Body Talk
Your body, your choice? A place to debate and discuss the complexities and controversies surrounding women's' health issues, reproductive rights, and bodily autonomy.
Not Living Up to Someone Else's Ideal of Beauty...
For too many years I have attempted to live up to someone else's ideals of what I should look like. "But Tiffany, you look better slim."
Tiffany AllenPublished 6 years ago in VivaBody Positive?
I like to think of myself as outwardly accepting of others, regardless of my thoughts and feelings on their behaviors, beliefs, and beings. But there are three things that truly dishearten me about humans, myself included, I hasten to add and they’ve slotted themselves nicely into the unique-little-snowflake culture that has engulfed us millennials. They call themselves, in the style of a generation raised on spasmodic adspeak “body positive,” “you do you,” and “intellectual differences.” I’ve talked about the second and third before and intend to do so again in the near future but, for now, I’m going to focus on the first one.
My Experience with Skinny Shaming
I'm a size zero—the size often referenced as the pinnacle of beauty. The phrase "you don't have to be a size zero to be beautiful" is one common to the body positivity movement, and I wholeheartedly agree. What I'm here to tell you is that not only does beauty come in different sizes, but being a size zero does not inherently mean you're confident and love your body. For me, it's meant quite the opposite.
Katie BurkholderPublished 6 years ago in VivaMerry Christmas to Me, I Got an IUD
I have been a big fan on IUDs (intrauterine devices) for quite some time, but I never made a real effort to get one. I mentioned it to by OB/GYN in Chicago about a year ago, but they were having trouble with my insurance. I was already on the pill, and it was working quite well—in the sense that I hadn’t gotten pregnant. So I dropped the idea of an IUD and stuck with the birth control I already had.
Grace MikusPublished 6 years ago in VivaBeauty Is In the Eye of the Beholder
Why are some people considered “more attractive than others”? There has been a significant amount of research done on the effect that advertising in the fashion and beauty industry has on women. By creating advertisements with unrealistic images of beauty, it has resulted in anxiety, low self-esteem, and low self-confidence in many women. Most of these negative emotions come from unhappiness among body and appearance when they do not look like the girls in the magazines. Who sets these beauty standards and how far will we go to become “beautiful” in society’s eyes?
Lily PapenfusPublished 6 years ago in VivaDecision of a Lifetime
When something bad occurs to someone else, you think to yourself, “That will never happen to me, it’s impossible.” We always have the assumption that nothing bad will ever happen to us, until it actually happens...
rebecca smithPublished 6 years ago in VivaFemale Genital Mutilation Is a Woman's Health Issue
Female Genital Mutilation, or FGM for short, dates back about 2000 years. It is a practice that involves removing all or most of the clitoris, the labia minora, or both. This is an international practice that has received pushback from mostly feminist groups in the early 1990s, which led to an official FGM ban called the Female Genital Mutilation Act in 1996 stating the following: “Whoever knowingly circumcises, excises, or infibulates the whole or any part of the labia majora or labia minor or clitoris of another person who has not attained the age of eighteen years shall be fined under this title or imprisoned...” (Chase). This act made it illegal to continue the practice of FGM in the United States; however, the act is still prominent in other countries, especially in the horn of Africa. Although the practice is unlawful, including twenty-six states that have added specific laws that prohibit FGM, it is discreetly practiced among intersex infants and internationally.
Zuleika BravoPublished 6 years ago in VivaThe Reflection I See
Each time a loved one tells me I am beautiful, I struggle to understand what they see in me that is beautiful. The worst part is, I can't figure out if they're just saying that because they feel sorry for me, or because I LITERALLY see a different reflection staring back at me in the mirror. Not being able to distinguish between reality and delusion when it comes to your body is soul-crushing. Is what I'm seeing real? Is that really my face? Is that really my body? If that's what I really look like, how could anyone truthfully say I am beautiful?
Olivia EdwardsPublished 6 years ago in VivaWhat Does It Mean to Be a Female in This Society?
BODY IMAGE! SELF-ESTEEM! SHE'S TOO CONFIDENT! OH WAIT, NOW SHE'S TOO INSECURE! LOVE YOURSELF! BUT NOW SHE'S ACTING LIKE THE CENTRE OF ATTENTION!
What Is Beauty?
Why, as women, do we feel we need to conform to society’s expectations of what women look like or what we wear!? We, as women, are SO HARD on ourselves! We must have the skinny waist with the flat stomach, big butt, and wide hips, know the mastery of makeup, how to apply fake lashes and drawn on eyebrows. We aren’t mannequins or Barbie or even the celebrities we see on television or movies, but WE—yes, ladies, WE—listen to the media, listen to men who idolize these sex symbols, and we try and transform ourselves into what we are not!
Beauty Pageants: Inspiring or Degrading?
Imagine a six-year-old girl. Perhaps she’s your daughter, or your niece, or even just a stranger. She sits in a chair for hours, getting layers and layers of makeup put on, completely changing how she looks, and even gets a spray tan, changing the color of her skin. She wears fake eyelashes and bleaches her teeth. This little girl is completely changed to look like a mini-adult, for people to judge whether or not she fits a mold they themselves created of how a child should look, looking nothing like herself.
Shannon ButlerPublished 6 years ago in VivaLiving With Body Dysmorphia
Like many children, I started out skinny. Looking back at pictures of when I was a little girl, I had the cute belly and always ran around without a shirt. I was a daddy's girl and just wore shorts like he did. My mom was always on top of staying in shape. She had a whole routine where she'd excerise in front of the television. I used to mock her because some of her exercising were yoga poses.