Viva Les Curves!

After watching the Academy Awards this year, I wasn't in my usual euphoria over the gorgeous evening gowns on the red carpet. Why you may ask? It's because I saw entirely too many women who were way too thin and sickly looking. When exactly did looking healthy go out of style? And more importantly what kind of message does this send to women, particularly young women? Apparently a very harmful message because in Canada one to two percent of women between the ages of 15 and 25 have anorexia and three to five percent have bulimia.

I remember as a young woman looking at magazines not realising the amount of retouching that had taken place on every photo. How I longed to look like that! I also didn't realise that the model had three hours of hair and make-up and another three hours in wardrobe to attain that look. No wonder I had low self-esteem issues because I looked nothing like the beautiful women in the magazines. I remember feeling so ugly and inadequate. At least nowadays, photoshopping is very mainstream and talked about. A great video to watch about the magic of photoshop was made by Dove:

This video and many others nowadays show what goes on after an image is shot and what goes on "behind the scenes" at a photoshoot.

Yes I still model, however I am very concerned about the message it sends to young women. I recently modelled and was interviewed for Lane Jensen's I Feel Beautiful When... project. I chose I Feel Beautiful When I Model in order to discuss my childhood low self-esteem issues and try to debunk the beauty myth:

Remember, you can't have style if you look sickly because you're starving yourself. eat healthy and always do some sort of exercise in your life daily - even if it's power walking/shopping for those great deals at your favourite mall! And above all love yourself because "We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle." - Marilyn Monroe.

Joelle