Category Archives: body image
Guys Care About Their Looks, But It’s Complicated
Guys care about their looks.
Less so than girls — who are more strongly judged by their appearance. But they do care.
And no wonder, since looks are one way to gain sex, status and self-esteem. (So no surprise that Casanovas — who want A LOT of sex partners — are especially body-conscious.)
But it’s complicated. Read the rest of this entry
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A Sexy Halloween for Grade Schoolers?
Check out the change in Halloween costumes over the years. Girls are learning that a big part of their job is to look sexy. And they’re getting that message at a tender age.
Now that’s scary!
Then and now images, via Sociological Images:
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My Bumpy Trek: From Tomboy to Sex Object to Me
Bullying pretty girls
By KEG
As a little girl I wanted to be a boy. As a teen I wanted to be a Cosmo Girl.
I got punished either way.
Sometimes so badly that I stopped eating and started hiding and cutting.
Many scrapes and bruises later, I’m glad to be me. Read the rest of this entry
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From Blonde to Brunette
Blondes aren’t dumb, even if you think so.
By Erica Dalton
My brunette, Jewish mom was happy to have a blonde, blue-eyed daughter.
But then, she grew up being told that what’s desirable was the opposite of her. Sexy was blonde, from Cinderella to Grace Kelly to Marilyn Monroe.
Even though my mom grew to love herself, I guess she was glad that I would not have to feel unsexy.
Sure, men are privileged by being male, but attractive females are privileged, too. You are noticed more. You’re more popular. You get attractive guys.
If you don’t mind the stigmas attached to “sexy” you can milk it for all it’s worth. Read the rest of this entry
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Be… But Don’t Be… Pretty, Girly, Sexy
The sexual double-bind: damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
By Caitie Adler
In my kindergarten mind girls were beautiful and boys were tough. And since girls were beautiful, I was beautiful.
By middle school things looked a lot more complicated.
I’d learned that girls should be pretty. And I tried to be. But there was a downside. Read the rest of this entry
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Do better looking people have better personalities?
Beauty: Just skin deep
By Lisa Wade, PhD @ Sociological Images
Do better looking people have better personalities?
People seem to think so.
At one time OkCupid gave users the opportunity to rate each other twice: once for personality and once for looks. The two were strikingly correlated. Read the rest of this entry
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A Year Without Mirrors
Mirror, Mirror Off the Wall
Imagine living a year without seeing your reflection in a mirror.
That’s what Kjerstin Gruys did when her engagement transformed her from intelligent grad student to “bridezilla.”
You’ve heard of the “bikini body.” Well, Kjerstin fretted over not having an adequate “bride body” in time for her wedding — if ever.
As she viewed dress after dress in the scrutiny of dressing room mirrors, and through the mind’s eye of her imagined wedding day — and after purchasing three different dresses — she knew she had a problem. One which echoed an earlier eating disorder.
So she pledged to give up mirrors for a year, in hopes of regaining her real values. Read the rest of this entry
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His & Hers Objectification
Check out the side-by-side comparisons that show how strange it is when women and men get the same sex object treatment:
Women don’t seem to objectify men the way men do women.
It’s not that we’re any better. We just aren’t bombarded by a steady stream of sexualized and fetishized men and man-parts — that unconsciously seep into our brains. Thus, when men are turned into sex objects, it can look ridiculous.
But why’s objectification a problem? Read the rest of this entry
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I Didn’t Want To Be Pretty
The goth look
By Victoria King
Man clothes, dark, heavy makeup, scarcely a trace of femininity: that was me in high school. I hated the notion that girls had to be pretty and were valued only for their looks. I wanted people to appreciate me for being fun, funny and a good debater.
I felt like women made themselves out to be pretty idiots because they were naturally shallow and stupid.
And envious. I hated the competition between females, so I looked as weird as possible hoping no one would see me as a threat. Read the rest of this entry
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Who’s Ugly Rush Limbaugh?
Hunky Rush
Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.
Bunch of cows!
That’s what Rush Limbaugh wants everyone to think, anyway.
I watched him voice those words as I joined my class in watching Jackson Katz’s classic film, Tough Guise.
I could only wonder, “Who’s ugly? Who’s a cow?”
If I were Rush, I wouldn’t be inviting unflattering comparisons to yours truly. Read the rest of this entry
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