I’ve been super swamped lately. Lots of stuff happening (mostly working for clients and making the money), and unfortunately, not much time left for me to write posts here. However, I’ve recently been very drawn to a classic piece of art and I wanted to take a short moment to write about this beautiful painting by Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, and what it means to me.
The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli
I never took a painting/art class in college, so I don’t know much about the background or technicalities of this painting. But I do know that at some point in human history, Venus, here in all her near nude glory, was considered a beautiful woman.
Today, while Rene was trying to describe to me how her face has great ratios and thus looks really beautiful and healthy, I couldn’t stop looking at how well rounded Venus’ body is. She’s certainly not ugly by today’s standards, but a woman of her shape would be considered a little pudgy now. I mean, she does have a little pudge on her belly there. Swimsuit models of today certainly don’t have those. But despite that, she still looks really healthy and beautiful in this painting to me.
I was still thinking about this painting a few hours later when I got out of the shower and got a quick glance of myself in the mirror. I suddenly realized that my body doesn’t look all that different from Venus’ body.
I was going to find some skinny models to show the difference between Venus and modern skinny models. Then I realized that most people already know what skinny models look like, so instead, I found pics of plus-sized models who may be the modern version of Venus, with full voluptuous bodies. This is Lizze Miller.
I’ve been recently feeling bad about my body because I’ve put on a few extra pounds. I’m not sure why I’ve been putting on the extra weight lately, but I think it may have to do with the recent kidney and liver cleanse I’ve been on for the last few months. The cleanse has been bringing me back to lower energy levels I had back before I ate organically and Weston A. Price Foundation friendly, and I’m guessing that the weight gain may just be my body drawing out the bad stuff I had eaten years ago that have built up in my kidney and liver. I’m still eating fairly healthy right now, but maybe I’ve been eating too many grains for a protein type like me. At any rate, I’ve put on extra weight, had to go up in some clothes sizes again, and just feeling plain bad about the whole situation. Luckily, I’ve just finished my cleanse, so I’m hoping my body will return back to my prior size and weight. And I’m also trying to cut down on grains I don’t prepare myself. So yes, I feel bad like most other women do when they put on extra pounds, and I can’t help but try to plan to get that extra weight off my body as soon as possible.
Plus sized model Crystal Renn. I actually think she's really sexy looking here.
However, when I saw my body today in the mirror looking so similar to Venus’ body in this painting, I realized that even though I may feel bad about my increased dress size and extra pudge around my middle, Rene still thinks I’m super beautiful, just like he thinks Venus is here. This gives me a little more perspective about changing female body images over the ages, and it makes me a little jealous that I don’t live back in the days where my body now would have been considered the most sought after body type of all.
Another Crystal Renn, she makes thick legs look beautiful! Now I don't feel so bad about my big thighs...as much.
Luckily for me, Rene thinks that most women in the media are too skinny, and he likes women who have more curves and roundness. Not fat, but not like a surfboard either. I still have trouble believing that Rene thinks this, I think I’ve become ultra sensitive to the super skinny models and wanting my own body to look like that. So while my body does look like Venus’ here, I feel like I’m fat, and yet I think Venus is beautiful…something is definitely not connecting right in my brain on this matter.
Whitney Thompson proves that plus sizes can wear bikinis and still feel sexy.
I think I’m going to try to stare at Venus here a lot (along with all these other beautiful plus sized models), and try to shift my brain into thinking that I am not fat, but rather beautiful like Venus, like real women with real bodies. Maybe if I stare at her enough, it will make me stop comparing myself to all those really skinny bodies on magazine covers.
It's really nice to see plus sized models in professional photography. It kind of gives us a sense that we all could look really good with just the right touches of makeup, clothes, photography and lighting.
I know I’m not alone on this matter. I know a lot of other women have bodies just like mine and freak out just the same when they gain a little extra weight. Women, tell me about your struggles with your body. What do you feel when you suddenly have to go up a pants size? What do you do when bikini season is around and once again you don’t feel sexy/fit enough to put one on? What do you do to help you feel better?
And men, do you think Venus here is beautiful? Is she fat or just the right shape? Do you prefer her over skinny models? Do these plus sized models look less beautiful than the really skinny ones?
About Jocelyn
Your timing with this is beautiful and perfect. That painting of Venus speaks to me on a couple of levels – on the one hand, there’s a giant rendition of that painting hanging in a hotel here in Colorado that my love and I have spent a couple of nights at this summer. You can’t NOT notice it coming down the staircase, and her beauty and the raw, nakedness of that photo has always caught my attention.
With regards to body image, I’ve put a few on this month too. I’m blaming it on the switch in birth control and subsequent hormonal fluctuation (my mood has been ragingly emotional too which is a bit weird for me – I’m rational! I promise!), but honestly? I don’t love the change.
I love this picture and the beauty. Thanks for sharing this.
That sounds just amazing. I would totally love to have this painting in a physical manifestation…in fact, I’d love to have it in my house somewhere! Totally gonna make a note of that in our current search for art to hang on our walls.
Oh boy, when I was on birth control pills, it truly sucked in so many ways, but the worst was the weight gain since everyone can see that change most prominently. They say the pills are safe, but I’m not so sure when it causes unnatural weight changes, mood changes, and so much more. I’m glad to be off them now, but still currently looking for a better alternative. I hope your switch is for the better overall.
Thanks for visiting!
If you find a better alternative for birth control pills, please let me know! I gained so much weight from birth control pills (or at least I’m assuming that was the main cause), so I got off of them. But I’m still overweight!
I’m currently working with my holistic doctor to find a new solution. So far, it seems that if you go for options without hormones, you won’t have the issues that birth control pills cause. I’ve yet to come to any conclusions about it, but I would recommend you see your doctor and ask about non-hormonal options. There’s quite a few out there, surprisingly, which get no commercial love, but seem quite effective just the same.
Getting off birth control pills was just one step for me to recover back to a more optimal weight. I realized that I had other issues that were causing my weight gain, one of which was adrenal fatigue. With the help of my health advisor, I was able to overcome adrenal fatigue and lose about 20 pounds without doing anymore than changing my diet to a more whole foods one and walking about 20 minutes a day. I would recommend you look into it yourself and see if that may be causing your weight problems. I’m personally trying to return back to a stricter whole foods diet now since I’ve gained back more of my weight from my recent cleanse.
Which hotel in Colorado? =o I’ll be visiting CO (and the US) for the first time in ages (since I live in the UK) in May & I’d be curious to see it!
And yes, I think this issue affects most women these days- the media use the excuse ‘oh but the public KNOW how much these photos have been airbrushed etc so it’s ok to have them showing’
Yes, we the public can see if if a photo has been photoshopped but DEEP DOWN we still have problems accepting it- just like you pointed out. It is a sad predicament of our society indeed when we are still affected by these photos and videos of skinny women subconsciously, even if we try to fight it in the same way you talked about.
You’re right, I don’t think most people even think about the fact that these models are almost always photoshopped. And plus, I developed my understanding of the female body when I was a kid, and nobody ever told me all those images I saw on magazine covers were photoshopped. I don’t think I really found out till after I had already formed my idea of models and female bodies, so that argument totally doesn’t work! The damage has been done, and I can try to remind myself that photoshopping has been done, but let’s face it, I don’t remember it that often.
Jocelyn,
Unfortunately, body image is a gendered issue that most women and few men deal with. The double standard on aging seems to view men as more attractive as they age, while women less so as they age. While I don’t agree with that double standard I still get caught up in weight issues myself, and it sucks!
Botticelli’s painting depicted a time when female beauty was directly attached to being womanly, and more accurately, being a mother: being built to bear and care for children. Round hips, belly, proportionate chest. The “Coke bottle shape” so desired back in the day has been traded for the “Martini glass shape”: big chest, small waist, hips, legs. Blah.
I’m ranting at this point but basically, Botticelli rocks, and women like Christina Hendricks, Mia Tyler, and Ashley Graham are freakin gorgeous!
Jezebel has an article about plus-size models and (essentially) the first fashion shoot to feature plus size models without sidelining them behind standard size models. Most other fashion spreads have done it as a publicity stunt for ratings, but this one’s pretty damn beautiful:
http://jezebel.com/5439851/v-gives-the-world-a-plus+size-shoot-not-afraid-to-flaunt-its-curves
Thanks for that awesome article! It’s weird to me that you are affected by the skinny image, too, since I look up to you for inspiration in what’s beautiful in an Asian woman, but then again, it makes total sense that all women, no matter how big, small or beautiful are affected by our crazy media imagery.
I love that I can see how clothes really fit on a plus sized model. I’m not quite that large myself, but it’s nice to see that I could be somewhere between the skinny model and a more normal looking plus sized model (rather than just hating that I’m nowhere near looking like the skinny model). I’m sick and tired of clothes companies trying to tell me they make jeans that fit my body shape, but then when I look at the models or mannequins on display, the body shapes are just skinny washboards. For the life of me, I can’t see any difference between the three types of new women’s jeans that Levi’s is pushing now in their new line. Can anyone?
These women all look NORMAL to me…definitely not plus size. it makes me cringe a little bit because I feel my body looks like theirs and I’m a size 6/8…
Me too! I’m about the same size as you and it’s odd to me that these women have to be over size 12/14 in order to be considered plus size!
I’m a Venus, no doubt. What’s with the idea of these chicks being “plus size” models? Whenever I buy clothes, I buy size 14 jeans and Large shirts (thanks to my boobs). If I tried something on in the official plus-size shirts, the CLOTHES FIT LIKE FREAKIN TENTS. And 14 is freaking “plus size” by modeling standards? What the heck, fashion industry. What. The. Heck. You’re confusing me.