Body and beauty survey thang

Posted by: Amy on: 7 May, 2007

• In: beauty | body | survey
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This survey is from Newt in a Teacup:

“”Inspired by a comment or two in a previous post I’ve decided that it would be a great idea to compare our experiences in an honest, straightforward way. I’m not quite sure what the best way to start a discussion is so I’ve set up a few survey-style questions.One thing I’ve noticed, especially from personal experience, is that it’s very hard to talk to someone else, a friend or family member for instance, who does have really bad body image/ health issues to do with body image. And it’s pretty clear that all of us will most probably meet at least someone with those issues; we can’t avoid it.So let’s start talking to each other at least.

Copy and paste the questionnaire to your own blog, fill out what you want to fill out, and link it back here in the comments. If you don’t have a blog just do it straight into a comment.

Please do not refer to just yourself but to your friends and family as well – i.e. the environment you live in, or anything else you want to share. Add or remove questions if you want!

Remember this is a loose questionnaire, intended to start an honest discussion not solve the worlds problems.”

Name: AmyAge: 17Height: 5’3 or something like that. I’m short.

Weight: 11stone.

Do you consider yourself attractive?: My self esteem has never been so good as it is now. So yeh, I do.

Do others consider you attractive?: Some do, and I’m pretty sure some don’t.

What is your biggest insecurity and why? Used to be my nose. Sometimes, I get a bit insecure about my eyebrows, but for the most part, I’ve given up caring.

Have you/Would you consider using plastic surgery? Why or why not?: I wouldn’t consider plastic surgery for cosmetic reasons. I may consider reconstructive surgery if I was ever in the position to do so. The thing is, on a personal level at least, I love myself the way I am, I love my imperfections – why would I want to change myself physically? It’s my body, my face, it’s me.

What is your relationship with make-up? I’ve blogged briefly on this. (Too lazy, and have a bit of a headache at the moment, to repeat myself.)How much money do you/think is reasonable to spend on your appearance?: I have no idea. I rarely have money, and when I do it tends to go on coffee, food, and CDs.What is your experience of dieting?: LOL. My “diets” tend to go like this: “I’m going on a diet NOW!”. Ten minutes later, I’m eating. I don’t have the discipline, or even the motivation (other than parental pressure, but they can get stuffed), to go on a diet. I can’t be fucked with it. I did start cutting down on snacks, and going on the treadmill earlier this year, lost a bit of weight, but that was because I don’t want to be unhealthy. I’m pretty convinced I’m going to be a diabetic by the time I’m 50, the amount of sugar I have.

Have you/ anyone you know tried any specific diet programs i.e. Lighter Life? How did that affect your health? your moods? your relationships?: “Lighter Life” – never heard of it! Nope, I haven’t tried any specific diet programs personally. My nan and mum did the Atkins, and I think one or two girls at my old school did (they were probably 14/15, and really, even though I wasn’t a particularly big fan of them, didn’t need to go on a diet), and I know of one girl who is on this fucked up “diet pepsi” diet, where all you have is diet pepsi + one meal, and it was fucking advocated in a magazine. It’s fucked up. This girl, I’ve known her years, we used to be really good friends, she’s always been slim, she’s gorgeous, she has no fucking need for it. She said she watched the programme on size zero to get “tips”. !!!!!!

Do you have any experiences of eating disorders i.e. either yourself or someone you know?: Not me personally, a couple of friends have had anorexia, but I didn’t know either of them at the time.

How did other people react to this; what was the fallout?: N/A.

Have you had negative experiences relating to your appearance and people’s reactions to it? Yes. For years I had terrible self-esteem and hated myself and my appearance. I don’t really feel like going into too much detail about it at the moment though. Nobody has said anything negative about my appearance to my face at least, as far as I can remember. Except for the fact that my dad calls me fat, while my mum is more euphemistic. Meh.

What about positive reactions to your body? I do get compliments about my figure and appearance from friends, guys I see, random guys, whatever. I get some compliments about my make-up.

How has your body image and attitude changed over the years? Well, I used to hate my body and my facial appearance. I felt low about myself, and I had shite self-esteem, which made me feel pretty low. Now, I’m so comfortable with myself, I love the skin I’m in. I’m not conventionally perfect, but, fuck that. I’m me.

What do you love about your body? I like my eyes. I love the hair on my legs. I like my breasts, and my curves. But I do generally like my body as a whole.

What is your opinion on the media portrayal of women’s bodies? I hate how fucking one-dimensional it is, the lack of variety. I hate the fucking hypocrisy of the media for blasting modelling agencies for skinny models, and anorexia, yet at the same perpetuating the same dangerous beauty myths. It really pisses me off. We are constantly bombarded with these images and messages about women’s bodies and how they “should be”. Even if the message isn’t explicitly expressing that message, the amount of times we see a certain ideal or image, that message gets pressed on us anyway.

What would you change about the way you/ your friends/ your family/ general people see their bodies? I like what Lizzie said: “That we are all seen as individuals, first. That the body isn’t the most important thing about women. That looks come after all the other things in life, especially for women, who always appear to be judged first by their looks and everything else second. And also that we should accept other people’s bodies and not be critical.” I want people to feel genuinely comfortable and blessed in the skin they’re in, irrespective of any “flaws”.What makes you feel beautiful? When I’m happy and carefree. I guess it makes me feel like I’m shining, almost.and just for fun… Do you shave legs/pits/upper lip moustache?
I don’t have an upper lip moustache. I don’t shave my legs. I haven’t shaved them in about 6 months! 😀 I shave my pits occasionally, especially when it’s warm. I refuse to shave anything below the waist though.