Sunday, August 2, 2009

The Beauty of the Feminine Form

Welcome, dear reader. Come in, sit down, have a mug of coffee or a cup of tea. Find a comfy spot and read a while, rest, open your mind, and maybe find thoughtful contemplation. Everyone is welcome here. You stay may be as long, or brief as you feel necessary for your journey. While you are here, it is my sincere hope that you find a bit of what you need and leave some of your care and dead weight behind.

Tonight I bring to you the ponderance of what is considered feminine beauty. I have to thank my sister, Sid for urging this thought to the surface. It had been churning well below the surface, but now, with a little encouragement, I have brought it into the cozy snug that is just off the Inn's Great Room. Here, we shall safely examine it in it's many fascets and perhaps come to some determinations of our own. I believe all women, from a very young age, wrestle with this question and most go to their graves yet a slave to horrible misconceptions of what is and is not beautiful.

I myself have struggled with the question of physical beauty from a very young age. First to be severely underweight, and then almost over night, become an obese child. It was a nightmare. I hated being the "fat kid," but what could I do when books and food were my only friends? In the 70's parents didn't quite understand things like that (but in my case, they came late to understand and regret their own nievete). Then came puberty, the bane of a young girl's existance; especially mine as it came so young. I needed a bra a whole year before my parents could come to grips with the fact their baby girl was becoming a young woman; a fact that is achived in the anals of the school photo albums. Junior High brought Weight Watchers. By my sophomore year, I was pretty good looking, but then there was a bigger price. I got hooked on the happy feeling of being accepted because I was finally "visually appealing" to what society acknowledged as beauty. From there, bulemia set in. Right along with Princess Di, I was skipping meals, gulping diet pills, laxatives, diuretics, pounding grapefruit juice, water, tea, and gensing before anyone in mainstream America knew what to do with it!

At seventeen years of age, I was a size 6 jean, and weighed 125 pounds, and with my frame, that was not a good thing. My cheeks were sunken, my pelvic bones pertruded. And I didn't care. I wanted more. Half the time I was sick because I had no immune system to speak of. I didn't care. I wasn't the fat kid anymore. I was thin. I was acceptable. Nobody in my familoy had to be ashamed of me anymore.

But really, were they ever? Or was it I that was ashamed of me?

All those Seventeen magazines, and Guess jeans, and Body Glove bathing suits.... Those pictures; telling me what the commercial idea of acceptable beauty was. That was what was beautiful and acceptable, right?

What about intelligence? What about a few curves and ripe, lush breasts? Some women these days are dying to buy a pair that I come by naturally. ***Giggles*** Some even by pairs of Gurnzy Cow Udders because that seems to be what they think are beautiful. (Forgive the ananlogy fair reader, I myself am but a lowly country girl and everything seems to relate back to the farm, or a fine American motor)

Reflect back on art, dear reader? Did the Masters paint and extole the virtue of the wafer thin woman? Perhaps a few, but consider Peter Paul Reubens' paintings for a moment. Even the "thinner" women still had curves and busts.

Young women these days are being encouraged to go even thinner that the young women of the high school years late 80's and early 90's, from which I hail. While out with a friend of mine the other night at a popular sports bar and grill, I watched the evening social scene play out before me. I noticed several young women about who were indeed-- wafer thin. I couldn't help but mentally call them: "See Through Girls." Honestly, I was afraid if they opened their over sized blouses, that were loosely belted at the waist, I could have indeed seen their vital organs through their skin. There could not have been an ounce of fat on their bodies. My second thought, (God forgive me) was: "How could a guy want to have sex with that? There is nothing to hold on to for one, and secondly, wouldn't he be afraid he'd break her?" How could young women like this actually be happy? Were they? The one in hot pink and black plaid looked miserable. Made me want to buy her a Guiness and a Cheeseburger and have a long chat with her about what makes a woman beautiful and unique.

Fair reader, feminine beauty comes in many forms. Honestly, it comes from the inside out. Confidence, intellgence, wit, and a sense of humor are all attribute that start from the inside and make a woman, no matter what her size, a beautiful, attractive person. Now, I am not condoning morbid obesity, or the horribly, morbidly thin. No, not at all; to the contrary I am encouraging you fair reader to get healthy. Weather it is eating healthier and exercising to gain control of weight one way or the other, or just merely to improve general health, you are worth it! When you take these steps, your inner beauty is cleansed and begins to shine through all the more.

As I have said before. You, fair reader, are the crowning glory of God's creation. You were the final creation, not an after thought, but the culmination of all else that was created before you. Do not abuse your body for the sake of what any lame brained, materialistic prick calls beautiful. God is the only one who gets to decide what is beautiful. Take some time dear friend, fall in love with yourself. If you are unhappy with where you are presently, make a game plan and go for it. But keep in mind what is healthy and realistic for you. Do not let your friends or family make this decision for you. It isn't theirs to make. Only yours. Just please, whatever you do, do not become addicted to loosing weight. Know when to say when and just maintain.

You are loved. Don't forget that.

Until next time~
Blessings, Liv

2 comments:

  1. I'm overweight--I know this, and I do want to change it for my own health. But being healthy is NOT synonymous with being so skinny a six year old could span my hips with their hands. No, there is no excuse for being so influenced by everyone else's opinion that you make yourself unhealthy because THEY think it's the definition of beauty.

    I will lose this weight because I believe that I will be healthier in, not just body, but mind and soul. I believe I will be happier when I lose the weight. But I will not define my own beauty by how I look. =)

    Awesome post, Liv!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amazing post sis...and I have just given your website to lana...she is another one of us and I hope she decides to follow and pay attention to these words that others so need to hear and see. When reading your words it is not just a "see" but I hear these words ringing so truthfully in my ears that I feel as if you are standing right beside me, holding my hand, and comforting me on those many nights when I cried because I wasn't skinny enough, wasn't good enough. Wasn't enough. First time Mireyah met me, or one of the first, right after I moved to LA the first time (louisiana for you creatures out there who don't know) her parents took me out to eat. I was so used to bingeing and purging at that time that actually eating almost made me sick. And I could never lose the weight through doing that so would do it more.....anyways...beauty is not judged from the outside but from what is within. I know I am a bit overweight but I have curves...same size as Marilyn Monroe (YES...GODDESS that she is)...and I will only try to lose weight, the HEALTHY way, for my health...not for what some god forsaken PRICK says to me!!! Or says I should look like!....

    ReplyDelete