BlogHer - Join The 2008 Swimsuit Brigade for Honest Photos - Comments

I posted! Very inspiring and

loveselfly — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:09:01 -0500

I posted! Very inspiring and such a great idea!

Scary

Kel — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:16:07 -0500

Wow, I think it's a wonderful idea albet a little scary to see myself in a swimsuit, just kind of "out there." I feel so naked..ha Tomorrow your campaign grows a little bit more!
~K

Done

Jill Miller Zimon — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:39:52 -0500

And only because of the honest ways everyone else has done it. I'm not a joiner but you all got me joining. Thanks and love yourself. :)

Jill
Writes Like She Talks

I did it!

semicharmedwife — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:05:19 -0500

I'm not sure why, and I still can't quite believe I did, but I did it!

Jen
Semi-Charmed Wife

I'm in without even trying!

Don Mills Diva — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:29:43 -0500

I posted this last night before I even saw this challenge!

www.donmillsdiva.blogspot.com

I'm in, and half naked

alyssaroyse — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:50:20 -0500

Okay, here ya go. Ironically, for someone who is as loosey goosey and goofy as me, I could find no photos of me in a bathing suit. But I wrote you up a little blog post with a bunch of pics of me very scantily clad at Burning Man.

It's odd. I am really very comfortable naked. I have friends who are professional phtographers who photography my body all the time. (I thought about posting those, but they may be too much for some.....) But I am not AT ALL comfortable in a bathing suit. I think that says more about bathing suits than anything else. And the pictures that we see of them. And the fact that people call Jennifer Love Hewitt fat - too much baggage in bathing suits.

___________
Alyssa Royse
JUST CAUSE: A Web Site To Save The World

Start Her Up: A blog for Women Entrepreneurs

Enjoy your body! It's the only one you've got...

JCK — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:47:46 -0500

Suzanne, I am SO glad that you did this. Having a healthy body image has been a challenge for me over the years. Yet, as I am now raising a daughter, it's vital that I show her that it is possible to have a positive body image. Or so I hope...

I've joined in! My post is here. And I've linked above in Mr. Linky. Thanks for inspiring us.

Come on ladies! Jump in! The water's chilly at first, but you get used to it!

JCK of Motherscribe

Thanks for the reminder!

Suzanne Reisman — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:11:24 -0500

Deb, thanks for the link to the Fitness article. I definitely should have included it in this.

And yes, workout gear counts!

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants

What a great idea!

mom2twinsplus1 — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:28:30 -0500

Ok, even though I'm painfully ashamed of my body, I'm in. I feel exactly the same way you do about women and body image.

I'll be joining the brigade again soon...

debra roby — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:46:24 -0500

Suzanne,

Of course I'll be in as soon as I find time to take a picture this year. (hm. does workout gear count if I can't find a swimsuit?)

But HOW could your write that article and not point to women's fitness magazine that highlighted last year's fun in that killer article a couple months ago? THAT is an important part of the picture. That media is beginning to notice that we are proud of our bodies in their healthy, kick-ass form!

But how could you wrtie this article and not point to Body Confidence 2.0 in Fitness magazine?

That media is beginning to notice that we are proud of our bodies just in whatever healthy kick-ass form they take is important!

(I know that Lisa wrote about here somewhere already, but I can't find it.)

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Deb's Daily Distractions

Conference Swimsuit Pictures, YES!

Suzanne Reisman — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:20:02 -0500

I don't think the hotel has a pool (too lazy to look it up, but I stayed there in the past and I know they have a small gym), but YES we must have a swimsuit brigade photo!!!! Oh, I am so excited just thinking about it. Good thing bathing suits are small and easily fit into carry-on bags! Liz, you are so brilliant.

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants

Swimsuit Brigade photo by the hotel pool at BlogHer, anyone?

Liz Rizzo — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:14:58 -0500

We can line up the swim shorts in the front!

;)

(I'm assuming that they have a pool, but if they don't we could always just take over the lobby.)

Liz Rizzo

I blog at Everyday Goddess.

Thanks, Denise!

Liz Rizzo — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:13:30 -0500

It was indeed, my 37 birthday. :)

Liz Rizzo

I blog at Everyday Goddess.

Thanks for the great pictures

Suzanne Reisman — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:37:31 -0500

whether photos or vlogs, I am loving every single one. Thanks to all those who participated thus far, and keep 'em coming.

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants

post is up!

bri_daisy — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:43:16 -0500

I thought I'd do the post as part of my weekly Naked Mondays. I showed the internets my cellulite. ;) I hope others join in!

Bri

Under the Arch

You can find me at www.stlouistravelphotos.blogspot.com

Join The 2008 Swimsuit Brigade for Honest Photos

Suzanne Reisman — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Last summer, I launched the Swimsuit Brigade for Honest Photos at BlogHer. I just returned from the beach, where I spent 25% of my time worrying that I looked fat. Yet another magazine cover air brushing scandal coursed through the blogosphere around that time. (See: Women 4 Hope; Susan Wagner and Maria Niles on BlogHer.) It hit a nerve. Why was I so obsessed with looking like a figment of the Beauty Industrial Complex's (BIC) profitable imagination?

Because women are bombarded with unrealistic images of womens (so unrealitic, in fact, that they must be created through Photoshop because not even actual models are that thing, wrinkle-free, or flawlessly complected), we doubt ourselves. We spend hours analyzing ourselves in the mirror. What can we do to hide our love handles or plump up a small bust? Clothes and cosmetics are ways to create our own illusions and hide our "flaws."

So, if there is anything women across the political spectrum have in comment, it is hatred of appearing in public in a bathing suit. There is nowhere to hide when one is decked out for the beach. Every bulge is on display; each dimple of cellulite out there to catch the sunlight. (Or at least this is true for me. Other women may find that their skinny butts leave the suit sagging or a long torso means it barely covers one's chest.) It's hard to feel confident when the constant message we receive is, "You look like crap in your natural form."

To spend so much time pondering what my ass looks like was a disturbing waste of time. I could instead worry about what happens when global warming raises the water levels and there is no beach. Or, I could actually focus on having fun. (Ridiculous, I know!)

The worst part about my obsessing was that I'm closer than ever to the "ideal." I'll never be tall or without hips and a butt, but the reality is that I am at a very healthy weight for my height. By the numbers, I hover at 61 or so inches tall and I weigh 122 pounds. The AMA claps for my BMI. Totally normal and healthy.

However, by Beauty Industrial Complex standards (what we truly seem to measure ourselves by), I am 22 pounds overweight. Approximately two of those pounds are in my arms, and the other 20 "extra" are split between my tummy, lower abdomen, hips, ass, and thighs. Since the AMA does not take out ads with women who look like me to sell healthy lifestyles, I am left comparing myself to women who are a foot taller than I am but weigh the same, not to mention are a decade younger, plus "perfected" by computer software.

What can we do to stop the insanity? The Swimsuit Brigade for Honest Photos was my modest attempt to fight back. I figured that if women consistently saw pictures of real women - women with bodies reflecting the full range of who we are - we might stop feeling so bad about ourselves. We'd feel normal. At peace. Like we belong. Hell, some might even puff up with pride at our natural beauty.

It was time to lead by example. I took a deep breath, put on my bathing suit, and took a picture. Then I posted it on BlogHer and my personal blog, Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants. If I can do it, so can you!, I challenged the blog world. BlogHers like Birdie Jaworski, Erin Koteki Vest, Laurie, Debra Roby, Laurie, and Angel joined me by posting pictures in the comments to my post or on their own blogs. It was awesome. Everyone looked glorious, no Photoshopping needed.

So, in honor of the start of summer, a time of year many women dread, BlogHer is bringing back the Swimsuit Brigade for Honest Photos. My picture is posted above, and I hope you will help take back control of women's images by posting one of yourself, too. (And I think my friend Alex's photo of herself and a friend crossing the finish of a triathlon counts, so it does not have to be a bathing suit.) Write a post on your blog, label it Swimsuit Brigade, and link back here through Mr. Linky. Only together can we take down the pernicious unreal standards set by the industry.

Have a great summer feeling comfortable in your own skin!

Suzanne also blogs about life at CUSS and about creating social change at Just Cause.