Friday, November 16, 2007 at 2:02am
Self-love through thick and thin
Column: Outing the Goddess Within
According to Ophira Edut of AdiosBarbie.com, it's too late for Mattel to change Barbie's status of impossible, plastic perfection. "Unless, of course, they deliver a fleet of Barbies with cellulite, fat asses, nappy hair, big noses, and voice boxes that discuss the inherent flaws of dolls as role models," she says.
It is nearly a decade since Ophira wrote that statement in 1999, and "body image" is still a hot topic. Even the Australian government is paying attention to the issue of how women perceive, think and feel about their bodies. According to the government endorsed website healthinsite.gov.au, only 16 percent of women are satisfied with their body weight, and "nearly half of all normal-weight women overestimate their size and shape."
Apart from dressing up as a mermaid and tossing fruit into the Atlantic to appease the Sea Gods, how else can a gal fall in self-love to appreciate her body and her worth?
The first step, according to J. Alison Hilber, author of "Change How You See, Not How You Look: Power Tools for Celebrating Your Body," is to "meet yourself."
"Meeting my true self for the first time was the most amazing event of my life, as it should be for all women," she says. "If we all found ourselves to be the most amazing person we know, we would remember to take care of ourselves first, thus allowing for an overflow of energy for others in our lives."
Meeting yourself isn't just about entering a time-space vortex and coming full-circle to witness your pajama-clad self collecting the newspaper from the front lawn. It's not even about shaking hands with yourself in the mirror. It's about getting in touch with your glorious and gorgeous inner goddess, just as Alison did.
"In the past few years, I have come to believe that I am a reincarnation of the Venus Willendorf," says Alison.
Not that Alison is carved from oolitic limestone or covered in ocher, as per the famous statuette dating back to circa 20,000 to 30,000 BC. The priceless Willendorf statuette features pendulous breasts, fleshy hips and a backside that you could rest a pizza on, yet for hundreds of thousands of BBWs (big beautiful women), this idealization of the female figure has come to surpass the Botticelli interpretation of "true beauty." Beat that, Barbie!
As such, Alison believes that in having a similar body type to that of the statuette, her purpose is to "remind the world what a true, ancient 'goddess' was before the term was ripped off by Playboy." That is, to reclaim what being goddess is truly about.
On a simple and practical level, one way Alison does this is by stringing flags with representations of nine ancient goddesses across her living room. The flags act as a physical reminder to Alison that she is as much a goddess as each of the figures glorified on the flags. It is this reminder that is paramount in changing one's perception of self.
"All women are in dire need of memory renewal therapy; they need to remember who they truly are, where their essence lies, what they can do, be or have ... which is EVERYTHING and ANYTHING!"
Once we, as women, start shifting our perception of ourselves from "imperfect" (as the glossy mags would have it) to "absolutely perfect" (as empowered men and our families already think we are), then our natural beauty and joy can overflow.
"We are all endowed with and have access to all of the attributes of Spirit (Love, Beauty, Faith, Power, Balance, Harmony, Abundance, Well-Being, Freedom)," Alison goes on to say. "We just need to REMEMBER that."
Better than popping a pill, we don't even have to change a single thing about how we look in order to achieve a state of goddess-ness. We only need to change the way we see.
"I love nothing more than to see the look of revelation when a woman finally gets that her beauty is up to her and no one else; her self-definition is all that matters," says Alison. "And when she remembers her true essence, she will find that there is no other option but to see her beauty, her elegance, her grace."
So, the upshot in combating Barbie's plastic (im)perfection is to become your own best friend, treat yourself with unconditional love and respect and care for your body from a place of self-love.
Oh, and to offer Mattel licensing rights for an in-built pizza tray on Barbie's backside.
— — —
Anita Revel is the creatrix of Goddess.com.au, a content-rich website aimed at helping you connect with your beautiful, sassy, intuitive, lovable, sacred and authentic self. Anita's columns are now published in a book by the same name: "Outing the Goddess Within." © Copyright 2007 by Anita Revel.
It is nearly a decade since Ophira wrote that statement in 1999, and "body image" is still a hot topic. Even the Australian government is paying attention to the issue of how women perceive, think and feel about their bodies. According to the government endorsed website healthinsite.gov.au, only 16 percent of women are satisfied with their body weight, and "nearly half of all normal-weight women overestimate their size and shape."
Apart from dressing up as a mermaid and tossing fruit into the Atlantic to appease the Sea Gods, how else can a gal fall in self-love to appreciate her body and her worth?
The first step, according to J. Alison Hilber, author of "Change How You See, Not How You Look: Power Tools for Celebrating Your Body," is to "meet yourself."
"Meeting my true self for the first time was the most amazing event of my life, as it should be for all women," she says. "If we all found ourselves to be the most amazing person we know, we would remember to take care of ourselves first, thus allowing for an overflow of energy for others in our lives."
Meeting yourself isn't just about entering a time-space vortex and coming full-circle to witness your pajama-clad self collecting the newspaper from the front lawn. It's not even about shaking hands with yourself in the mirror. It's about getting in touch with your glorious and gorgeous inner goddess, just as Alison did.
"In the past few years, I have come to believe that I am a reincarnation of the Venus Willendorf," says Alison.
Not that Alison is carved from oolitic limestone or covered in ocher, as per the famous statuette dating back to circa 20,000 to 30,000 BC. The priceless Willendorf statuette features pendulous breasts, fleshy hips and a backside that you could rest a pizza on, yet for hundreds of thousands of BBWs (big beautiful women), this idealization of the female figure has come to surpass the Botticelli interpretation of "true beauty." Beat that, Barbie!
As such, Alison believes that in having a similar body type to that of the statuette, her purpose is to "remind the world what a true, ancient 'goddess' was before the term was ripped off by Playboy." That is, to reclaim what being goddess is truly about.
On a simple and practical level, one way Alison does this is by stringing flags with representations of nine ancient goddesses across her living room. The flags act as a physical reminder to Alison that she is as much a goddess as each of the figures glorified on the flags. It is this reminder that is paramount in changing one's perception of self.
"All women are in dire need of memory renewal therapy; they need to remember who they truly are, where their essence lies, what they can do, be or have ... which is EVERYTHING and ANYTHING!"
Once we, as women, start shifting our perception of ourselves from "imperfect" (as the glossy mags would have it) to "absolutely perfect" (as empowered men and our families already think we are), then our natural beauty and joy can overflow.
"We are all endowed with and have access to all of the attributes of Spirit (Love, Beauty, Faith, Power, Balance, Harmony, Abundance, Well-Being, Freedom)," Alison goes on to say. "We just need to REMEMBER that."
Better than popping a pill, we don't even have to change a single thing about how we look in order to achieve a state of goddess-ness. We only need to change the way we see.
"I love nothing more than to see the look of revelation when a woman finally gets that her beauty is up to her and no one else; her self-definition is all that matters," says Alison. "And when she remembers her true essence, she will find that there is no other option but to see her beauty, her elegance, her grace."
So, the upshot in combating Barbie's plastic (im)perfection is to become your own best friend, treat yourself with unconditional love and respect and care for your body from a place of self-love.
Oh, and to offer Mattel licensing rights for an in-built pizza tray on Barbie's backside.
— — —
Anita Revel is the creatrix of Goddess.com.au, a content-rich website aimed at helping you connect with your beautiful, sassy, intuitive, lovable, sacred and authentic self. Anita's columns are now published in a book by the same name: "Outing the Goddess Within." © Copyright 2007 by Anita Revel.