www.truebeautyworkshops.com
Hi There,
This blog is an extension of True Beauty Workshops: a program I launched to help girls realize their True Beauty and reach their full potential. I am inspired by my role at the forefront of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty: in the summer of 2005, I was one of the Dove “real women” on billboards and in magazines who danced around in white underwear. The ads featured six un-airbrushed “real” women, not professional models, celebrating our curvy bodies. Major media buzz fueled Dove’s effort to challenge the current stereotype of beauty; we were featured on programs such as CNN, The Today Show and Oprah, to name a few.
I was “discovered” for the campaign one day while taking out the trash. The opportunity to challenge societies’ current definition of beauty was not only a fabulous fairy tale of a chance to make a positive impact on American pop culture; but the message that beauty comes in many shapes and sizes was of huge personal significance. I gleefully celebrated my short curvy body in the Dove ads, but I do know what it’s like to struggle with a negative body image. Until a couple years prior to the Dove ads, I had waged a major war against my body – the campaign proved that my story is universal. The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is based on a global survey which revealed that, in 2004, only 2% of women around the world considered themselves beautiful. During the campaign, and since, I’ve met countless women with their own war stories and battle scars from “fighting a weight problem”. In a fierce “battle of the bulge,” some women have simultaneously rebelled against societal pressure and punished themselves for falling short, through Compulsive Overeating or Anorexia (Seemingly opposite, the motives behind Compulsive Overeating and Anorexia are actually similar). Some women express their insatiable hunger for approval through Bulimia and Compulsive Exercise. However, many women don’t go to such extremes. Many average women flirt with Eating Disorders throughout their lives, yo-yo diet, are preoccupied with diet and exercise and, or, allow insecurities to interfere with personal relationships. Blessed with perspective from both ends of the body image spectrum, I hope to create awareness of how our individual stories are part of the collective story of womankind: our role in society is shifting. Women have more power than ever before; true liberation will come when we make history of the battle with our bodies.
www.truebeautyworkshops.com
Tags: Beauty, Beauty Stereotypes, Campaign For Real Beauty, Crisanti, Diet, Dove, Dove Ads, Feminism, Gina, Media, True Beauty, True Beauty Workshops, Weight Loss
