In an interview with Maria Shriver, Lady Gaga revealed that she had struggled with bulimia when she was a teen. She said that her eating disorder developed from the desire to be thin:

I used to throw up all the time in high school. So I’m not that confident. And maybe it’s easier for me to talk about it now because I don’t do it anymore. I wanted to be a skinny little ballerina but I was a voluptuous little Italian girl whose dad had meatballs on the table every night. I used to come home and say, ‘Dad, why do you always give us this food? I need to be thin.’ And he’d say, ‘Eat your spaghetti.’

The singer also brought awareness to how distorted beauty standards have become, urging girls not to compare themselves to media images of women:

Weight is still a struggle. Every video I’m in, every magazine cover, they stretch you – they make you perfect. It’s not real life.

I’m gonna say this about girls: The dieting wars have got to stop. Everyone just knock it off. Because at the end of the day, it’s affecting kids your age. And it’s making girls sick.

Twenty-five year old Ananda Marchildon, a former winner of Holland’s Next Top Model, is accusing the modeling agency Elite Models over firing her for having hips that were two centimeters too wide. She has been dropped in her second year with the agency out of her three-year contract and filed a lawsuit against the agency last week.

Ananda claims that the bookers expected models to have at the most, a hip width of 90cm and because she was two centimeters over that measurement, she was let go. The model reports that a booker told her she had ’a nice face, [but] a fat arse,’ and that she ‘never had it in her to become a top model because she was unsuitable for catwalk work.’

Elite’s response to the lawsuit indicates that Ananda’s figure might have been an issue when trying to book her for work. Their lawyer told nymag.com ’It was impossible for Elite to find [Marchildon] modeling jobs since she wasn’t in the required shape.’ The lawyer explained further that the couture labels that the agency provides models for create sample garments in one size only, an issue that is beyond an agency’s control.

Elite is also claiming that Ananda was never signed with them in the first place – that she was signed to a smaller agency when she won Holland’s Next Top Model and that the smaller agency used its affiliation with Elite to help generate exposure for her.

Meanwhile, Ananda has been stripped of her Holland’s Next Top Model title and has only been paid 10,000 euros of the 75,000 euros that was part of her prize.

This is a really unfortunate bit of news about the mistreatment of models in the industry. Models do get taken advantage of, abused and to top it off, pressured to conform to the most insane standards. The fashion industry is SO particular that something as small as a 2cm-too-large hip width becomes a major issue. It is not necessarily the agency’s fault, either – the agencies conform to the fashion industry and if designers are only making sample sizes in extra smalls, then agencies must find models that will fit into them. It’s so unfortunate and discriminatory and honestly, disgusting. It is no wonder models have eating disorders.

Hopefully, Ananda wins the case against Elite and gets what she deserves.

Today, California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage was declared unconstitutional by a federal appeals court. This paves the way for possible consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that a lower court judge correctly interpreted the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedents when he declared in 2010 that Proposition 8 was a violation of the civil rights of gays and lesbians.

However, the court said that gay marriages cannot resume in the state until the deadline passes for Proposition 8 sponsors to appeal to a larger panel of the 9th Circuit. If such an appeal is filed, gay marriages will remain on hold until it’s resolved.

Lawyers for Proposition 8 sponsors have repeatedly said they would consider appealing to a larger panel of the court and then the U.S. Supreme Court if they did not receive a favorable ruling from the 9th Circuit.

“Although the Constitution permits communities to enact most laws they believe to be desirable, it requires that there be at least a legitimate reason for the passage of a law that treats different classes of people differently. There was no such reason that Proposition 8 could have been enacted,” the ruling states.

The court crafted a narrow decision that applies only to California, even though the court has jurisdiction in nine western states. California is the only one of those states where the ability for gays to marry was granted then rescinded.

“Whether under the Constitution same-sex couples may ever be denied the right to marry, a right that has long been enjoyed by opposite-sex couples, is an important and highly controversial question,” the court said. “We need not and do not answer the broader question in this case.

The panel also said there was no evidence that former Chief U.S. Judge Vaughn Walker was biased and should have disclosed before he issued his decision that he was gay and in a long-term relationship with another man.

The ruling came more than a year after the appeals court heard arguments in the case.

Proposition 8 backers had asked the 9th Circuit to set aside Walker’s ruling on both constitutional grounds and because of the thorny issue of the judge’s personal life. It was the first instance of an American jurist’s sexual orientation being cited as grounds for overturning a court decision.

Walker publicly revealed he was gay after he retired. However, supporters of the gay marriage ban argued that he had been obliged to previously reveal if he wanted to marry his partner – like the gay couples who sued to overturn the ban.

Walker’s successor as the chief federal judge in Northern California, James Ware, rejected those claims, and the 9th Circuit held a hearing on the conflict-of-interest question in December.

California voters passed Proposition 8 with 52% of the vote in November 2008, five months after the state Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage by striking down a pair of laws that had limited marriage to a man and a woman.

The ballot measure inserted the one man-one woman provision into the California Constitution, thereby overruling the court’s decision. It was the first such ban to take away marriage rights from same-sex couples after they had already secured them and its passage followed the most expensive campaign on a social issue in the nation’s history.

The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and the Law, a think tank based at the University of California, Los Angeles, has estimated that 18,000 couples tied the knot during the four-month window before Proposition 8 took effect. The California Supreme Court upheld those marriages, but ruled that voters had properly enacted the law.

With same-sex marriages unlikely to resume in California any time soon, Love Honor Cherish, a gay rights group based in Los Angeles, plans to start gathering signatures for a November ballot initiative asking voters to repeal Proposition 8.

PLUS Model Magazine, a magazine dedicated to plus-size fashion and models, sparked controversy last month when it ran a feature stating that most runway models meet the Body Mass Index criteria for anorexia.

The feature was accompanied by photographs that compare a plus-size model (who is size 12 US model Katya Zharkova) to a thin “straight-size” model, which aimed to encourage plus-size consumers to put more pressure on retailers to cater to them.

The feature got many mixed reactions. Many readers were angered that the magazine was “promoting obesity.” Some believed that positively endorsing a fuller figure is just as dangerous as advocating a skinny one. However, the magazine mainly wanted to encourage women to embrace their bodies as they are, and not strive to emulate an unrealistic ideal.

PLUS’ editor-in-chief Madeline Figueroa-Jones explains that the feature is a response to a fashion and beauty industry, which continues to endorse an ideal that is not always healthy, alienating a huge percentage of the market. Madeline says, “We are bombarded with weight-loss ads every single day, multiple times a day because it’s a multi-billion dollar industry that preys on the fear of being fat. Not everyone is meant to be skinny, our bodies are beautiful and we are not talking about health here because not every skinny person is healthy.”

Madeline goes on to say that consumers can no longer identify with models because the disparity between real woman and those that grace ad campaigns and the covers of magazines is too wide now. ‘Small women cannot be marketed to with pictures of plus-size women, why are we expected to respond to pictures of small size 6 and 8 women?’

One reader wrote, ‘All women are brainwashed to believe that we are ugly and men will never look at us if we are not starving… We need more variety of healthy female body images.’

I think variety of healthy female body images is what it’s really about. I (as well as many others) would love to see more diversity in magazines (and media overall). I personally do think that it’s harder for consumers connect to a market that doesn’t show the product in a way that they can relate to.

Plus-size model Katya looks amazing in the campaign and it’s an absolute positive that PLUS is showing the nude body of a plus-size model – it’s something that people need to get more comfortable with and by not showing plus-size bodies (or variety of sizes in general), we are shying away from the issue that the beauty and fashion industry are only deeming a certain type of appearance as acceptable. I don’t think PLUS meant for the feature to come off as an obesity-promo at all, but more of an honest look at society and the images that are being sold to us.

In 2011, over 300,000 dudes got botox. ABC News claims that some women are buying botox vouchers as gifts for their husbands/boyfriends instead of electronics/gadgets/things you would usually buy men (offensive, much?).

It seems that men are becoming more self/beauty-conscious in general – the sales of high end skin care products for men increased 12% last year. Skin care experts chalk this up to increased competition in the job market due to the recession.

I’m not sure it has anything to do with the recession or unemployment. Of course, we want to look professional when we’re in the workplace but I believe that in general, men are being manipulated by the media more aggressively now – as women have been for decades.

Anyway, watch the full ABC report by clicking the image below. What do you think?

August 2011: Frowning, Neutral, Smiling. Showing wear and tear!

For the first post of 2012, I’d like to introduce you to the launch of a project that I’ve wanted to do for a really long time: The Aging Project. It’s been long overdue, but I didn’t have the resources or opportunities at the time.

Several months ago through a strange combination of events and acquaintances, I met a photographer who goes by the name of Rex Maverick. Naturally, the wheels in my head began to turn and I immediately knew I wanted to approach him with the project, after seeing some of his work. Luckily, he agreed!

Anyway, I felt it was time for me to practice what I preached. The whole basis of The Aging Project is to document the human body (mine, for example – which is female). We’re always being bombarded with ideas on how to prevent or hide aging, but not how to embrace it or not be ashamed of it. So for the project, I’m going to have shots (unedited, of course!) taken of my face and body as well as hands and feet (which definitely show the effects of aging quickly). The facial shots will show neutral positions as well as frowning and smiling expressions. Hopefully in a few years, we’ll be able to judge from my wrinkles if I’ve been doing more smiling or frowning!

So, what you’re looking at in the image above is my unedited 25 year old face. Below, my 25 year old feet and hands. I will be having my next Aging Project shots taken in August 2012, when I turn 26. Body shots have been taken, but I will wait until I have more of a sequence before putting them up. I think it’s going to be fascinating when I have a few years of shots!

If you’d like to participate in the project, let me know! Email me at beutifulmagazine@gmail.com – I would LOVE to get more people involved! If you live in Philadelphia and would like your own shots taken, I invite you to contact Rex Maverick through his photography page. His rates are reasonable and he’s extremely professional.

August 2011: My hands and feet!

So the next time you see these shots…I’m gonna look a little different! Happy aging and full living!

Because, we’re bombarded by false images. Everyone uses them, and not even in the media. With new programs and Apps available, it’s not uncommon for a percentage of the general public to be airbrushing and enhancing their own digital photos (for Facebook or any other use – social and non-social).

I don’t know about you, but I’m longing to see raw and unedited images. Or at least, realistic ones. Considering the state of culture and how superficial things have become, I don’t think that will happen anytime soon. So, I’m glad a tool like this has been created because I think it could assist people struggling with their perceptions of reality, instead of being a tool to merely satisfy curiosity.

This new tool is able to show changes to photos, scaling changes from minor to massive overhauls on a 1 to 5 scale.
“Publishers have legitimate reasons to alter photographs to create fantasy and sell products, but they’ve gone a little too far. You can’t ignore the body of literature showing negative consequences to being inundated with these images,” Image Forensics Specialist Hany Farid of Dartmouth University told Wired. Farid told the New York Times this may discourage retouching altogether. “Models, for example, might well say, ‘I don’t want to be a 5. I want to be a 1.”

The tool’s algorithm statistically measures how much the image of a person’s face and body has been altered. Many of the before-and-after photos for their research were plucked from the Web sites of professional photo retouchers, promoting their skills. The algorithm is meant to mimic human perceptions. To do that, hundreds of people were recruited online to compare before-and-after images and to determine the 1 to 5 scale, from minimally altered to starkly changed. The human rankings were used to train the software. I’m curious to see how accurate this really is, but I still think it’s useful.

Hopefully, the Dartmouth researchers will turn their mathematical tool into an App that will be available for consumers. If the general public is able to get their hands on something like this, it could be the beginning of a much more honest dialogue between companies, advertisers and consumers. For example, women will be able to see how much eyelashes have been retouched in a beauty ad for mascara. They’ll be able to see if what they’re being shown is even attainable. Or if certain jeans actually do make a model’s butt look great, versus some sculpting via Photoshop.

If this tool is accurate, it could be something great for people who struggle with body image and comparing themselves to celebrities and models. I’m hoping that programs like this will discourage photo editing and lead to more realistic bodies being used in the media, therefore shifting our perception of what is “ideal” into a more normal and healthier range (because unfortunately, I don’t think we know how to advertise without an “ideal” to sell). I think it’ll be a process, then again most worthwhile things are.

• Do not avoid tailored, woven fabrics: A lot of plus-size women avoid woven fabric because it has little to no stretch; however, clothing like pencil skirts and tailored jackets make plus-size women look amazing. The tailored look can make you look thinner, more toned and professional. With the sharper lines and better structure, people will take you more seriously. Knitted clothing (which has a lot of stretch) tends to look a bit too casual for most settings. – Audrey Curry, makeup artist and aspiring fashion designer

• Shoulder pads look awesome on curvy women: Many women generally stay away from shoulder pads, but plus-size women with larger hips should embrace the strong shoulder look. Naturally, a woman’s shoulders should be a little wider than their hips. Shoulder pads, which come in all shapes and sizes, can make a large woman look more proportional and thinner. It’s best to experiment! Shoulder pads can be easily added to existing clothing, such as a blazer or a shirt dress. – Audrey Curry, makeup artist and aspiring fashion designer

• Deodorant and baby oil are your friends: If you want to avoid the crazy chub-rub between your legs, roll on deodorant or dab baby oil on your inner thighs. You’ll no longer have to wear biker shorts under your dresses! Keep travel sizes in your purse. It does tend to wear off throughout the day. – Tiffany Bank, plus-size model

• Only wear what makes you happy: If you feel happy, you look happy. Want to wear hot pink lipstick or patent red leather heels? Go for it. Fashion is all about you and how you want to express yourself. I enjoy wearing crazy nail polish because I love colors and colors make me feel good! – Tiffany Bank, plus-size model

• Do not try to hide your body under big, shapeless clothing: This approach never works. Even with all the material, we still know that you are plus-size. Now you just look frumpy! Instead, wear clothes that define the best parts of your body. Defining your waist with a belt, for example, can accentuate your curves. – Leslie Medlik, fashion stylist

• Do not follow traditional plus-size fashion rules: A lot of plus-size fashion tips are outdated. Liberate yourself. Follow a few trends that you like and will keep your look current. If you like stripes, go for it. You can wear anything with confidence. Confidence is the key to having great style! – Leslie Medlik, fashion stylist

• Do not be afraid of stores that don’t typically sell plus sizes: A lot of plus-size women shy away from mainstream stores, in fear that they will not carry clothes in their size. How do you know unless you go in and try? I am a huge fan of Anthrolopologie and can easily pull off a large dress made out of knit or jersey. I can also fit into their XL and L tops. Fit is more important than what the size says. Try everything on before you make the purchase. – Nikki Gomez, plus-size model

• …but remember to support plus-size designers!: Most plus-size lines are created by plus-size women for plus-size women. These designers understand the issues we have with clothing, and they know that we want to look our best at any size. You have to dress the body you have now. If you embrace your curves and feel good about yourself, you will work even harder to achieve your personal body goals (or just realize how beautiful and sexy you already are!). Plus-size designer brand clothing is not only made for your body, but it also tends to be made better and last longer. – Nikki Gomez, plus-size model

• The right undergarments are essential: Underwear are essential to dressing and significantly affect the overall look. It is extremely important to have on a great-fitting bra and beautiful panties. What is worn underneath will play a huge difference in the way you feel on the outside. – Heather Roach, wardrobe stylist and bra/bikini designer

• Wear your clothes and do not let them wear you: Stand up tall and put your shoulders back. Good posture and confidence is everything. Be proud of who you are and respect yourself. Love your voluptuous curves and know your best features. – Heather Roach, wardrobe stylist and bra/bikini designer

I found this post, probably at random one day while surfing for articles, and I always felt that it was something I wanted to share. Here are Sui’s own words on self-love, acceptance and compassion:

Loving yourself isn’t just about feeling good in YOUR body. Loving yourself isn’t just about being yourself & accepting yourself. Loving yourself isn’t just about looking in the mirror and being able to smile at yourself each morning.

Loving yourself isn’t just a feeling. Loving yourself is a commitment.

Loving yourself is respecting yourself enough to do what’s best for yourself, even if it might not seem to satisfy your first impulses.

Loving yourself is showing up & saying yes. Loving yourself is forcing yourself to get out of the house when you realize you’re wallowing in self-pity or depression. Loving yourself is accepting that invitation from your close friend whom you’ve been blowing off because you’ve been hiding from the world.

Loving yourself is doing your work first, before checking your email, instead of playing games or watching TV… so you won’t be up depriving yourself of sleep at the very last second before a deadline.

Loving yourself is sleeping at a time early enough that you will be well-rested tomorrow morning. Every single night.

Loving yourself is waking up early enough to give yourself time to have a moment in the morning, have time to dress yourself in clothes that make you feel confident, and nourish your body with a breakfast filled with foods you love.

Loving yourself is realizing that drowning in a box of cookies is not the answer to an empty feeling in your heart. Loving yourself is breathing deeply and asking yourself first why you feel this way, and being there, being present for yourself.

Loving yourself is calling a friend or taking a walk instead of indulging in an addiction to go numb. Loving yourself is realizing that binge drinking, eating, or anything else will and does hurt you, no matter what comfort it may seem to bring for a moment.

Loving yourself is refusing to use words to bring yourself down. Loving yourself is refusing to deny your own awesomeness. Loving yourself is refusing to insult or otherwise demean yourself. Loving yourself is accepting the compliments & having convenient hearing loss when someone is being vicious.

Loving yourself is using kind words, to yourself & others. Loving yourself is recognizing your own unique nature & being happy with it, & recognizing the unique nature of others & being happy that they are them.

Loving yourself has nothing to do with jealousy or envy. Loving yourself is being grateful for what you have, knowing that more of the good stuff is to come, & knowing that every individual has hir own struggles & successes.

Loving yourself is refusing to let your self-worth be dictated by any external comments or numbers. Loving yourself is realizing that failing your finals or losing your job does not make you a failure. (In fact, people can’t be failures.)

Loving yourself is choosing to focus on the thoughts & feelings that make you feel good, and refusing to get caught up in thinking about things that bring you down. Loving yourself is daydreaming about what excites you, & visualizing your reality.

Loving yourself is absolute gratitude for everything in your life, past & present, knowing that whatever happened to you in the past is exactly what you needed then, and that whatever you have now is exactly what you need now.

Loving yourself is prioritizing your health, making sure you always have healthy foods available, doing what it takes for you to be comfortable, happy, & healthy in your body.

Loving yourself is realizing that the world is full of infinite abundance, yours for the taking. Loving yourself is realizing that you are more than your body– that you are much, much more than anything you ever dreamed of.

Loving yourself is taking care of errands and little issues like renewing your driver’s license right away instead of putting it off and letting them ferment into big, pesky problems.

Loving yourself is realizing that the moments in your life are precious & irreplaceable and that if you are giving up those moments to a job or a field that does not satisfy you, loving yourself is liberating yourself from your employment and doing something else.

Loving yourself is believing in yourself, taking a chance, going for what you love.

Loving yourself is only purchasing clothes that you will wear, & only wearing clothes that fit you wonderfully & make you feel spectacular. Loving yourself is dressing up on the days you feel most like throwing on an old shirt and oversized pants.

Loving yourself is taking time for yourself every day to hone your hobbies, do something fun & enriching, and prioritizing yourself.

Loving yourself is being honest and vulnerable to others, knowing that you are strong & worthy of love no matter what you could reveal about yourself to someone else.

Loving yourself is eating only what you are excited to eat, not settling for something just because it’s there, and eating when your body needs sustenance. Loving yourself is enjoying your food & eating mindfully, paying attention to what you put into your precious body. Loving yourself is honoring your hunger.

Loving yourself is being your OWN best friend and your OWN lover and your OWN family when you find yourself in a moment (or month or two) without any external assistance.

Loving yourself is enjoying your time alone, doing something that makes your heart sing.

Loving yourself is honoring your commitments to YOURSELF and others. Loving yourself is doing everything you can possible to do the best for yourself. And loving yourself is forgiveness, is moving on, is letting go of yesterday’s seeming mistakes and seeing them as lessons. Loving yourself is growing & changing & learning.

Loving yourself is hanging on when things get tough, & continuing to make the choice to do what’s best for yourself, day after day, even when it seems CRAZYdifficult.

Loving yourself is refusing to settle. Loving yourself is saying no to what is unimportant to you. Loving yourself is letting go of friends or family who don’t treat you wonderfully. Loving yourself is sprinting your way out of any relationship that makes you feel threatened, unsafe, lowered, unworthy, controlled…

Loving yourself is knowing that you are worthy. Worthy of living passionately, worthy of enjoying your life, worthy of focusing on what excites you, worthy of letting go of anything that holds you down, worthy of doing whatever is necessary for you to be healthy & thriving, worthy of the very best.

Loving yourself is knowing that you deserve better, and taking the actions necessary to have the life you deserve.

What does loving yourself mean to you? ♥

On the Jours Après Lunes website, young girls wearing only bras and underwear pose wearing sunglasses and heavy makeup, in an online photo gallery of  new clothing line. Obviously far from the age where they might need bras, the “loungerie” line is meant for girls as young as 3 months old (although, luckily the infants wear onesies).

Proud to be the first designer brand dedicated to what they call “loungerie,” Jours Après Lunes calls itself an “innovative” and “unexpected” brand in the current realm of teenage and children’s fashion.

However, most people prefer “appalling”.

Paul Miller, Associate Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University in Phoenix wrote his thoughts in an email to ABCNews.com: “This kind of marketing does sexualize young girls, it does serve as a model that inspires very young girls to think that minimizing what they wear and revealing as much of their body as possible is appropriate, and ‘fashionable’ and ‘cool,’ and that this is the way that they should think of themselves. The cultural message goes beyond ‘lingerie’ but to girls’ self-image, body image, and what it takes to build a ‘good’ image of one’s self.”

Unfortunately, this is only the latest kiddie fashion craze to cause public outrage.

A few months ago, 10-year-old French model Thylane Loubry Blondeau made headlines when she appeared on the cover of Vogue France. To many, her high-fashion posing put her in an exceptionally mature position that was too sexual for her age.

Also around the same timeframe, clothing retailer American Eagle came under fire after marketing a push-up bra that promised to add two cup sizes to girls as young as 15.

“Girls want to look pretty, but they do not want that icky sexual attention,” Ann Soket, editor-in-chief of Seventeen magazine, told ABC News. “They just want to feel good in their clothes, they just want to feel pretty, and that’s what these bras are about.”

Many child development experts disagree with Soket. The American Psychological Association recently created a task force to respond to the “increasing problem” of the sexualization of girls in the media. It was found that this sexualization can influence the well-being of girls.

Shari Miles-Cohen, Senior Director of women’s programs for the American Psychological Association, told ABCNews.com, “We don’t want kids to grow up too fast. We want them to be able to develop physically, emotionally, psychologically and socially at appropriate rates for their age.”

Personally, I’m all for giving people the freedom to dress and express themselves as they please. However, I don’t think girls in such a young age bracket will voluntarily want to wear lingerie unless they were being influenced to feel it was necessary. This puts a lot of pressure on them at a really young age with a huge amount of attention going into their appearance, in years where they should be focusing on more important age-appropriate things.