2009-03-03 [Saray]: That's a pretty sad zombie :P

2009-03-03 [smakeupfx]: That sounds like a children's book title,  "The pretty sad Zombie" XD

2009-03-03 [Saray]: ahhhw, that could actually be adorable :P

2009-03-03 [smakeupfx]: Project! (and of course we'll use it to promote a healthy body image (have to try and get back on topic here)

2009-03-03 [Linderel]: But would that be 'The Pretty, Sad Zombie' or 'The Pretty Sad Zombie'? :P

2009-03-03 [smakeupfx]: well, it's [Saray], so pretty for sure ... and maybe more melancholy instead of sad, Melancholy in a cute way ;-)

2009-03-04 [Saray]: Ahw, heehee :) *blush*
But zombies are kind of... ickish most of the time :P

2009-03-05 [smakeupfx]: OH that's just what the mass media wants you to think... i've been thinking of starting a wiki for Healthy Zombie Image!  they're just misunderstood XD

2009-03-05 [Lord Dog]: The zombie weight loss plan would be a big seller "watch the pounds just melt away"

2009-03-05 [smakeupfx]: With my luck i'd only like brains with extra cheese ... and deep fried ;-)

2009-03-25 [Rondel]: Given that this wiki is a) on an art-oriented site, and b) about body image, I've been meaning to ask here -- has anybody either dealt with their body image issues by doing self-portraits (life drawing type, possibly even nude studies), or had doing such artwork raise those body image issues, such that one then feels a need to deal with them? I've had both coming about for me, at various points, and I wondered if anyone else has encountered this issue, and might be willing to share some views or feelings on it.

None of which is meant to detract from the thread on children's books about the self-image issues of melancholy zombies, though... ...I enjoyed it far too much to want to quash it, even though I know that bringing up this sort of thing has a tendency to completely kill all conversation in the wiki. Still, it's something I'm interested enough in to be willing to take that chance, at least at a time when the conversation here is already slow. LOL

2009-03-27 [Lahali]: [Saray] that bikini is fantastic!

2009-04-23 [Saray]: @ Rondel: I used to have that. When I was younger and dreamt of being something I was not and now never want to be. I'd draw self-portraits of a girl that was thin, very narrow waists and thin arms and legs.

If I were to draw a portrait of myself now, I know I can be honest with myself and the viewer, and I'll be proud to do so. I definately think that perhaps showing someone with issues the beauty of the body (whatever shape it be) through art could help, I found the Ruben's women (Peter Paul Rubens is famous for the fullfigured lovely portraits of various women) very beautiful :)

I wanted to share this article with you all, and I hope you'll all read it and know that you are all beautiful!

http://www.blacksheepbellydance.com/writings/files/doyourselfafavor.html

2009-04-23 [Lord Dog]: y'know, I know most people think about this in terms of females but, my brother and I both had to deal with a form of body image growing up. He was the uber athlete in High school and was always doing stuff to drop or stay in a certain weight class ..chewing , starving and all. And I swam alot and felt I had to maintain a certain build, so I lifted weights and started smoking rather than eating to look that way. We did the exercise thing but still couldn't get the build we were supposed to have. It affected my brother worse than me. I was happy with my dwarven build

2009-08-22 [Rondel]: Thank you [Saray]! That's a wonderful article -- and reminds me so much of what I love about belly dancing. Even if it was one of the places that made me *DIS*like my body back when I was unwillingly underweight. LOL It's really hard to belly dance when you don't have a belly... *chuckle* ...or much in the way of hips, either, for that matter. But, now, I'm really looking forward to getting back into it. And in the years in between, it's been one of the things that has helped deal with muscle wasting issues in my back and belly both -- a benefit I wouldn't have had if I'd let body image stand in my way. There are so many things like that, I don't want to be saying "that I don't have, BECAUSE I let body image stand in my way" about -- I have enough of those already. I'd rather add to the former column.

So, anyone here ever watch the TV show "How to Look Good Naked"? I love the way that the biggest piece of the show is always teaching the people to re-think the way that they look at themselves, and see the beauty that was there all along, ALONG with learning how to best present and show that beauty off. :)

And yeah, [Lord Dog], I know that this stuff can really get to guys -- in part because I spent the first years of my marriage and relationship with my husband repairing his self-image. It took me a long time, telling him, and SHOWING him, what I saw, before I could even begin to undo the damage that had been done to his self-esteem and self-image by others. I know that pieces of what I was dealing with in him came from inside -- but I also know that I knew the origins (by name and date) of FAR too many of the bad messages kicking around in his head, and it made me want to do some "kicking around" of various people's heads, of my own. 

We have GOT to find a better way of dealing with our own feelings of inadequacy, as a society, than by putting down other people so that we'll feel better about ourselves -- whether we do it to their face, or behind their backs. Hubby's ex, alone, left so damn many "land mines" in his psyche, in the months before she finally admitted that the relationship wasn't working, and they parted ways... *sigh* ...and mothers do more of it, in my experience, than most of us would ever think of them as doing. 

I think it's partly fear for their kids, and partly the fact that just as their daughters are starting to look curvy and attractive, a lot of women are starting to slip a little on their time for self-care, level of exercise, health, and the way these are all reflected in our appearance. 

My own daughter is just hitting puberty, and I know how sensitive she is to ANY message about the way she looks -- at the same time that I'm having to make sure that she knows things like proper bra sizing for health and well-being.

2009-08-22 [BarleySinger]: I watched that utube video. The very idea that a person who is so obviously smashingly lovely, with a beautiful face, nice curves and all that, yet who could hate their body (or some element of it), it seriously saddens me. But then I see it all the time. I had the same problem myself and I spent most of my younger years being actively chased by both females and males from toddler-hood onward - and from around age 9 upward I was still convinced that I was ugly.

There are a huge number of people our there who have no clue how good looking they actually are, and who spend their time and energy on self hate, despising their own bodies. Those who -DO- manage to get over this at all, spend years that they can never regain, often the years in which they look the best that they ever will, living in fear of showing any skin; never a skimpy bikini on the beach, never tight jeans or shorty-shorts, with exaggerated problems of modesty guilt - all the while envying the people who have the guts and the bodies to wear the sorts of things they feel that they cannot. 

Men and women both have these problems, and a lot of it goes back to people being mean to them back when they were kids (other kids and adults as well). They insult the cute person by saying that they are ugly, the smart ones by saying that they are stupid...because they themselves feel somehow threatened (and lessened) by another persons innate qualities. And those who are hurt by all this tend to go through life with feeling of being worthless, making no effort to dress themselves up, but instead wearing baggy clothes (covering up from head to toe) - clothes that make them look bad - wishing the whole time that they had the body and the courage to wear the things that other people do.

So sad. I wish myself tht I could shake off my illness, drop the weight and get back my muscle, and do some nude figure modeling. I have no problem with that idea *NOW*...but now I am very ill and do not have that body anymore.

2010-03-19 [Mortified Penguin]: Yo, yo, yo, yo, embryo! ...*eats ramen*...

2010-03-19 [Delladreing]: Thank you for that insightful comment Penguin.

2010-03-19 [Mortified Penguin]: Of course. Anytime.

2010-03-19 [Delladreing]: Ran out of ramen?

2010-03-19 [Mortified Penguin]: Yes, I suppose I have... *eats ramen*...