Eating Disorder Art

EDIT: You'll have to click on the individual images to see them full size.

Even though anorexia and bulimia are tragic, the art produced by those who suffer from them is always so inspiring. These are some that I found on DeviantArt.

Title: Anorexia. LINK TO THE ARTIST

I like that. This should be an advertisement in a magazine or something, or a billboard.

Title: Anorexia. LINK TO THE ARTIST

Possibly one of the most powerful ones I've seen. Title: ANOREXIA. LINK TO THE ARTIST

I LOVE this. This makes a statement about the media using pieces of the media itself.

TITLE: Barbie Anorexia. LINK TO THE ARTIST

I'm so happy to have found this. This lady uploaded this photo of herself and describes it as a glamour shot of her own curves. There is no photoshopping of her body or skin. We all need confidence like that.

TITLE: Body Confidence. LINK TO THE ARTIST

According to the artist, this wasn't meant to be a statement about body image. But I like it anyway.

TITLE: Body Image. LINK TO THE ARTIST

DeviantArt.com has so many examples of great art dealing with this subject. Tomorrow I'll focus on the strange pro-anorexia movement and I'll post more pictures having to deal with it.

It's refreshing to see...

...this woman on the cover of Seventeen. I remember getting this in the mail a couple years ago and it just making my day. This woman is Whitney Thompson, winner of America's Next Top Model in 2008. She was the first plus size woman to win the title of America's Next Top Model. As part of her prize, she got a spread in Seventeen magazine. The article itself was a little less than impressive, because while she was given a golden opportunity to talk about the beauty of women of all sizes, she decided to talk trash about skinny girls. But, all that aside, she's probably one of few plus size women to ever appear on the cover of this magazine, if not the only one.

I think it's kind of wrong that she won the competion and was promised a magazine cover, but they made this issue one with two covers, and still put a more "normal" celebrity on the other side. =/ She did look really good in the spread though. Here's the only other one I can find online:

But I did find some more pictures of her taken after she won, after her career took off:

She really is gorgeous. You don't hear much about her anymore. I hope she's getting work. She really does care about putting a better image of what women look like out there.

Anti-Flag

This is a song by Anti-Flag called, "This is the End for You My Friend" that talks about unrealistic media images. I was going to post the lyrics, but for some reason Blogger has no copy and paste function? :( Here's a sample and a link to the full text.

Seems every station on the tv is selling something no one can be
If every page was torn from the magazine,
would cash still drive the media machine?
We will not witness this anymore.
EDIT: Link to the video

Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty

This campaign is one of my biggest inspirations in basing my research project on body image. They'e done so much, from commercials and online videos to magazine advertisements, to get images of realistic, beautiful women out there. This picture is from their website. I really like it because it's not showing "skinny" women and "fat" women, but those with inbetween bodies that most of us have. I like that they all look happy and confident. If images like this were in magazines, I think we'd all be happier with ourselves. If you look in a magazine now, you see a lot of waifish, depressed looking women advertising expensive clothes no one can afford. Hopefully one day, this Dove campaign will help to change that! THIS is their official website.

Here's one more more inspiring picture :)

About This Blog

I'm creating this blog as part of my research based senior project focused on how the media negatively affects the body image and self esteem of American women. I will be updating daily with pictures, stories, articles, and other information that presents a healthier and more realistic image of beauty. My intent is to reach out and provide information to women who might be struggling with their body image. Please subscribe, and if you have any questions leave a comment or email me at chelseaward2010@yahoo.com .