Also homo, I love your glasses in the first pic.
― carl agatha, Monday, 8 July 2013 23:18 (ten years ago) link
love this thread, learning to love my beer wobble
― the SI unit of ignorance (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 10:42 (ten years ago) link
In my mid 20s I was skinny as a rake with no tits and I hid under loose tshirts and baggy pants (lol 90s) and I now regret that massively because I was always cute and just didnt KNOW it back then. TBH I also didnt care, but I always felt very plain, dumpy and invisible.
Now I have boobs and arse but it comes with the acceptance of sagging and age but I think I'm ok with it. My issue is less with weight (tho I'd be happy with my size if I had BOOBS which I just dont) than it is with frumpiness tbh. And now, with age. Watching one's face slowly gravitate downwards is alarming.
― It is like ganging up on Enya (Trayce), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 11:04 (ten years ago) link
This isn't specifically on-topic but I've read this thing 3 times and I keep marveling at it.
The Young-Girl and the Selfie
The Young-Girl is the model citizen of contemporary society not because we worship her, but because by expending her energy on the cultivation of her body, her potential as a revolutionary subject is neutralized. If young girls are the hated bodies of capital (along with immigrant bodies, racialized bodies, LGBT bodies, etc) then they must also be predictable bodies; that is why we spend inordinate amount of money on emphasizing the important of beauty, the importance of fashion, the importance of youthfulness and desirability and individuality. If the best way of making your womanhood legible is to adorn your body in a particular way — whether femme or punk rock or teeny bopper or whatever — then there is an injunction to perform that work. Women who do not do that work, particularly teenage girls who ‘opt out’ as it were, face social repercussions far more meaningful than some 40-year-old dude calling them narcissists. We elevate the work women do on their bodies to the utmost importance, and then punish the outcome of that labour. That is how hegemony works.
A) lol grads skoolB) Whoah
― Tottenham Heelspur (in orbit), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 11:14 (ten years ago) link
duckface as Most Radical Gesture
― the SI unit of ignorance (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 11:17 (ten years ago) link
I know this is more a thread about body, but can it be about face too? Thats the bit of me I hate most and struggle to love as I age. I pull m skin back Brazil-style and wonder about plastic surgery... then slap myself :)
― It is like ganging up on Enya (Trayce), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 11:37 (ten years ago) link
lol okay Mandee, I've been thinking that guy looked familiar too but since you said he's in NYC I gave it some real thought and...was he on a makeover tv show? This is a long shot, I know.
― Tottenham Heelspur (in orbit), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 12:00 (ten years ago) link
Trayce, faces are part of bodies IMO. Also aging is definitely part of my struggle to KIP re my body and I have a lot to say but will save it for later when I'm awake.
― carl agatha, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 12:39 (ten years ago) link
ah man sometimes i look every day of my age plus a few more years on top but then other times i feel like i'm still not half as haggard as i could be
― the SI unit of ignorance (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 13:28 (ten years ago) link
i am a grizzled hoos. okay w that tbh.
― twerking for obvious reasons (contenderizer), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 13:58 (ten years ago) link
^ or so i'm told
I try to remind myself that things are not going to get any better, so I could spend this time feeling bad about what I used to look like or I could whoop it up (whatever I've still got) while I still have it. Trying to stop aging or "reduce" it will not stop the passage of time. I understand that there is a huge cosmetics industry devoted to anti-aging creams, but something tells me that it's snake oil and the only way out is to enjoy what I can of the good years. Because someday we're all going to look old because we will all be old.
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:01 (ten years ago) link
i come across a bunch of people on OKCupid who are apparently younger than me and look older than me
― the SI unit of ignorance (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:02 (ten years ago) link
we're going to have to figure out how to still feel good about ourselves when physical beauty is off the tablemight as well start now so i'm set with a full tank of self-esteem when i'm 60
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:03 (ten years ago) link
i think on the whole people of our generation look more "youthful" than people of my mom and dad's generation. i also think most of us adjust our notions of beauty as we get older - i can't imagine being repulsed by everybody my own age, that would be effed up. and age is really this factor that you only recognize in yrself, by remembering yrself - as far as looks go it's really only a small factor in the mix of what makes somebody attractive
― the SI unit of ignorance (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:08 (ten years ago) link
i'm talking about the way we feel about ourselves, not our desirability to others necessarilybeing attractive to others isn't really what this thread is about, is it? it's about how we feel about ourselves?
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:10 (ten years ago) link
maybe i'm confused
no you're right but i was thinking about how we appraise ourselves and it's tied into the way we appraise others isn't it? i feel like it is for me, or like i'm not thinking "do i like the way i look?" but "will other people like the way i look?"
― the SI unit of ignorance (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:12 (ten years ago) link
see, that's where we're different
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:12 (ten years ago) link
i think if other people weren't in the equation i wd be 100 percent contented with me on the surface, just the aches and pains i can do without
― the SI unit of ignorance (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:13 (ten years ago) link
what you say is interesting to me, and maybe it's a gendered experience? do women learn to appraise themselves differently to men on the whole do you think?
― the SI unit of ignorance (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:14 (ten years ago) link
i can't control what other people think, i can only control what i think (and just barely). i focus on feeling comfortable for me; if people like to/can't bear to look at me that's not really my problem. one time one of my students told me, "if my husband saw me wearing your outfit, he would tell me i looked ridiculous" and i was like "would you have any interest in wearing this outfit?" and she said no, and i was like well ok then. no problem.
i have forced myself to appraise myself this way because i would never measure up otherwise. it's a learned skill, imo!
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:16 (ten years ago) link
yeah, maybe trying to second guess other people is one of my secret little headfucks
― the SI unit of ignorance (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:20 (ten years ago) link
I was all prepared for her to be like "I wish I could wear that kind of outfit too."
― how's life, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:21 (ten years ago) link
Well that's interesting, I just came here to say I think I maintain body positivity to some extent by just making a mental break from allowing myself to care if it's attractive to others. I can love it, because I live in it and it does things for me, and that makes me love its capabilities, but expecting other ppl to love it is too impossible to imagine. In a fatalistic but kind of cheerful way!
― Tottenham Heelspur (in orbit), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:26 (ten years ago) link
It's not the end of the world, if I don't care how I look to others I get to keep wearing the ugliest, most horrible house-clothes and they're so comfortable.
― Tottenham Heelspur (in orbit), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:30 (ten years ago) link
my round the house clothes are all hilariously grotty
― the SI unit of ignorance (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:32 (ten years ago) link
tbf i wd live in a dressing gown and shorts if i was allowed
― the SI unit of ignorance (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:33 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOnZ3YtA1Q0
basically Eazy is my inspiration
someday we're all going to look old because we will all be old. we're going to have to figure out how to still feel good about ourselves when physical beauty is off the tablemight as well start now so i'm set with a full tank of self-esteem when i'm 60
You're so right that this is, like, echoing in my head.
xp I have tshirts I used to line-cook in when I was 16. They look like it.
― Tottenham Heelspur (in orbit), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:34 (ten years ago) link
it's sustainable energy at the most personal level
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:39 (ten years ago) link
Good article on selfies xp. It can't be overstated how stupid and short sighted it is to complain about "narcissism of the youth" instead of the hegemonic systems that produce these insecure subjects
― Treeship, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:45 (ten years ago) link
aging and physical appearance are such a weird thing to address, because while there's the actual physical process of aging that some people view as a negative, there's also the fact that many people feel more comfortable in their own skin as they age and that confidence can change perceptions
I know in the last five or so years I've definitely physically aged, partially due to a lot of stressors I had in my life and a bit of hard living. But I've also become much more comfortable with who I am and my appearance. So last week I was flattered when I got id'ed to buy beer, but then I was also flattered when someone at a bar (where I feel comfortable hanging out and talking to strangers) guessed my age within a year -- one year older, actually!
― mh, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:48 (ten years ago) link
I think that was the biggest lie that was implied when I was a kid -- that you make it through puberty, and become an adult, and then as an adult you're supposed to stay relatively the same physically until you "get old" and any other changes are because you did something negative (got fat), or did something positive (started some crazy fitness thing).
This is kind of all bullshit because everyone is constantly changing, not just due to age but their environment, and there's no inherent good/bad value judgment. They're just changes.
― mh, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 14:51 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMGRYWFD-2A
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 15:12 (ten years ago) link
oh, you
― mh, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 15:13 (ten years ago) link
i think everyone just needs to listen to zen arcade enough times and they will come out on the other side of the tunnel
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 15:16 (ten years ago) link
(not really but it helps)
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 15:17 (ten years ago) link
I'm on a slow climb out of negativeheadspace -- i'm nowhere near KIP but I've discovered that being fat and looking good is as simple as a) wearing stuff that makes me happy and/or b)smiling because I'm happy
like the difference in the 2 photos homoII posted for me comes down to the look on her face - the first she just looks sad (and the first thing I said to myself was oh damn I know that face) and in the second, she looks unfuckwithable because she's fucking BEAMING.
for me I'm just trying to learn not to mentally retreat when I'm out in the world, but be present and enjoy just being me out in the world.
so, that.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 15:30 (ten years ago) link
be present and enjoy just being me out in the world.
<3 <3 <3 <3
― Tottenham Heelspur (in orbit), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 16:13 (ten years ago) link
hello thread, ilu and glad that you exist, each of you a body
― ⚓ (elmo argonaut), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 19:13 (ten years ago) link
i would like to be more positive about my body
― ⚓ (elmo argonaut), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 19:14 (ten years ago) link
honestly i would like to learn how to be more consciously integrated ~into~ my body, become comfortable with actually just ~being~ a body, instead of having this concept of my body as a mind-vehicle
― ⚓ (elmo argonaut), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 19:16 (ten years ago) link
cartesian dualism is stupid and dumb
!!!! I have almost posted something similar about six times already!
― carl agatha, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 19:20 (ten years ago) link
I feel more like I am just a body, sometimes. With its flaws, which I seem to obsess over one at a time in a neurotic fashion. Maybe quirks is a better word.
― mh, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 19:20 (ten years ago) link
the purpose of my brain is to obsessively fixate on how my glasses are out of place and attempt to adjust them every 20 seconds for three hours, or to sit up a little too rigidly because I've decided my posture is bad
― mh, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 19:21 (ten years ago) link
one of the things that makes dualism happen is when there is a "you" that wants to do something and "your" body is complaining/refusing/being a dick about it
― the SI unit of ignorance (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 9 July 2013 19:22 (ten years ago) link
Brains have multitudes of quirks and flaws, too. They just don't show up in photographs, so you have to look harder to see them. xp
― Aimless, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 19:26 (ten years ago) link
!mind positivity~
― mh, Tuesday, 9 July 2013 19:29 (ten years ago) link