we all have bodies. how do you view yours? My body is my home. But we all hate home sometimes right? So I dance in my body but when I eat three chocolate cookies I feel guilty. I should run, should do exercises, lift weights, do something to get rid of the part of my stomach that sticks out over the top of my jeans. I should starve myself for a day or two. Then could I wear the smaller sizes and tight shirts that look good on everyone else. But when I'm showering and the water is flowing down my tan arms and the curves of my breasts and I can't look at my legs, the legs I don't shave, and that embaresses me, then I am happy. I want to always be that happy. Happy instead of going through each day arguing over myself about every bite of food I put in my mouth. I should dance more. I should eat less. I should love my body and not care what other people think. Why isn't it that easy? Well ok I see ya why cant all of us just lose waight? but why cant we be happy with what weve got? see in my case I cant be over waight I cant be "week" I'm a dancer and I need to be in shape and I need to be strong. so I dont know I dont cere what Any body thinks about my bodie (the hole 130 pounds) of it I have! I mean I feel great about my body and if you do lose waight! be caful how much you do lose i just lost this last mounth 5 MORE pounds (now all i need to do is put on some musscle) i love you all JUST the way you are.
-Dawn My body's got long tangly hair on my head, boobs that are different sizes, metal-blue eyes and too many curves to count. My body is my temple and I'm pleased to say I love it. I feel so powerful it scares me. My body, every curve and highlight feels *loaded*, like i am armed with some powerful machine gun and i dont know where i am pointing it. suddenly its like ive fallen into another world, and everyone thinks i am attractive. and i dont know what to do with it. No one teachs you growing up what to do when men stare at your breasts, shout at you on the street, or your closest friends fall in love with you. Id like to go back to not being noticed now. Do people sit next to me on the bus because i look interesting or because they can watch my hair bounce inthe light? Why do strange men who dont know me, feel this pull to own me? Dawn I'm a small person. Very short, slight frame, pixie-like. Generally, I like my body, but there are so many times where I wish I was taller, older looking. I get sick of people assuming I'm twelve years old, and treating me accordingly. My body makes me feel insignifigant.
My body is a source of constant conflict for me. On the one hand, sometimes I love it so deeply. I mean, it's mine after all. I love my fat and my curves or lack of curves. I love my softness and paleness. I love my grace and sensuality. I love my freckles and scars. I love my graceful, caring hands. I love how my body can feel music and dance to it, how it can carry me up big hills, and swim and swing and hug and touch and kiss. I love my tiny breasts. On the other hand, sometimes I'm consumed with regret that my body never, never seems to measure up to the expectations for it that I see everywhere, every day. I feel like my body is so worthless and repulsive sometimes. My stomach isn't muscular, it sticks out, and goes into large, soft rolls when I sit down or bend over. My butt seems huge, my hips are wide, my thighs are fat, my breasts are so small it seems like I don't have any sometimes, my feet are enormous, my skin is broken out, etc. etc., on and on until it seems like I can't find one thing about my body that I feel comfortable with or like. I think "If only my stomach wasn't so fat, if only my breasts were bigger, if only my butt was smaller." The worst thing is, when I start getting like this, it's not because I truely dislike my body, it's that I'm worried what other people think of it. I worry in particular what boys think. I hate feeling like my body has to be a certain way for boys to really find me attractive, but it happens, and I do, and it's a hard frame of mind to get out of. Ironically, it seems like when I find out a boy actually does like me, and we start getting involved, my fears about my body double. I worry that once he gets to know my body more, see what it's really like, he'll be disapointed, and go find someone who has a "better" body. I think all of this insecurity about my body has alot more to do with my self esteem in general than it has to do with my actual body. It doesn't help of course to feel like because I'm female, people are often going to judge my body more, and see me more as an object, than they might if I was male. Women's bodies have been so commercialized, that I feel sometimes like my body doesn't even belong to me anymore; it's just a gimmick of the media used to sell beer and cars, and get me that hot boyfriend. I'm optimistic though, because I do love my body, and I think eventually, as I grow out of teenagerhood, and all the angst that goes with it, that the media messages and such won't get to me as much any more, and I'll like myself more and more for who I am, not how my body measures up to horrible, unrealistic, advertiser's expectations. Well, that's my rant!! Damn, it feels good to get that off my chest!!! I also really, really enjoy seeing what other people have written on this page, it makes me realize that I'm not the only one who's insecure. ~Becky~ Feeling lots and lots of love to all of us mortals with our imperfect, mortal bodies. Lots of times I look at myself, and all I can think of is my sister and aunts and mother and all I can think of is 'damn, I'm fat'. They all are built incredibly thin, little waists and big hips, classic 'woman', and I'm pretty straight, flat, and fairly plain. All that changes, though, when I'm doing something. Ask me to lift something? Sure, I can do that! Want to run around? I'm fast! I can climb trees and swim and ride horses and lift bales and crap much better than the other women in my family because of my stockier build. They call me Olga at home.... And I think that most of the time I've really gotten good at redefining beauty. When I think people are the prettiest is when they're dancing or working....movement. Motionless people are only marginally nice. Hmm, I've got a new question for folks....FavoriteBodyParts Anyway, all for now, -Robyn Sometimes I like my body. . . . sometimes I look in the mirror and smile with satisfaction, feeling good about myself both inside and out. Sometimes I think, "Amy, you are truly beautiful." Sometimes. But not all that often. I'm a Kapha person: thick, sturdy bones, round face, soft skin. I'm not super-thin, but neither am I overweight ---- whatever that means. What does it mean, anyway? Does being overweight really mean having so much excess fat that it endangers a person's health, or does it mean weighing ten or 20 pounds more than the actresses and models gazing out of every damn magazine cover that I see? It disturbs me sometimes, that word. Overweight. Not because it's ever been connected to me, but because I would care if it was. Because I don't want to care, I really don't. God. . . I used to worry constantly about getting "fat". Not about being "fat", but that that was what I would become. I think my mom worried sometimes that I had the beginnings of an eating disorder, but it was never about food. It was about looking in the mirror and not liking what I saw. It was about wanting to be different and wanting to hug and comfort my own self until I remembered that I was beautiful. Now, sometimes, I want to cry, because all around me I see attractive, beautiful people with interesting personalities and souls I want to dance with worrying about how much they weigh or how much they eat or how they look, and I want to tell them all just how incredibly stunning they are and yet ---- how can I, when I can't even look in the mirror and see beauty in myself? I'm afraid that I will only hurt them more by telling them how lovely I think they are, if I then immediately turn around and start criticizing myself, because how can they truly believe what I've said? I don't know. I don't know how to see the beauty in myself, or whether this makes any sense, or whether there's ever a true solution to anything. Maybe you have the answer? Amy * i just gotta say, don't let anything keep you from complimenting other people or making them feel good. no matter what. everyone has doubts; that doesn't mean you aren't /allowed/ to judge or apprieciate beauty. and it doesn't mean that you may not be blind to it in yourself. ~windraina Whenever I begin to worry about how I look, it begins a downhill slide into a state of mind that I've come to despise, constantly wondering how I look physically and making me self-centered and generally f***ed up. I try to really Forget about my body, not ignoring taking of care of it but just getting up, comb my hair, wash my face, and get going with my life...it really improves my state of mind and how I act in public, and helps my confidence. I do feel good about the way I look presently, though. A whole other aspect is how I've always wondered whether my physical appearance fits with my personality and character and to what extent does my body affect my mind (if you get what I mean). I've always had really big pet peeves about ageism, and when I was young I had the impression I was shorter than what was normal and developed a hate for people judging others in any way by their height...it stills lingers, sometimes. For a long time I didn't think I was really physically impressive and worried about it, but got over it and settled for the mindset that I was 'good enough'. Peace be with you, :~Danopian What I wish the most is that my body was useful. I wish it was more graceful, stronger, more flexible, had better endurance. Whenever I'm doing some kind of physical activity, I have to take breaks before everyone else. It hurts my pride. I know that it will get better with time, but it's still hard, thinking of myself as weak. I wish I wasn't cute. I don't like it when people tell me I'm cute. I know they don't mean "man, she's really cute," but "aww, look how cute!" They mean well, of course, but it makes me feel about three years old. Furthermore, it makes me feel like I have to act young, as well as look it, to get attention. Maybe one day I'll learn to take it as a compliment. My body is annoying at times, but most of the time I like it. Dancing has brought me closer to it. I don't understand it yet, but I know it has capabilities that are aweing. Its effortless complexity gives me faith in a higher power. And yet, it is very fragile. It could leave me at any moment. It's all very confusing. - Naela My body....I have a pretty good view of it. I like it. I prodominently feel good.
There are some things that bug me though. Like my skin!!! AUGH! My skin is very sensitive; allergic to many sorts of cheep metals, and I get breakouts...they are usually not so bad, but sometimes they just bug the heck out of me! Oh well...that will pass when I get a little older.
And I want to be more active (biking!).
Hmm..I think I need vitamin..E or something...I could use all those vitamins ;) When I don't compair my body to anything, don't put it into the context of this culture, I like it a lot. I like the shapes it makes, the way it moves, it's health, the way it feels and how it responds to me. I'm very glad I have it, for the most part it's serves me well (and when it doesn't it's usually my fault). I am trying to teach myself not to compair my body to anyone elses. I'm getting better at it (there have been some very tough times - especially when I've been studying dance, or having issues with food), but it's second nature in a way. I find it so hard to stay centered in who I am, what my body can do. It makes me so angry watching the way this [11]culture connects thinness to success, control, beauty, money, everything. It is such an effective way to margonalize people. I try to find jeans that fit, only to be subtle told that people just don't come in my size. I dance, I walk down the street proud of how I look, and the negitive reaction is scary. Not to me personally, but that it's so unthinking.
My body image is a weird thing. Some days I'll look in the mirror and think that I am gorgeous and that nothing needs changing, and others, I'll look in the mirror and see nothing but flaws. It wouldn't be so bad, but I take those 'flaws' very personally. When I was a little kid, I was used to people commenting on how skinny I was, which was mainly a result of my high metabolism and being so hyperactive that I only ate when my mom dragged me kicking and screaming to a table with food, because I just wanted to play. I think that those comments really started to, well, go away. People don't ever comment on my being "skinny" anymore, and when they do comment on my body, they say "figure". I HATE that word sometimes. It implies curves and curves imply fat to my mind. Maybe it's because I've been actively involved with gymnastics and ballet and figure skating for so long that I have this idea in my head that I have to be rail thin, but I don't know. And the thing is, I will never be rail thin, and I have to accept that. I have to tell myself every single day that curves are a good thing. Hips and breasts and round tummys are a GOOD THING. They're not something to be loathed and despised and wished away. Some days, actually, I don't have to tell myself that - those are the days that I look in the mirror and love myself. But those days, to tell the truth, don't come around very often. I'm starting to get better. I'm starting to get more comfortable with my no-longer-rail-thin figure. It's an uphill battle sometimes, though. I actually LIKE being short (since I don't aspire to the WNBA or anything), no matter how much I may complain about it. I generally think I look pretty good, but I wish I was slimmer. And when I'm clothes shopping I usually wish I had a smaller rear, because I can never find a pair of shorts and usually never find a pair of jeans and sometimes it's hard to find a dress that fits my waist AND my hips. - Emma I have a rather boyish body... people like to describe it as "athletic" even though I don't play any sports. I have nice legs and no breasts and whatever. It's not the kind of body that grosses people out or turns people on, and it probably helps with my "one of the guys" image, which is a mixed blessing. Girls seem to like and compliment my body a lot more than any guys do. My face/personality/sense-of-humor/voice/whatever-else has always been what has drawn guys who were attracted to me to me. I've never had a guy tell me he really likes my body. That makes me feel like less of a woman sometimes, but maybe more of a person... ~Summer wow, summer, you nailed it. "less of a woman, but maybe more of a person..." that's a choice that most women are encouraged to make, i think. and dare i say feminists especially? i used to think i was more "liberated" as a dyke because it freed me somehow from being traditionally female. i wasn't a woman; i was a dyke. and then i went through a phase were i insisted i was femme (a dyke category that tends to emphasize traditional cultural femininity, sort of). yet i hadn't really changed, and didn't want to. i still knocked around in baggy corduroys, opened my big ol' mouth, played drums with the big boys. yet i bat my eyelashes when i want to be kissed; i like to have my cigarettes lit; i like to wear beautiful tactile clothes and show off my body [1]. my woman's body. every day i walk around in this woman's body, with these breasts and this cunt, and i carry all of the significance that america projects onto that body. a few weeks ago my person milo told me i was a beautiful woman, and it all clicked. the femme thing was like a dyke highway for me that led to my reclaimation of "woman". i am a woman. i am a beautiful woman. that has very little to do with what i wear, how i act, how i put myself forth. "woman" is a term that belongs to me; i can make it mean whatever i want, because i am a woman. and a person. i won't choose between the two anymore. this isn't saying exactly what i sat down to say; it's too simplified. but somewhere in there is a little bit of my truth, tonight.
[1]: These are traits of mine that I'm associating with "womanhood". for christ's sake you don't have to bat your eyelashes or wear velvet overalls to reclaim the term. my point is that these are things i do anyway, and i'm owning and enjoying them. Mechanically (that's a really weird way to put it, but I can't think of a more appropriate word at this late hour... kinetically?), I'm really starting to dig my body. I lost that sense at some point (I don't remember... when I was fairly young), and I've just been regaining it over the last several months. It feels so much better when it's in motion... functional! Like it's more than just a vessel for my brain. It can run, it can leap, it can kick well above my head, it can dash through the woods vaulting over logs and keep right on going. I'd forgotten how much joy moving can bring. I feel like I could bicycle for days on even terrain, and I even tackled a few big ass Washington state hills the other week. Technically, this is a bit off topic, but it seems relevant to me. Learning to like how my body works is a big step towards learning to view it in a positive light. As for how I view it currently... most of the time I try not to think about it, but invariably I do, and it's usually with disappointment or shame. Occasionally I'll hear someone say "guys are lucky, they don't have to worry about how they look." That concept gets mentioned so much, I almost feel like I'm "intruding" by contributing to this page. But while it's true that males don't have it nearly as bad as females in the body image department, it is something we (or at least some of us, I can't speak for everyone) have to deal with. I'm tall. I'm fat. I'm a bit scruffy and rough around the edges. A lot of the time I move like someone who's not comfortable in their own skin. I can't imagine anyone finding me physically attractive. I intimidate some people, repulse others. Sometimes I get laughed at. Occasionally, I get laughed at, and I'm expected to laugh along. I notice a lot of people (basically anyone who doesn't know me very well) are very uncomfortable around me physically. If I'm sitting on the edge of a couch, and another person sits down, they will invariably sit at the other edge rather than sitting next to me. When there's already someone else on the couch, I've seen more than one person go so far as to sit on the floor, rather than sit next to me. At one of the hug circles at camp, one person refused to hug me. I realize this is partly the aura of being a bit distant that I tend to give off, but I don't think that's all of it. It's also rather self-reinforcing... I pick up on the fact that people are uncomfortable around me, and become more uncomfortable with myself. I don't feel like I'm "allowed" to sit down next to people, or initiate a hug, or join in a people-pile. When I mention this to people, they generally get over it, but I wish it weren't necessary to bring it up at all.
Nick, thanks so much for saying all that. (And, man, do I ever like the way you write, and what you write...)
On the general body image topic, recently I was looking through family photo albums Obviously there are exceptions, people who are a lot healthier when they are older (after they get off the crack...), and a lot of people look better when they are older because they get more confident, but in general everyone declines physically, and though that may seem incredibly negative, for me it's like, "yeah, one day I'll look back, at photos or whatever, and think how great looking I was when I was 18. So I might as well enjoy it now." I suppose it's a comparison to myself (of the future) instead of to other people. -/Reanna Some of this is replying to Summers post about how her body she dosn't feel attracts guys- I do not like myt body. i never really find myself beautiful- and if i do, i can always find someone more beautiful tan me.. but many people compliment me on my face or body, and i feel it sometimes makes me feel like less of a person- Like people like me less for who i am- i don't know... i always find things wrong with how i look- its a big problem i have- and i think it's just one of the places i put my fear- love-rachel ~~~ i think i have a rather negative body image. it's not that i necessarily hate every bit of myself, but i can look at each part of me and find flaws. i'll find myself absentmindedly staring in the mirror, critiquing everything and thinking of how it could be changed. i don't think i'm all too beautiful, or if i am, i think it's probably something you'll have to look for. then again, every year i look back at pics of myself and think-i didn't look too bad. so i'm trying to get a better picture in my mind. ~samara Ok. I know this is a first on this page for a guy to be writing here so I shall have the honor of being the first guy here to admit that I have a problem with how I look. I not happy with how my body looks. I am not overweight. I am in fact underweight. It hurts me when I see so much influence being placed on being thin. I see all these advertisements for weight loss programs and shit like that and I don't see why it is so important to be thin when all I want to do is gain weight. Stuart Sometimes I can't stand to look at my body. Sometimes I love it and appriciate every little bit. Sometimes other people seem to appriciate it. Sometimes I feel extremely short, stubby and thouroughly unnoticable. I don't get it. At the moment I think my body is really cool. It can take me wherever I need to go, it can heal itself, it can do a lot of really cool things. Image-wise... hell, I feel pretty tonight. I wish I did more with my body, was more aware of it. Well who invented bodies, anyway? they are inconvenient, need washing, resting, care, and wheretofore. i don't like mine if i think aboot it ~ it's too heavy and not floaty enough. I wish i was a bird! A blue one. With feathers. ~princessWindraina Although you know what? Although our bodies are somewhat related to what we are like inside, so much more is how we use our bodies. How you walk? Do you walk like you're fat? I do. Not like i want to, like a bird. Like a heavy spoiled princess, not a dancing one. like the big tough guy piece of me. or like the slurpy flitty fake girl part. Dependant. If you get what i mean. Does anyone else feel this? Your mental attitude suchly conveys physicall actions? ~the same okay I've just written and erased six entirely different paragraphs trying to respond to some things Reanna said on here, but now I realize I don't have anything to say in response, it's my reaction I need to express. I never realized what sharp lines I drew around people. for most of my life Reanna has been the most perfect person I knew, and I had a hundred little angsts and self loathings based around how much better than me Reanna was. fuck I can't believe I'm crying. and seeing her talk about having any kind of body issues or insecurities.. I really had to sit and stare at that for a long time, reanna was the perfect person who never had to worry about those things. I feel a fool, because I didn't even know her that well, it's not like we were these terribly intimate folks, but she was part of the same homeschool group as me and she was always a presence in my life. so I'm a bit shaken now. I don't know, I suppose I hope she doesn't read this but I don't know why. hell, I don't even know why I'm posting it except that it's true -Miranda I get lots of compliments on the shape of my body Of course, if I were to gain back the weight I've lost, I just know I'd be all, "Woe is me! I'm out of shape! Where did my nice, flat stomach go?" We always want what we don't have. Plus I'd miss other people's opinions of my body, which is half the point, right? Who do we want to look good for? Ourselves in the mirror? Or friends and family and strangers on the street? Be that as it may, what I like in my body is always the same. My collarbone that sticks out just the perfect amount. My really high foot arch. The way my hips swing when I walk. The way I can see the seperate muscles in my forarms. My long neck. The curve of my breasts, no matter what cup size they decide to be this month. Nothing, in the end, that relies on a certain amount of fat (or lack of such) in my body. -Samantha When I was young I was a pretty overweight kid and it got worse at about 13. I was very self-conscious all the time and it interfered with how I interacted, especially when meeting new people. At 15 or 16 I started eating better, I started rock climbing and riding my bike a lot and I eventually came down to a natural weight and became a pretty fit person. It's not like I just "grew out of it"; I had to work at it. I've been on both sides of the fence, and what I realized is that it's A LOT MORE FUN to 1) not have to worry so much about how I look, and 2) be able to do more stuff with my body, like run fast, jump over fences, etc. I really think that having been an overweight kid profoundly affects my psyche in ways that I would honestly rather do without, but that make me more empathetic to people who suffer similarly. Taber told me that I seem like the kind of person who was really popular at school, but that was not me at all. I was quite shy, kind of homely and have never been an extremely social person. There was talk of having a "shy people's" discussion at camp this year and I was very interested to go, because I still feel shy but am often able to overcome it, such as at camp this year, which is why I might have seemed more extroverted to people. Obviously the most attractive people are those who don't seem to be self-conscious and don't try too hard to be attractive. It doesn't matter if they're extremely shapely and beautiful. At least that's how I feel, and probably a lot of you, but there are a lot of women who dress themselves up like dolls and get a lot of attention. -jeff (sorry for running on like that) I like the way I look. I don't know what other peoplethink about the way I look, and I don't really care. I do however care about how much people like me... and thats what really gets me down and freaked out! my body? my body? sometimes i do not think of it as belonging to me. sometimes i view it merely as a resting place for me, the things, feelings and thoughts that really define who i am. but... can i define who i am through my physical appearance? sometimes i think i try too hard. sometimes i get caught up in this weird place where who you are is irrelevant, and it all comes down to your face, your hair, your body... how you carry yourself, how you look in pretty clothes. how many boys you can magnetize to yourself. is that what i want? do i want to be attractive to the opposite sex? i was just thinking, while i was gardening... i was wearing overalls and a little thrifty t-shirt, and my hair was messed up. i remember worrying about my neighbor seeing me, until i remembered he had skipped town. and then it didn't even matter what the rest of the people i was surrounded by thought of how i looked... just as long as my pretty boy didn't see me looking less than perfect. and who's to say that i was unattractive? yeah, i wasn't particularly pleased by my reflection. but it is so much more than just that. when people see me, they see so much more than just the clothes i'm wearing. at least, i know i see more when i look at people. even if i don't know them... i see the way they walk, the expression on their face, do they look happy? do they look sad? the world won't come crumbling down if i'm having a bad hair-day. i do not love my body today. it feels awkward and out of shape. when i look at myself, i don't see something that i could imagine being attractive... and the only reason i crave physical attractiveness is because of boys, and i full-out admit that. but beyond that i crave relationships with boys. fleeting ones, intense ones, long-term ones... it all appeals to me so much right now. it's just something that i find myself incurably interested in, and i don't think anything is wrong with that.. as long as i make some attempt to keep it under control. i'm getting stronger. but i don't feel that boys will find me attractive until i find myself attractive. and that's what i'm working on. i'm looking into belly-dancing classes right now. whenever i think about that i get all excited... it'll tone me, it'll sharpen my precision skills, i'll feel graceful and healthy again... these are my wishes. asking a lot just from a belly-dancing class? perhaps. we'll see. i want to start eating better, sleeping more and at less obscene hours, working out... there's so much i feel i'm lacking. i want to get back on track. i want to fall in love with myself again, so i can move on to realise that my physical awareness and appreciation is only the first step of many on the trail to knowing and feeling comfortable with myself. that's the goal i seek. i'm going to take it one step at a time. -moth In short, I really hate my body right now. I had a really bad audition experience last weekend, and basically I'm never going to be able to be a professional dancer because of my body. I'm not a twig, and I haven't been since I hit puberty. And did it ever hit back. I don't know what to do..I think I'd be really unhappy if I quit, but I can't imagine dancing "just for fun". Relatives always asking me about dancing doesn't help, either. What do I say? "Well, I'm having lots of Issues right now and I'm never going to be a professional dancer thanks to your fucking genes, but yeah, it's just peachy, thanks." I could just throttle my parents every time they mention auditions in front of relatives or their friends, because I inevitably get asked how it went, whether it's right then or weeks later, and I get to let them and me down all over again. That's just cruel. Also, I don't get how they could have not had an inkling of this. Either parents really are blind -any-where their kids are concerned, or they're complete idiots. I've been royally screwed over by ballet, and it's no fun. And now I'm burdening you all with this lovely information and I am so sorry I can't find the words.. but for some reason I'm going to post this anyway. I'm sorry. So sorry. You can't do anything, but..oh well. I hope if I have kids they never, ever dance. My brother lives on frozen bagels, cream cheese, macaroni and cheese and pizza. He plays tennis for two hours every week. He is a string bean. I dance two hours every fucking weekday and, well..yeah. Fuck this life.
I love to dance, and dancing helps me with my body confidence, confidence in what it can do, the strength it has, and the nice shapes and movements I can make with it (although I always feel like "eventually" I should befome more flexible, too, like a "real" dancer). So I think dance is good, but maybe not ballet. Ballet has not given me this feeling. I've only had like 3 total years or something of it, and it wasn't the ballet that gave me confidence. I've enjoyed the few classes I've had in it but those classes have only made the body-image hting worse. I'm used to dancing in a lot of layers (although, believe me, I've worried and analysed those in the mirror all through class, too), and having to get in more skimpy things that I'm not used to and compare with everyone else all through class just gets really tiring and frustrating. And is there really a ballet dancer in the world who does believe her body looks good? Body image and thinness and eating issues are such a huge thing in the ballet world, and if no one, even within the profession, can possibly look like what they think they're supposed to, why is that the image for ballet? More "normal" shaped people can do these same movements just as easily--I think--so why should we try to look so stick thin and boney and un-curvy? I also have a thing with toe work:why? I've never done it, and for years I've wished I could some day, but why? Why this strange unnatural, foot-messing-up thing? I wish that there could be a dance company somewhere that used a variety of body shapes and types and performed some of the graceful smooth movements of traditional ballet, without half or ANY of the toe work and with more energy, and without the male-female partnering. I wish there was more combination available. I want to keep dancing and I want to be able to perform and go professionl in some ecclectic way someday (in some modern dance company, maybe), and do a variety of things, and have fun wih it, and love it and enjoy it. I adore dancing, so I wish it didn't--even modern dance--sometimes seem like a thing to boycott. :( This has gotten really long and I've stuck it in in the middle of your conversations and writings where no one will probably see it anyway. Sorry. --Rachel H., who always felt pulled to the ballet she rejected and never ended up doing. 02/05/02
[11] aah! the CULTURE is invading us!!! I have a pretty good body image, I wish a could be a bit older looking, and be taller and stuff like that, but hey, you always wish for somthing you don't have eh? I have a tendancy to always want to be in better shape then I am now, more muscle tone stuff like that. But I have a good body image, the only thing i have to work on is the self image of my personality...-NickV Body? What body? Oh yeah that thing... Nearly all girls want to be thinner (except some of the ones who already are too thin) and guys want to be big and buff. Like my brother who's built to be small and strong but keeps trying to put on weight and be a macho stocky guy. He's not. He's not meant to be. My friend has a beautiful body, maybe a little thin, even though she's put on about 15 pounds this year. She used to be anorexic for god's sake, with no hips or boobs or anything, just this little boney stick. She admits to having starved herself because she says she wanted to be like the models in the media. Personally I think all magazines that have supposedly beautiful people are evil. They make everyone else feel ugly. I try not to flip through them, to obsess over every extra inch I do or do not have. Why the fuck can't they have NORMAL LOOKING PEOPLE in magazines and catalogs? Not friggin stick goddesses? Another one of my friend's little sisters thinks she's fat. She's 10 years old, about 5 feet tall and 75 pounds. She tiny, but all the other girls in her glass have even more stickish legs, except the chubby one. I hate all this, and yet I feel so much better about myself when I lose weight. Ok, I'm done ranting now. TheMysteryPoster Heh, I'm one of the few guys posting on here:) I pretty much like my body, my body isn't a problem. Well, I really hate my nose, I could really do with a smaller one, but even that looks ok, I guess, and I suppose I look pretty good. And most of all, I look good to myself, which to me is the most improtant part. Well, it depends on my mood. sometimes I find myself incredibly beautiful, and sometimes I find myself stupid and geeky looking. But that's not what I was going to write about. I was goinig to write more about my image, rather than if I look good or not. For instance, right now I'm growing my hari long, and sometimes I think it looks SO COOL, but sometimes I think it just looks shaggy and unkept and i want to cut it short. it's the mood I'm in that decides if I look good or not. it's more a matter of WHAT I look good in, so usually I hit a happy medeiom which is actually an unhappy mediom, because I've convinced myself that that way I have no style and that's boring. But overall, I'm happy with the body I got dealt. Well, kind of. I keep changing my mind if I should do dayly push ups or not. Right now I am, my reason being is that I should keep my body strong, in case I need it. but when I don't do them, I think "you're just doing it out of vanity, that's not a good enough reason". so I should just stick to one or the other. But it's all good in the end. Josh NBTSWikiWiki | Recent Changes Edited 103 times, last edited on February 8, 2002 by dj-tommyboy@nbtsc.org. © 2000 NBTSC Webmasters |
Thomas
