A Warrior for the Body Image Wars

By Sherrie Gulmahamad on December 7th, 2009

Sometimes it feels like the media just bombards us with ridiculous, unattainable images of womanhood.  Celebrities birth their babies and are seen on the street a week later looking exactly the same. Then the very same celebrities are airbrushed into non-existence on magazine covers, giving them hopeless waistlines, thinner arms, perfect skin. And then the next thing you know, you’re standing in front of some dressing room mirror turned sideways, wondering what Kate Beckinsdale has to eat (and not eat)  to look *like that*.  Forget it, it’s a losing battle, isn’t it!?

Adiosbarbie.com doesn’t think so.  This nifty little website and blog posts an interesting mix of media critiques of body image and straight up positive reinforcement.  They lay down thoughtful attacks against the plastic surgery crazy targeted at Asians and the inherent racism involved in encouraging a girl to get a crease added to her eyelid.  They praise Adele and Beth Ditto for being big curvy (successful!) girls among a sea of lither-than-thou Taylor Swifts and Rihannas.  They hope we can avoid wanting plastic surgery for no reason and fret that our menfolk have succumbed to the same unhealthy body standards that we’ve been living under for ages.

It’s quite simply, a few sober voices against the media roar. Go click around, send a link to a friend who won’t stop picking on herself.  You might be helping out more than you know.