WHAT WE'RE ABOUT
We are constantly redefining our own perspectives, and therefore tend to write a lot about our personal experiences. Many followers and contributors are living with anorexia, bulimia, body dysmorphic disorder, depression, and a variety of other body image disorders or mental illnesses, so please be respectful and remember that health applies differently to everyone. Any and all potentially triggering content will be prefaced with a trigger warning.
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We are not health professionals. Any and all advice provided on this blog is supported only by our own research, studies, and personal experiences; nothing more.
This blog is part of the Safe Space Network.
I love when it gets warm outside because I can wear shorts and dresses and jiggle my thighs around, which is one of my favorite feelings.
I was always told that when you are fat you must wear solid colors and they can not be to loud. Well I decided that it was time to break that code. I love my body and I want to show everyone how wonderful it is.
Hi! I’m Zoey, and I’m 16. I’m the girl in this photo :)
It’s taken me ages to come to terms with my body. I’ve hated it so much, and struggled with eating disorders of many types. I’ve also struggled with self-harm and depression. But I’m starting to get better, and starting to realize that I’m beautiful just the way I am.
Part of it is finding trendy clothes that fit, like this dress! I’m kinda in love with “plus size” stores because they have amazing clothes that ACTUALLY are made to fit us bigger girls, and have styles that look good on us.
I had an amazing time at my TOLO dance this year, with my great date. It was so much fun, and I loved it, and the way I looked that night. First time I’ve felt that way in a long time, and I’m so happy to be getting to this point.
I found this blog at the beginning of the semester, through a link at xojane, and it really really hit home. I realized that I need to make a concerted effort to work on loving myself (even though society tells me not to)- not through diet and exercise and self flagellation, but through acceptance. This project was an attempt at that. I researched fertility figures, and the ones that I liked best were the ones with round hips and large heavy breasts. The ones that resembled me. It reminds me that this obsession with size 0 is a recent trend. There have been times throughout history where we have been revered as the standard of beauty. So not only is this figure a reach into the past, but it is also a self portrait.
She has two faces, one forward and one back- and when I have some time, I will be setting a stone on either side- a moonstone for the Maiden aspect and a Labradorite for the Crone.
Thank you for giving me the courage to explore this. I still have some really bad, triggering days, but I hope that my new totem can help me remember that the clamoring of the media is not the truth of the world. I am a fat woman and that is ok.
I went through a dark period in my life where depression knocked me right off my feet. I ended up being hospitalized at a mental health facility for 9 days. I got discharged and was doing better, but I kept falling into the pit of depression and going back to the hospital. Throughout this process I was using not only self injury but food as a coping skill to deal with my unhelpful thoughts and feelings. I gained a lot of weight in the past year. Starting last summer I began to completely hate my body. I would have panic attacks if I looked in the mirror too long because I couldn’t stand the skin I was in. Never in a million years would I have dreamed of submitting a photo like this. But I have found blogs like this and I am working as hard as I can to love myself, and it is paying off. I can now proudly say that I love my belly, my stretch marks, my thighs, my lack of collarbones, my arms, my scars, and everything in between. This is my body, and I am not ashamed. ♥ http://s-ecular.tumblr.com
all these years now of pretending i wasn’t real, not embracing the physical; to now understand what exactly is real. what i feel is real, what i know is real, and even more that love is real.
sometimes i wish i saw this sooner, sometime sooner then now.
I went shopping today with a friend. I wore a skirt that functions as both comfy and a little sexy. I bought a great pair of shoes I will refer to as my Zeldas because they remind me of 1920s fashion. During this shopping trip my friend and I were discussing various body-related troubles, and I found myself saying, instinctively, “There is one thing about my body I like.”
“That’s great!,” she responded. “You should always have at least one thing you like. What is it?”
“My breasts.”
“Yeah, I can see that!”
It’s true! I do like my breasts. They’re large Ds, but despite their size they are soft, supple, and firm, they don’t sag far, are pale and pink, and they look really great lifted in a bra.
I’ve also been told by more than one person that they feel great, and look even better when I’m lying down.
It felt really weird to type that, by the way…
Anyway, I should be able to like things about myself without the opinions of others, but I’m not quite that confident yet. So, I’ll say that my feelings are confirmed often. Men love them and compliment them both appropriately and inappropriately (though men tend to love breasts in general, so the relevance there is limited), and even women tend to love them. I’ve been to strip clubs a few times, and I cannot count how many times the dancers have come to me, sat down, and talked about my breasts. They ask if they’re real, they ask to touch them, express jealousy, and so on.
Now, there are down sides to having them. Clothing sometimes doesn’t fit when it should, shirts that don’t appear too low-cut on other women appear so on me because I have so much cleavage I can’t really stop it from showing, and some men think just because my cleavage exists that gives them the right to comment on it.
I mean, I understand they’re very much “there,” and it’s sometimes difficult not to take a look, particularly when I’ve opted for low-cut, but can you not control yourself enough to avoid looking like a deer in headlights? Or shouting really stupid shit like, “Look at them tig ol’ bitties!”
I’d like to kick the man who made that up in the crotch.
There’s also my mother, who thinks that losing weight, and breast size as a result, is a good thing.
What it comes down to is me, though. I found something to like, and that is a huge thing for me. Hopefully there will be a Part 2 to this soon.
i used to be so afraid nothing could save me from myself.
I have bought these skeleton tights on ebay to go with some Gothic Lolita or creepy cute outfit. I totally love how my legs look in tights and they are obviously needed during winter if you want to wear a skirt!
The reason I am submitting though, is that people have been bothering me about the size of my thighs. I have received lots of hate when wearing short skirts, so I just kept hiding them in sweatpants… I have also had several periods in my life where I compulsively worked-out and starved myself to make sure to fit into the beauty standards.
My own mother has even asked me ‘Shouldn’t you get breast implants? because your chest looks ridiculous with a butt like that.’ What if I don’t WANT them, I am already super happy to actually have breasts, (as a trans* person ;) ) why do people still bring me down like this?!
I don’t want to hide anymore, I am not less of a human because I have more fat on my thighs than I have on my chest… I don’t need a ‘thigh gap’ to be happy or beautiful. Neither does any other person. A few extra pounds can actually be better and healthier and I just wish people saw that.
Ever have one of those days when you’re unsure how much phobia, hatred and all the bullshit society throws towards us that you can handle?
If I see one more Special K advert telling me I need to weight x amount to have self worth, I’m going to break my fucking television. Thank you for making my day 5x harder.
If I see one more poster of some airbrushed model who prefers to stand for nothing but an unattainable level of perfection to an audience of young, impressionable Women; I’m going to rip it off the wall and shove it in the garbage where it fucking belongs.
If I have to be fronted with one more comment like “This is ONLY x amount of calories; feel less guilty and have this disgusting alternative”, I’m going to take it off the shelf and stamp on it approximately twenty times. Because that’s what I fucking feel like doing.
If some ridiculous company ran by people who clearly have the intelligence of a fucking fish, tell me that I have to be a certain size to fit their idea of beautiful, hot, sexy, whatever; I’m going to cut the label out of every fucking clothing item in their store because it doesn’t matter what size you are.
The next time someone compliments my body based on their like/dislike/preference, it isn’t a compliment because YOU like it. I like myself for myself, if you want to actually compliment me, then state it based on something that matters; like the fact I’ve got a sparkling muthafucking personality, not whether or not I’m the size you find visually pleasing.
The next time some uneducated, naive person tries to tell me what is right for MY body; whether that be how much exercise I should be doing, how many calories I should be consuming, or whether or not I can allow myself to eat such a thing; I’m going to honestly tell them to shove their idealistic standards up their fucking backsides and grab a reality check. If you really had any concern for my well being, you would focus on my happiness; not some ‘statistics’ (informal consent, look it up.)
If someone decides it’s within their right to tell me I have to cover up my acne excessively in order to look pretty enough, I’m going to smash ten bottles of foundation and tell them to fuck off.
The next time someone tells me my ass is ‘too big’, my lips are ‘nice and voluptuous’, or my ‘hips stick out a tad’; I’m going to tell them that my body is no concern of theirs, because their opinion is no fucking concern of mine.
(This could go on forever..)
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http://i49.tinypic.com/20gjhn5.jpg
i dont usually like my body because i always thought of it as unproportionate and my boobs were thought of as funny looking but i am finally feeling good about myself enough to take nudes and feel good looking at them, so i decided to share :)
Its taken me along time to start loving my body, i’ve made great strides over the past few months. So I think I should share it with the world :]
