women" to shut up because I'd worked really hard to get healthier, I looked like "a million bucks", and I'm "reaping the benefits of all of the hard work".

So I went out and bought a damn sexy bra and panty set. :) I feel better now.

Way to go fredweena!

I'm happy with myself too. Over the last month or so I've lost five pounds. I know it's not much, but I feel better already. :)

There are lots of times I don't feel beautiful. Especially lately. I put on quite a few pounds stressing about my wedding. Well, now that's it's over with, I'm not gaining any more weight but I feel unattractive every time I look in the mirror.

I used to look in the mirror and think how pretty I was no matter what other people saw. My husband loves me and constantly tells me so, extra pounds and all. Reading this thread made me feel better. While I am far from where I'd like to be, I know I am still beautiful no matter what.

It's hard to change thoughts about myself when they've been there so long....and I feel that unless a miracle happens, and I turn into the muscular girl in the right photo of lurkette's post, I will never feel that I am pretty. I'm not ugly, I don't think, just plain (and currently overweight, although I have high hopes about working to change that). Also, all mothers out there, be careful what you tell your daughters over and over as they are growing up. Sometimes it sticks in their minds and won't ever leave, no matter what, or how many, people say differently.

I am jealous of all of those ladies who are strong enough minded to be able to prove to themselves that they are beautiful.

If only I had bigger boobs, I'd be happy...
If only I could get rid of the bags under my eyes...
If only I didn't have cellulite on my thighs...
If only my thighs were thinner...
If only everyone who saw me wanted me...
then I could love myself.

^^ Me too.

*hugs*
I think you're beautiful. I wish that helped. When I see a picture of you smiling, I can't help but smile myself.

I feel like utter crap myself - I'm broken out like crazy but I can't stop picking, every single pair of pants are tight on me, I am weak and too many body parts hurt, and I feel ridiculously unattractive. I hope I can go to the gym next week and start to become stronger, but I know that in this I am weak as well.

May our new years bring us new hope and determination to be healthier.

*hugs back*

This makes me feel better. You're utterly gorgeous, and if you feel bleh too then maybe the stuff in my head is just stupid and maybe I'm not as bleh as I think.

Have a good holiday!

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y59...eepinglady.jpg http://www.acclaimimages.com/_galler...20-5343_SM.jpg
http://shilohpostcards.com/p10437.jpg

[hugs lurkette]

Anybody who knows you knows that you are worthy of being loved.

Gilda

/me gets up and holds up a full length reality mirror to lurkette and Just Jess -

you ladies are both beautiful, both inside where it's most important with your warm hearts and your compassion for your fellow human beings (and little beasties too), your intelligence, and your sense of humor, and the outside where you are both gorgeous... There are so m any women who would kill to look like either of you... lurkette pulls of cute in a very sexy way -- not many women can do that and Jess, well... you're just beautiful..

Put away those imaginary flaw filled mirrors away and use the eyes of the rest of the world to see how you look...

If ONLY's seem to be invented by those silly magazines that are supposed to help... they don't. If ONLY's ONLY MAKE US FEEL BAD...

YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH EXACTLY AS YOU ARE...

Amen!! im so sick to death of the images on tv and in magazines these days, ive never been a small person and through out my life i have been taunted about my size... i remember at school there were a few people that called me thunder thighs. I now have a beautiful partner who loves me for the way i am and we have a beautiful little boy together...... he makes sure that i know how beautiful i am daily.

It makes me sick when you hear reports of children as young as 5 getting eating disorders to look "right"

oh sweetie :icare: ((( BIG HUGS )))


Most mornings when i wake up, i feel very ugly, at 5'5" and 130lbs sometimes i am even convinced i am fat ... but then i remind myself that i'm my own unique beauty and there are people who think i'm sexy, so i have to trust their judgement... the things is, sometimes i feel like the most beautiful woman... so i know it's all in my head.

You are stunning, i would give anything to be so petite and yes, my dear, i am attracted to you, i have looked at your "lurkette sez happy halloween' thread more times than i can count :love: , so trust me when i say, it's all in your head...

I think i felt better when i recently watched the Victoria's Secret fashion show last month... and one of the amazingly perfect models said she was insecure about her body! :eek: And if someone that perfect could be insecure... it was a wake up call to me that sometimes, every single woman on this Earth is insecure...

I hope you're feeling a little better :icare:

to JustJess: :icare: kisses and hugs for you too sweetie ((( hugs )) all that i've said above also applys to you.

sweetpea

Apologies for my grinchiness :) I woke up on the wrong side of the bed (hell, wrong side of the PLANET) with raging hormones and a streak of self-loathing a mile wide. Thank you everyone for the positive vibes, and happy holidays to all you BEAUTIFUL women.

/whine
(((hugs)))

There are no apologies needed :icare:

We all feel like that sometimes and the best way to get over it is to complain a little to a sympathetic audience :)

sweetpea