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Would You Be Proud of Your Naked Soul?
Will your eyes be as pretty if you removed the lashes? Will your chest be popping without the silicone? Will your hair make waves if the extensions came off? Will they be enchanted if you showed your true soul? These are questions I wish every girl asked herself. I guess it pains me to hear a 12-year-old say that she has to get her eyebrows done so that her peers don’t make fun of her, or a 16-year-old think her world will come to an end if her nails aren’t done for the first day of her last year of high school. (True story.) What have we become? I’ve traveled…
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Eat a Sandwich! — and Other Commands
“You’re skinny as a dog,” my classmate, Jess, said to me once in high school. That’s my earliest recollection of anyone ever bringing my own weight to my attention as an attempt to offend me. Although I found her dog analogy a bit unfitting, I knew what she meant. But looking back, I also realize those were actually some of my “fuller” years. I wasn’t over or underweight, I remember. I just appeared thinner next to them. Every now and then, I would get confused when people called me “la flaca” because I didn’t even see myself that way; skinny. And on other occasions, I would be oblivious of the…
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An Ordinary Body in Miami
Do I like Miami? Yes. Would I live in Miami for the rest of my life? Leaving out the fact that I can’t be at one place for too long (on this humongous planet with so many places to go and see), I can’t see myself calling this place home for the long run. However, when in the US, I now can’t see myself out of Miami either. Eight months ago I made the move — I previously lived in Spain and Philadelphia. It was supposed to be Los Angeles. I had dreamed of California living for a long time, so I was very excited to go there and test…
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Where Empowerment Doesn’t Come From
Absolutely LOVED this article by Beauty Redefined, where they call Victoria’s Secret on their “empowering” bullsh*t. What girls need is campaigns like VS to go away; to stop selling unhealthy and dangerous standards to our younger generation. You’re in control of your body, ladies. Remember that. Here’s an excerpt: This brand begs us to believe, and totally relies on us believing, that our power comes from enhancing, accessorizing, fixing, and flaunting our bodies. It relies on us believing beautiful and “sexy” look ONE very specific way — very thin, tall, young, and wrinkle- and cellulite-free — and that we must achieve those ideals by any means necessary in order to…
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The Body Shaming Cycle
Short comic of the body shaming cycle, as illustrated by designer and illustrator Colleen Clark. Here’s an interview with the illustrator
