Cindy.... a Real life Barbie...

The pictures above are Cindy Jackson.....a woman who spent over 20 grand on cosmetic surgery to make her look like Barbie!

Some may think she now looks more attractive?..... what about more generic? more of a person? more confident? like she may have more self esteem? like more people may want to date her?

She claims she does not want to grow old....that she does not wish to lose out in life because of losing out in the gene pool?????

Studies show that people who lay a disproportionate amount of their worth in their appearance can suffer from low self esteem and difficulties in their relationships..... is that worth £20,000????????

Personally, I think no.... this world would be a dull place if we all looked the same.... Life's greatest experiences and achievements do not surely come from us looking good..... however the amount of focus in society on our appearance would suggest so.....

Petition - PLEASE SIGN!!!

To anyone who might read this......

This is a petition to get an hour of self esteem/body image lessons onto the National Curriculum for Teenagers - it would be a fantastic start if this happened and may help towards young people becoming more confident and allowing them to reach their potential!


http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/bodyconfidence/

BC
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Blush Video!

I am posting a video by a girl band called BLUSHuk

They are a band linked with the Message Trust and they have a passion to see young women see that they are beautiful inside and out no matter what anyone else tells them!

They recently did this photoshoot of them with makeup, without and with the make up washing off!

I think its great that they are doing this to show vulnerability and to show young women that it is ok to be without make up - i think could potentially be really great for lots of young people to see - BE YOURSELF!!

The video for some reason will not embed so I have posted the link - check it out!

http://www.message.org.uk/media/?mediahubID=543

Spread the word!

For now

BC

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The forgotten 'in betweeners'

I have been reading an incredible book called 'Perfect girls, starving Daughters' which is essentially about young women in today's society and the issues they face - however it has made me extremely aware of the forgotten 'in betweeners' - the young women who don't necessarily have diagnosable eating disorders but do find it hard to look in the mirror every day, those who do not starve themselves but watch what they eat constantly - those who compare themselves with others all the time.....

I think perhaps it is a continuum rather than you have an eating disorder and you do not (although the clear diagnosis is necessary for treatment).

A continuum which goes from

A healthy view of appearance, food and weight

All the way to

Starving or purging to decrease weight or binging to increase weight.

does this come from an inner hunger for love and attachment - i think in part yes and i think it also comes in part from society impressing on young women that they need to be everything - they must be gorgeous, clever, good at sports or music or art or maths or all of these and more - there seems to be an increasing pressure to be 'Perfect' - but this is unachievable and perhaps trying is futile - we get very frstrated at waiting 10 minutes for a bus or train because it is a waste of time but we are willing to spend at least that or more on fussing what to eat, what to wear, how we should look for friends, the 'boy' or our family - and why - because our appearance often dictates how we feel and our confidence in a given situation - we do not want to feel out of place but surely our humour, intellect and our individual presonalities can go above and beyond what we look like?

I definately do not have all the answers and this is a place for me to ramble and just bring up things that interest me - share your views - leave a message or send an email - beautycocoon@gmail.com

for now
BC xxxx

3 in 10 self harming

Today I have been doing some reading about self harm and have come across this statistic

‘3 in 10 girls in Europe have self harmed or thought about self harming in the last year’

This in some ways didn’t surprise me as I am aware of the problems however it does deeply disturb me that more and more young people (and adults) are turning to self harm to deal with the world in which they live.

What is it about our lives that means that we are unable to cope? Have we not been taught other coping mechanisms? Do people feel they shouldn’t or couldn’t share their feelings with someone else?

Is there such a lack of continuity for our young people in and out of the home that the only release they can find is to harm themselves?

I’m embarking on some new research which will look into the lived experiences of young women and the way in which they view themselves including questions about self harm and eating disorders – this is in the true beginnings so may take a while but watch this space.

If you have experience of self harm or eating disorders or have any comments on my blog or would like to share your experience of any issues to do with self esteem, body image etc I would love to hear from you – Please leave a comment on this page or email me @ beautycocoon@gmail.com. This is not a helpline more a way of keeping in touch with people accessing my blog!

For Now
BC
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Video from Dove

This is a brilliant video to raise awareness of the importance of talking with young women around you about the media.

Have a watch - it will make you think twice abot what we see everyday!!!




For now
BC xxx

Impossibly beautiful.......all the same?

We are surrounded by images everyday which scream at us that we need to be perfect..... images which say improve yourself using our new... product, procedure etc etc - we as adults are affcted by these images and adverts but perhaps have the ability to buffer their impact (or perhaps not!?) however young women in their teens often will not have the tools necessary to deal with this bombardment of perfection....

I typed into google "beauty" and found that on the first page out of 18 photos only 4 did not contain pictures of impossibly beautiful women

I love technology and all the amazing things we can now do on a computer (like blogging!!!) but i'm worried that the extent to which models are airbrushed is going beyond making the pictures acceptable for huge print such as billboards or close ups in magazines but has become a way of morphing any model into EXACTLY what the client is looking for in an advert or front cover.
i think there is a distinct difference between airbrushing to make pictures look better in print to photoshopping to change the appearance of someone totally.

Do we all truly want to look the same? or even look at lots of models who look the same? We are increasingly encouraging young people to view diversity in race and culture as a positive thing whilst at the same time telling them through our actions and what the media puts in front of them that being the same s everyone else is a good thing.... is this not a contradiction???

Pro Ana/Pro Mia

I wanted to raise the profile of Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia sites, these are sites which claim to offer ‘support’ to people suffering with eating disorders. These sites promote that having an Eating Disorder is a choice and that as an individual people have the choice whether to take this path in life or not – the sites claim that if you have then they offer a non judgemental place for people to meet and swap tips etc. They also hold many pictures of ‘thinspiration’ a dangerous concept of posting pictures of celebs or themselves when dangerously thin.

When young women get involved in these sites, they often find a network of people who understand them but this can in turn feed the addition/illness and as part of recovery at times the pro-ana/mia sites can be something else to pull away from.

If you are a parent, take care not to let your children visit these sites, talk to them about the sites and give them alternatives and if you are a young person struggling then please be careful, B-eat offer self help networks where you can attend groups and talk to others who have experiences as part of your recovery - http://www.b-eat.co.uk/Home

For now xxx

First Blog!!

Well... blogging .... this is a new experince for sure!!!

I decided to write a blog of my thoughts and challenges and other such things basically to try and raise awareness of issues of self esteem, self worth and beauty!

We live in a society based on looks - if you look good you can..
have the job?
have the guy?
win the competition?

but what about what is going on underneath the beauty or what if someone is beautiful but cannot see it or what if you hate the beauty you have been given?!

I wanted to write about this because I believe the more people who know they are valued and can be themselves, the more they will be able to make exciting and fulfilling contribution to the lives of themselves and others!