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Happy new year
Life

Bye 2020, Welcome 2021

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We can say one thing about 2020, it has pushed us, pushed us, forced us to think outside the box … and I could easily criticize and blame this year, but that would be missing the point.

2020 was the year I saw support like never before!
Unknown neighbors, who are no longer unknown.
You here and on Curvylink,who had continued to support the website, while we could no longer organize events.
Close or distant friends who have been an important moral support.
Family. that has been at my side, doing everything possible to help me, continue with my projects in a world blocked …

I did not expect to receive that much love and support, in words as in deeds.

Yes, 2020 was tough, like many, I also lost, grief struck, my life changed dramatically and I had to, like you, show resilience and also renew myself.
But now, at the dawn of a new year, I don’t want to leave with only the negative.
2020 was the year of change, painful change yes but this is often the case for most transformations.

So bye bye 2020, You will always be part of our evolution, hopefully so we can be a better version of ourself.

Come on, we’ll be back in 2021 and I hope that 2021 will be a year of balance, joy, hope, health and sharing.

I wish you a great 2021

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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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Life

Positive thinking is not a magical tool but it works !

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I just had to go there, but a big manifestation was between me and the place I needed to go to, cutting all circulation and my means of transportation.
I’m a positive thinker, I do believe than faith in yourself and life can change things. So when it was the time to go, I put on my sneakers, in case I had to walk a lot or run, and I went to my bus stop.
I didn’t really believe I could go all the way by bus, but maybe, at least a few stops.
And here it was, the bus was there, I couldn’t believe it, I even send a picture to a friend just to show her the impossible sometimes happen.

It didn’t stop there. While in the bus the driver announced us she could go down only two stops, so I said to her “hey it’s already two stops, and who knows, maybe by the time we are there, they will clear up more of the avenue”.
She smiles, didn’t believing in it. But a few second before we came to the last stop, radio called her and told we could go one stop more.

So I said to her “That’s great, imagine they managed to clear everything as we go along the avenue”, she laugh and said there was no way we could make it till the end of the line.
“I believe in positive thinking and hope, you have nothing to lose when you believe, I’m prepared to walk but imagine how great it will be if we can go all the way”, she laughed, and we started talking about other things.

As we moved forward, all the avenue cleared up, as I was hoping, stop after stop. She couldn’t believe in it, we were the first one passing after the manifestation and the cleaning team.

When we finally make it to my stop, she gave me a really big nice smile and told me she was going to try things my way.
So not only I managed to do what I wanted, I made someone smile and I gave her the inspiration to try to a positive mindset : win – win – win 😀

Positive thinking and hoping is not just waiting for things to happen, not just praying while doing nothing.
For this to work, you have to do your part too and be open, act, move and put everything in your power in place for the things to go your way.
You also have to be able to find another way, if it doesn’t work as you prefer, be hopeful and prepared !

This happened to me saturday, it shoes so well the importance of the mindset you decice to choose for yourself and how it is a great part of your success.
Positive thinking do work ! Because when you take a chance with yourself, you take a risk and it makes things happen !
So be positive, it could lead further than you expect 😉

Are you already using positive thinking ? Will you give it a try ?

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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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Life

What am I looking for in a relationship ?

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This is a question a lot of people asked me lately : “What am I looking for in a relationship ? ”
Oh well, first news, being single doesn’t mean I have to look for a relationship.
You don’t need anyone to feel all !
In fact, you’d better be happy and feel complete by yourself before being with anyone else.
That said, we don’t have all the same stories and needs.
I’m 44, I had a relationship which last 14 years, I’ve been proposed in the past, I don’t feel that I have to prove anything to anyone anymore.

Let’s go back to the first question, so what could I be looking for in a relationship, because yes, if I do enjoy living by myself, being free with my time, my space and especially being able to sleep in the position I want … well it would be nice to have someone special to share all the good things.

Of course, there’s a lot I can share with friends, but we all know it’s not the same.

So let’s put in the light some simple things.

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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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