“Excuse me, but what you are wearing is inappropriate.” That is what I was told during my many years of attending Catholic school till the 12th grade. Now what my attire consisted of most of these times where yoga pants or leggings and a simple tee. I did not always wear those kinds of pants seeing that we had uniform skirts to wear that must be only 3 inches above the knee. There were only few chances to come out of uniform. But, that is besides my point. While I thought it was okay to wear comfortable clothes that did indeed cover pretty much all of skin, my school authorities thought otherwise. I understand the rules that contribute to having productive learning environment, but I can never fully agree with the dress code. With the dress code, it wanted to avoid tight clothing or attire that revealed too much, whatever that exactly means. We were basically being told what to wear because as teenagers, school authorities could not trust us to pick out our own clothing accordingly. Now Perhaps I told you these dress codes that were essentially assigned to “everyone” in the school were not exactly directed to “everyone.” They must have only applied to those with curves. It was one of those invisible rules that were not said but obviously thought.
If I Stay…
In class we talk a lot about the separation of the body and the mind which made me think of where I’ve seen this separation, then amazingly the movie “If I Stay” comes out. “If I Stay” is a recent movie in which the lead characters all get in a car crash and (SPOILER) Continue reading
Racial Stereotypes in Media
I saw this image and suddenly the racial stereotype in USA media comes up in my mind. Media and advertising play an important role in ours everyday lives. We see so many racial images, films, and TV series that we forget that what we are watching is actually not only meant to be funny or interesting, but also contains racial stereotypes. But these images, ads, and TV series are the reminder to us that there are ethnic stereotypes still exists and they have different meaning and importance in society. Continue reading
Of Magnums and Male Egos; My Experience With Condoms
Neither of us ever thought we would have this issue. Continue reading
Illusion Never Changed Into Something Real
My first thought on reading this article from xojane about digitally retouching magazine photos was, “No wonder I’m so bad at spotting celebrities out and about!”
But if you want to go all the way down the rabbit hole, talk to a digital retoucher at a fashion and celebrity glossy, which is what I did. The retoucher I spoke with — who preferred to remain anonymous — is a 20 year veteran of the trade. He came up when digital retouching was in its infancy, when edits were still being painted on with an actual airbrush (like, with real paint). His mentor was the exclusive retoucher for one of the most famous supermodels of the 1990s.
I think in some ways we’re holding magazine photo shoots to an unreasonable standard of “reality.”
BMI bullshit and Fatness
Many people use the BMI scale to judge whether or not they are at a healthy weight, even doctors use this scale to assess health but it was never supposed to be used as a measure of health. Continue reading
Namaste
Recently, I have started going to yoga classes at the RAC twice a week with my roommate and one of my suite mates. After going to a few sessions, I realized how much yoga makes me aware of my body in different ways.
First class: I walk into the room where the class is held, and I see a slew of medium-height, slender girls (and a few guys) with perfectly toned bodies who gracefully rolled out their yoga mats and sat down and stretched their perfectly formed muscles. Continue reading
Do you really want it or… Do you just say you do?
I’ve recently came to the realization that people will complain about something but do nothing to change it. I do this all the time! Let’s begin with my weight. There’s not a month that goes by that I don’t hear something about my appearance. I always think to myself…. how lucky those skinny girls are because they can eat whatever they want and not gain weight. Yep, I’m sure you know at least one person like this. What gets me the most… is when I hear skinny people say they need to go on a diet. My face automatically drops… Like really?
Don’t want none.
I am certainly no authority on other women’s bodies and believe wholeheartedly that women have and should remain in control of their bodies, but I have a growing contention for Nicki Minaj’s remix and video of the song “Anaconda.”
Fictional Reality: the Danger of Matter over Mind
I think at this point in my life, I can safely say that I owe most of my coping mechanisms to the vast amounts of fantasy fiction that I’ve read. Cartesian dualism has been an integral part of the way in which I built my world, and up until this point has been the only way in which I know how to reconcile what happens inside of my head and what happens in the outside world.
Unruly Bodies 