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body positivity

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body positivity

Naked and transformed : Body painting with Filippo Ioco – Cloud 9

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“You are what you eat”, the first time I heard this I think it was in the serie Who’s the Boss?, and like Angela Bower I wanted to be a chocolate cake.

So when Filippo Ioco asked me if I would agree to model for him and to be turned into a muffin for his personal project Fun with foods, I had to accept the challenge.

Filippo is an international well known artist, is also in my circle of friend, so I knew I was going to be in good hands for my first time being a naked model and being body paint.

For this first time, Filippo turned me into a cannabis muffin, but if you ask me, I will tell you I was a matcha muffin lol
No problem with cannabis, but I don’t know how it taste and I love matcha in pastries.

After painting me and taking a few picture, the image is passing into photoshop to be more transformed, and this is the final result.

It was really strange for me to see that picture, I’m note used of seing me naked, painted and in that position.
Hopefully, it will be Instagram and facebook approved as you don’t see any intimate part, just the curve of my ass.

I had to admit, at first, it was hard for me to share this image.
For one part, I was really proud to have done it.
For another part, I was naked, showing my body as a muffin, not the pauses I’m used too, I felt vulnerable.
I supposed most of the people are feeling like that at first, after all, behind the muffin, I’m only human.

Can you find me in the picture ?

To see more of Filippo Ioco art : Ioco body art

To be followed, with another body painting coming during this winter …

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Photo by Jana Sabeth on Unsplash
body positivity

#everybodyvisible When the fight against censorship is muzzled

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Sharing amazing pictures of body we’re not used to see is something I do on a daily base with Vivelesrondes , the number of time an amazing picture was censored just because there was a little too much of skin is countless.
I’m not even talking about naked picture, nop, just a picture with some skin out protunding a pair of shorts is already too much.

We can see countless accounts that shouldn’t be authorized without parental supervision, but art, but a plus size body seem to be scandalous.

The 29 of october, for the international internet day, a protest was organized on Instagram with hashtag #EveryBODYVisible

If you have ever been censored for a picture that was not even showing a nipple or some intimate body part, you know the feeling.
Anger, misunderstanding, shame, indignation … and only silence to answer. Your image have been banned for not respecting the rules of the community when you did respect it to the letter.

“When our bodies, our selves, our passions, our work, our lives are hidden or deleted because they ‘may not meet community guidelines’ we are shamed and silenced.
Being different gets you banished?
This message is dangerous to our youth.
We are challenging it, together.”

Thousands of people posted picture, tagging instagram’s chiefs to be sure that even with censorship, those to whom this event is addressed wouldn’t be able to say “they didn’t know” !
@Mosseri,
@SherylSandberg,
@DavisAntigone
@maxinepwilliams
@Schrep,
@Guyro .

Of course, you won’t be able to see most of those instagram post, because as other hashtag before it has already been shadow banned !
But you can read some of the stories of discrimination for just being different on everybodyvisible website.

This is the story of accounts deleted with no way to speak with Instagram. Some of theses accounts were at 188K followers.
Pole dance or curvy hashtags blocked, dancers, athletes, fitness professionals, trans, LGBT, yogis, disability activits, feminist, sex and birth educators, photographers, artist, body positive advocate… are been silenced every day !

Don’t you think all all sizes, all shapes, all colors, all bodies should be allowed to express themselves.
Guidelines should be the same for all.

As Dirty Martini and Dita Von Tees said :
“We request clear guidelines, equally-applied ‘community standards’, right of appeal, and an urgent review into algorithmic bias disproportionately affecting the visibility of women, femme-presenting people, LGBTQIA folx, people of color, sex workers, dancers, athletes, fitness fans, artists, photographers & body-positive Instagram users.⁣”

What do you want ?

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body positivity

Body positive campaign : 35 videos that could change your view on body image !

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Have you ever realized that every where you look, media always impose on us one body type to be THE body type we should all have.
Billboards, tv commercial, magazine … all young, thin and most of the time photoshoply flawless !
Yes but that’s not the reality, size acceptance and body positive activist like myself have tried to break this diktat for decades now, and it’s finally starting to crack a little.

Yes, juste a little, because diversity is not yest the new normal, body positivity is not yet something so well spread that some brand doesn’t feel the need to try to use it for the buzz even if they don’t understand it.

The good thing, is that we start to see people of all sizes, color and ages in some campaign, that’s huge and hopefully it will intensify.
So what’s out there for now ? I found 35 commercials from the last years and here they are.

Be careful, those videos might as well change your view on beauty and boost your self esteem !

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body positivity

Stretchmarks are normal ! #Tigermarks #Loveyourlines

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Have you ever look for “stretctmarks” in a search engine ?
The first result usually is not a definition or a scientific explination, the first result is “Stretch marks: How to get rid of them …“, then “How to reduce strech marks“.
Stretchmarks are usually shown as a flaw, an horrible failure, something you absolutely have to eradicate !
Pharmacetical industry has so much interest to make us think that stretchmarks are evil and must be hated, treated and eliminitated at any price, really almost any with cream that are 30€ and up to 50€ for 15g, you can imagine how much money they can make with our complexe.

Little reminder: Stretch marks can affect both men and women, in any part of the body, at any age.
These are in fact “scars” caused by the rupture of elastic fibres and collagen of the dermis (deep part of the skin).
Genetics, skin quality, age, tobacco, weight variation, pregnancy, stress and cortisol production… the causes are multiple and can very well affect thin young people contrary to urban beliefs.

– Se pourrir la vie pour quelques marques sur le corps juste parce que la société préfère nous voir occuper à complexer parce qu’on ne ressemble pas au modèle irréaliste et lisse qu’on nous présente.
– Accepter ces marques sur notre corps, ces stries qui tatouent notre corps naturellement et quelque part montre l’histoire de notre corps. Voir ses marques de guerrier(re)s qui ont combattu(e)s comme celles de tigre(sse)s, ne plus ressentir le besoin de les cacher et passer à autre chose.

So yes, you can even use moisturizers in prevention, but there’s no guarantee that it will avoid them.

So all of us are likely to have stretch marks at some point, once they’re there, there are no real solutions to make them go away.

So now you’ve got two possibilities :
– Hurt yourself for a few marks on your body just because society prefers us to be busy hating our bodies because we don’t look like the unrealistic and smooth model we’re presented with.
– Accepting these marks on our bodies, these striations that tattoo ourself naturally and somewhere shows the history of our body. See his warriors marks that have fought like tigers, no longer feel the need to hide them and move on.

Here are 20 photos and illustrations on Instagram that will help you love your stretch marks:

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body positivity

I’m fat, I’m blond, I’m a woman … so what !

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As long as I can reminder, I’ve been judged !
Judged for passing a class and being younger and maybe a bit naive.
Judged for being taller than the children my age.
Judged for being bigger than the other children.
Judged by the sport teacher who never tried to see why I was without air when running, and made me feel like a lazy girl, when in fact I had a medical reason for my lack of breath.
I’ve been bullied, hit by the others childrens at my school.

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body positivity

Does sizing in clothes influence your self esteem and body image ?

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Let me bring you back in the past, the year 1998.
At that time, it was already hard for me to find clothes and I was just a 46 (18UK – 16US).

This was making me feel really bad about myself, like I was a loser, beucause you know, if I can’t even find clothes at my size, How can I be able to do anything good if I’m this inadequate.

My pants was from Taillissime, ex La Redoute Plus size, was the only place I could find pants.

Coats was from C&A, the sleeves where too short, it was a size 60… that was making me feel like I was even bigger.

This damage my self esteem so much at that time, was only 23 but I was sure I was the fattest woman in town !

So yes, it’s important for us big girl, whatever our size, to be able to find plus size clothing.
And yes, it’s important, for all of us, humans to be able to find clothes at our real size.

It’s well known that some shops are using “vanity size” to push us a little bit in the impulse of buying. Just go into, maybe an H&M, even I can get into an XL from the “classic” size section, and I’m a 52 (24UK).
In this world where number are so important, we all know that the feeling of finding something that feet well with on size less make most of us feel so so good.

So is that so stupid to think it could work in the other direction.

Can you imagine how a young girl who’s size is a 46, would feel when the only coat who she could finally get barely into was a size 60.
And this is still happening today, to so many of us, at any size, all around the world.
The worst part is that we are so full of shame when those things happened, we usually prefer to be silent, keep silent at any coast seems better than accepting the fact we might be fat, we might not fit the standard of the society.
It reminded me when I used to read comments saying “I’d better have a cancer than be fat”, can you imagine the violence of the rejection of “being fat” to be able to say such a thing.

A few years ago, in Europe and in France, the French Textile-Clothing Institute scanned people with a big machine all around the country, so we could have better and more accurate measurement for the fashion industry.
Sadly just a few shops decide to use those information, but at least we knew we were taller and bigger, and that the usual french woman is a size 44/46 (16/18UK – 14/16US).

And still, when if you try to by a pants, you won’t be able to get in the same size in all the shops.
But sure, no impact on self esteem or body image, as we don’t talk about it.
I can tell you, I read plenty of messages on internet of girls and womens who explained how down they were after shopping, as much as they didn’t want to go shopping again soon.
I remember crying after a full day looking for an outfit for a wedding when I was a teenager, when the only things more or less available in my size where thought for much older people.

Fashion industry as changed since I was a teenager, there’s much more option now.
So much that I received on the website I worked for the last 18 years angry messages of parents telling me to stop showing the option, as their daughters were loosing their motivation to loose weight, as they could find things now.

So yes, I maybe shouldn’t be so angry, but still I am, because it’s still hard to find clothes and I’m a 52 now (24UK – 22US), ans yes I’ve been doing shipping with friends not especially “plus size” and I can stil see how bad they felt with the flase sizing and the lack of option when for their morphologies.

When you think the woman size in fashion only existe since 1920, when ready-to-wear clothing really starting and slowly replace tailoring and self-sewn clothing.
Almost a century ago.
Just a thought, but maybe we should just get back to making our clothes our self, like people used to do for hundreds of years and take back that power we gave freely to the fashion industry.

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Anne Stolbowsky body painting with Filippo ioco
body positivity

Naked and exposed : My first ever body painting and naked picture as a plus size

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I was naked, for the first time ever in front of someone who’s nor my lover or a doctor.
How could I end up in that situation, naked and touched by a man who have no love or medical interest with me ?

This was yesterday, it was my first ever photoshoot and body painting naked.
Everything started 6 months ago, when we decided with my associate to stop working together on Vivelesrondes. At that time I knew I wanted to continue my work with body positivism and not just by being behind the scene but also by taking action and putting myself in the first line.
In fact, it can look kind of easy to say to people they can change their life, do whatever they want, wear bikini with a fat body and have a beautiful body whatever the size, because what’s important is attitude and the light you bring around you.
But let’s be honest, words can sometimes be juste words, so I decided that it was time for me to get out of the shadow and show that my actions are true to my words !

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body positivity

What would you say to your younger self ?

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What would I say to “young me” ?
If you have ever watched “Ru Paul Drag race”,  you saw him pop the question to the finalist in every season.
When you’re at a place like that, coming from so far away , it’s a good time to come back on what you did in your life, having a little reflexion before you go for your next great battle.
Now, I’m kind of a point like that. I’ve been with Vivelesrondes for the last 18 years, I’m changing my life now, this a special moment so maybe it’s time to look back to be even stonger for the future,

Here I am, young Anne, maybe 4 years old, running and enjoying the summer with total innocence.

This is what I would like to tell to the young me :

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