I liked the original photos better in most cases. I always know when an image of a person has been photoshopped to hell and beyond ‘cos there’s no pores… and have tried to refrain from that in RL. SO FAR, no one’s asked me to make the model “thinner” in an ad. I think it’s only a matter of time though.

I actually like seeing skin texture (in the last image with the model with the dark eyes, why the hell was that even Photoshopped? She has cute freckles!) and so on. Even in beauty ads. I’d rather see natural glowing skin than airbrushed to hell and beyond.

I think it’s acceptable to photoshop arms in SL fashion photos. The mesh doesn’t do arms well, makes them flabby no matter what.

Yes! This is the one my partner is doing at the moment, not that he needs to lose an ounce, but it’s keeping him fit and healthy, I kinda follow it myself, but my downfall is cakes! It’s more about self control with me, and having a baby I tend to “forget” to eat then end up snacking on something ridiculous!

Thanks

To Willis -

FYI, my favorite, most successful way to ‘diet’ is low carb, low fat. I ‘graze’ all day, eating nuts and plant and animal-based protein snacks, also fresh ‘green’ veggies (well, red bell peppers, too, but no root vegetables) and lower carb fruit strawberries and pineapple – daily. No white flour or refined sugar, in fact, nothing made with a [refined] grain, basically, no starchy foods. I avoid butter, but use oils. I started this in February 15th this year, and lost 28 pounds by April 1st. I have maintained a healthy weight for my height (5′ 7″ , 140) naturally. I eat when I’m hungry and don’t gain constantly like I used to when I ate ‘normally’.

My parents did a version of this diet last fall, with 35 grams of carbs per meal, and both have lost 60 lbs and are maintaining a normal weight easily. I believe I eat fewer than 75 carbs per day, I don’t count calories. This is not the extreme ‘Atkins’ method. It’s slower, but much more ‘livable’ and balanced.

My 2 cents
-V

i also love the hallie berry doesnt change barly AT all silly inhuman attractive woman

I had a baby 6 months ago and I too can’t shift the weight, and how did I shift the weight from my first child? By bringing up almost everything that passed my lips, and let me tell you, unless you stick to doing that for the rest of your life, the weight creeps back on.

I’m not huge in RL, but i’m certainly not small and yes, i’d like to be smaller, but shit.. I wouldn’t ever go that route again, I thought it was fantastic at the time, but it soon took it’s toll on me physically and emotionally and I was no good to man nor beast, especially not my family.

Diets are a sticky subject for me, i’ve battled with up and down weight all my life, and I wish I could stick to something that keeps me at the weight i’d like to be, but I enjoy the finer things in life too much and hell, I have a guy that adores me WHATEVER weight I am, so it’s all about how I feel, and I feel pressured to be smaller, to look good, but i’m not going to kill myself to do it.

I wish I could link to a magazine article I just read, from the pen of a 15 year old girl that has nobody in the world left for her, because she only had her mother, and her mother died from the toll of the eating disorder she had, a fifteen year old CHILD, alone in the world because her mother felt she should be smaller, prettier.. whatever.

That, is the saddest thing of all, eating disorders don’t just affect you, they affect everyone around you and I don’t think that’s anything to be shouting about.

I’m getting pissy about this subject now, I think I should stfu I guess I just wanted to say, like I said earlier, I’ll happily go along with whatever floats anyones boats, everyone has their own opinions and they are entitled to them, but before people stomp around promoting this shit, they should think about who else it affects, cos it sure as shit ain’t just them.

iWANEX STUDIO – Professional Photo Retouching Services: http://www.iwanexstudio.com/

Click “Portfolio” and then click an image. When you mouse over it, you’ll get to see the original. Click the image to close and pick another.

I saw the pic of Carrie Underwood – DISGUSTING! They took a normal sized girl, and reduced her all over! How pathetic?! She looks FINE!

Body Dysmorphic Disorder, another related mental disorder, is what happens when what you see when you look at yourself is actually not an accurate depiction of your body, like when a severely underweight individual still sees themselves as “fat”. I was hospitalized with anorexia 8 years ago. Another girl on my floor related a story of her flight to the treatment center during which she did jumping jacks in the back of the plane because, when sitting still, she could see the fat growing on her thighs. She was 82 pounds at 5’9″ when she was admitted. You could hardly see skin on her thighs, let alone fat.

For me and for the other women I met in treatment (of course men suffer from it too, there just weren’t any male patients there when I was), it was completely and totally about control. While I couldn’t control my family or my professors or my friends and I couldn’t control the misery I was feeling because of other things in my life, I COULD control my own body. When I felt like I was losing control of a situation or out of control of my life, I regained that power in the only way knew how – by controlling what I ate. There was a sense of satisfaction I still haven’t achieved in any other way when I made it through a day on less than 500 calories. Or ate a lunch that consisted of 4 grapes and 2 leafs of lettuce. Even at the time, I knew intellectually that it was unhealthy and stupid, but the relief was akin to what I’ve heard cutters experience. Waking up from a dream where I’d eaten an entire fridge of food only to remember I hadn’t strayed from my diet was exhilarating. I could make everything right in the world with dinner, or more appropriately, lack there of. Treatment wasn’t about just eating or gaining weight… it was about digging in to all of the control issues that lead me to where I was. And it was about learning new, healthy, habits to deal with them instead of restricting or purging.

That was a long back story to get to the actual point of this comment. I used “thinspiration” photographs, too. I obsessively found images of models with pronounced clavicles or bony wrists and extruding hip bones. Those were the parts of my body that I used to judge my success and so I used those models as a gauge and motivator. It was another form of obsession, another thing for my unwell mind to dwell on instead of facing the other issues in my life.

I see groups like this in SL, on Flickr, on YouTube and other blogging sites, and my reaction is complicated.

My heart breaks for those people who seem to be totally consumed and overtaken by an illness – the same emotion I would feel watching someone suffer with cancer.

I’m disgusted when I see people jumping on to the “fad” aspect of it as it’s a disease that is anything but glamorous. I sacrificed 9 months away from school, from my friends and family, from my cat… My parents paid a disgusting amount of money when my insurance stopped covering treatment so that I could get well. It wasn’t glamorous. It was painful and scary and infuriating and some of the hardest work I’ve ever done to get to the other side of my disease. And I’m one of the lucky ones. There were some girls I met who I don’t believe will ever make it out of the black hole that is body dysmorphia and eating disorders.

And I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that there’s a part of me that feels that tinge of familiarity at the sense of satisfaction I would have had putting together some of the thinspo collages.

Regardless of what this woman looks like in “real life” and whether or not she simply wants attention, the feelings she and others are expressing in this Flickr group have them balancing on the edge of a lifetime of pain that will not only destroy them, but those around them. And any public forum that encourages that sort of damage is damn near criminal in my mind.

I guess what I’m trying to say at the end of this short novel is that my reaction isn’t to the size of the avatars photographed but instead to the mindset this group was created with and what it’s attempting to encourage. I pray this woman can get the help she needs and anyone else struggling with those feelings finds the same, too.

For the love of god, princessmaleny, stop what you’re doing to yourself. You have a baby that needs and relies on you. While you may be seeing results now and not feel physically unhealthy, this is a very slippery slope that will destroy your mind, your body and your family. Your body is a magical, blessed thing – all you need to do is look at your baby to see that… a few extra pounds doesn’t change that. Please, please, please stop thinking that “Ana” is the right choice for you and get some professional help. I was 21 and ripped away from my family and it was horrible… I couldn’t imagine if I had a baby at home needing me when I was physically unable to care for myself let alone someone else.

I just don’t get the appeal.

yesterday i only ate some cereal and a banana and i feel good, i know health is important but in this crazy world being thin is also important and not bcuz i say so. look at th runways, magazines, celebs they’re all r skinny.

well i guess datz it tnx 4 reading me by da way sorry 4 my english im from mexico, HAVE A NICE DAY

NADIE DIJO NUNKA KE SER UN PRINCESA FUERA FACIL

The one similar thing I did notice was that everybody made their avatar’s faces perfect. Unrealistically large almond eyes, rhinoplastied small noses, and huge collogened lips.

Everyone wanted to achieve that “perfectly proportioned baby face” look, yet unique looks are so discouraged. I made my avatar’s face have a large nose, small eyes, and thin lips. The next thing I know, a lady I met in a store is offering to help me “fix” my avatar’s shape.

When I gave her my shape, she pumped up the lips, downsized the nose, and enlarged/asianized the eyes. She also made my avatar “curvier” and downsized the shoulders.

I have BDD (body dysmorphic disorder) and for me Second Life seemed like a very shallow game just like the real world. Even if they are FAKE virtual avatars, it is promoting unrealistic ideals of physique. Even when they are hiding behind a virtual identity, people still feel the need to make their identity look flawless and perfected to a specific beauty ideal. Perhaps this goes to show that many people are insecure and feel pressure to conform to society’s standards?

While I do enjoy being slender on SL, I also think that proportions really do matter. I remember being in a meeting with a club owner (I’m a DJ) whose avi was insanely, horribly thin- she literally had a lollipop head. It completely drove me to distraction- couldn’t she see that her avi looked ridiculous? Doesn’t she understand how the sliders work? Does she really want to be that thin? I don’t know if she’s a member of this thinspo group, or if that was her motivation for being that skinny, but it was a good reminder that, yes, you really CAN be too thin!

Catalogue modelling I think you’re aimed to be closer to something attainable by humans. LOL. Because the clothing is more wearable than typical runway fare.

It seems kind of split up..somewhere they dont let models that are too thin on the runway and somewhere they still encourage the skinniness.

I did know one girl that was close to getting anorectic tho. One of my classmates. She was nowhere close to a model. She was a sports freak..basketball player that wanted to become a police offer and that had winnie teh pooh on her pencil case. o.O

When I first came across a pro-ana group in a blogging site, I was both horrified and intrigued. I read through it for hours, discussed it with a friend, trying to figure out why on earth someone would get together with friends and write to encourage others to needlessly suffer. Denying yourself food voluntarily goes against every natural instinct, but people are doing it. Why?

Blaming the fashion industry, Hollywood, or (silliest of all) “men”, is kind of ignoring the problem. Reading the stories of these people online, they all had things in common. Most had tried to suicide before, most cut themselves, most had been abused as kids, a lot were using drugs like meth or cocaine. They started off unhappy and self-hating, and found a way to slowly destroy themselves because it made them feel they had power over their lives, for once.

Now, the fashion industry itself is disgusting for encouraging models to starve themselves… I know this firsthand (when you’re told at 5’7″ that your goal should be 90 lbs, or stuck doing lingerie & swimwear all the time because you’re bigger than an A cup, it’s a little concerning and part of the reason I quit.) Skinny models also provide, like in Guy’s flickr group, “thinspiration.”

I don’t know that blaming “society” is an answer, however… except, perhaps, that role models today are based on appearance rather than ability, intelligence, or talent for young women. Blame that society’s obsessed with youth and perfection and appearance rather than useful traits, then. If you start off self-hating, and think you only have your appearance to offer the world, then it might make sense to you to try and look like a fashion model or celebrity or pop star.

This is hardly anything new though. Everytime someone says that eating disorders are a new thing I can only shake my head. Women in the Royal court during the French revolution were measured and had to have a 13″ waist, maximum. You can’t tell me they were any happier about their bodies than we are today. People also forget that men used to wear corsets, too… and the only anorexic I’ve known in RL was a boy.

I don’t really feel angry about the Thinspo group in SL, I just feel sad for them that they focus on a mental illness rather than the creative possibilities of a world where you can do and be anything.

For the record, I’ve never asked a model to “slim down” in Second Life… body changes requested were more for accurate proportions, a height difference on the runway, or shapes for needs like system skirts or bare feet. I have a skinny avatar, though. That means nothing. It’s just what I chose for Second Life. I could’ve been plump, too. I’d rather see a uniquely beautiful avatar, be it curvy or short or tall or skinny, than yet another clone with a purchased shape.

1) 90% of pro anas are actually overweight, have no risk of coming up any kind of ed and are the there for the public attention, be it positive or negative.
2) body dysmorphia and anorexia nervousa are two different animals
3) some one with a real ed does not need to look at pictures to get motived towards the slow suicide which is what the ED is really is.
4) BMSD is a lifestyle, anorexia/bulimia are mental illness with many effects of the individual’s physical health.
5) the other extreme is not any healthier, being overweight has it’s own list of problems and at some cases it is an eating disorder as well(compulsive overeating)

I saw the flicka pic’s an was horrified even triangle who i loved said i love thinspo again maybe she didn’t know what it meant.
But im even more shocked with guy’s comments and swirly kicked out swirly i’m sure metro nex-core or ewing will take you on haha x x x x x

But just an added note none of this will change guy’s mind no one will.
So no point in trying its a disease unless she ask’s for help or she’s like hit on the head.

Member’s have left the group since this all started not surpriced Aradia left it. I mean how much bad press can you get.

I have always said SL is full of broken people. We all have a void in our lives, or have been damaged, or have illnesses or social challenges. I believe it, and the more I get to know people, the more it proves to be true. It is a matter of degrees, not everyone is a full on basket-case, but we all get hooked into SL but good when we find something we are missing in our RL.

What gal hasn’t wished she was a size (or 8 in my case) smaller to fit into that fabulous outfit while out shopping? I think we all think about it, but it doesn’t mean we hate ourselves, it really means we wish that fashion in the real world was designed for real bodies.

In SL, I am not a model. First of all, I cannot walk a straight line on a Class 5 server with not a prim rezzed out of 15,000. I am a total klutz. (I give the models props for wadding thru the lag and still managing to do it well, it’s kind of like a game of frogger… can they make it down the runway without getting hit by a car! That is some gamin’ skills y’all!) I have not changed my shape since pretty much week 1, when I realized my melon was too big for prim hair (didn’t know it was mod *lol*). I am a fashion addict, but I love my curves, and have at times wished that I could go a bit more curvy, a little more like my RL proportions. But I am attached to my avatar and not really ready for that. I have to say, I made a skirt shape, but depending on the skirt in the outfit, sometimes I don’t wear it, I like a big sexy badonka-donk sometimes (so does my man).

Anorexia, Bulemia… been there a little, it is a sad and very isolated place. I hope I never go back. I wish Guy well, but find her comments about Fat being Ugly even in SL pretty durn offensive. I say to each his own, but the minute you start labelling what is and is not ugly for anyone but yourself, you open yourself up criticism. I say “Tenshi… Make Me a Watermelon Necklace Too!”, cause I want attention for NOT being invited to the Thinspo group and NOT thinking that Guy is a very attractive individual, no matter what her avatar looks like!

(P.S. Seriously, can someone make me a sculptie Giant Watermelon Necklace! I would so wear that and Blog about how cool it is to be in the Watermelon Girl Sisterhood. Watermelon shaped bods are just fine by me!)

/me runs out to join Tenshi’s New Flickr Group to show of her bewbs and tushie!

FYI – The Lyrics -
I don’t care what my teachers say
I’m gonna be a supermodel.
And Everyone is gonna dress like me,
wait and see

When I’m a supermodel
and my hair will shine like the sea.
Everyone will wanna look just like me
me…

Cause I’m young and I’m hip, and so beautiful,
I’m gonna be a supermodel

I’m young and I’m hip, and so beautiful,
I’m gonna be a supermodel

I wish that I was like Tori Spelling,
with a car like hers and dad like hers.
And I show them how how it was done.
That be fun, that be fun.

And I write my schoolreport,
why I love my jeans, why I love my jeans.
And oh, on my lockerdoor its the coolest thing that you have ever seen.

Cause I’m young and I’m hip and so beautiful,
I’m gonna be a supermodel

I’m young and I’m hip and so beautiful,
I’m gonna be a supermodel

I didn’t eat yesterday,
I’m not gonna eat today,
I’m not gonna eat tomorrow,
Cuz I’m gonna be a supermodel.

so beautiful…….I’m gonna be a supermodel

I’m young and I’m hip and so beautiful,
I’m gonna be a supermodel
[4x]

I’m gonna be a supermodel.
I’m gonna be a supermodel.

While I have never been approached by Aradia in-world, I have been “warned” by others involved with FACES to be careful what I comment on Shopping Cart Disco, as they view Tenshi as a “witchhunter.” Personally, this irrated me a good bit, because I believe we are ALL allowed to our own views (with the exception of the whole pro-ana thing, ‘cuz that is just SICK) and should be able to post them in any blog, without being “harrassed” from anyone, including anywhere we may work.

@Stein: Pro Chubby alright! My avatar IS a big girl for SL standards, short and with a butt and hips, and my RL self (as can be seen on Flickr…) is even more plus sized and has always been.

To be called fatso by apparently mentally disturbed people, be it in RL or SL, is no fun. Promoting killing yourself by starving yourself to death is even less fun. And why don’t those pro-ana avatars have all the RL issues of anorexic people, like yucky bad teeth and hair and other even less pleasant things I’m not gonna mention in public.

SL seems to be packed with groups that many of us find disturbing; age players, neo nazis and the like… this just hits us in the fashion community especially hard. I would love to see an initiative by modelling agencies to refuse to hire models, male and female, that have ridiculously thin avatars, especially those who are openly pro-ana… and I would like the designers using those agencies to support this by stating that they do not want their creations marched down the runway on bodies that fail to represent some minimal standard of proportional balance.

Anorexia and Bulemia are very unfortunate diseases, It saddens me that some feel the need to celebrate them.

I know, but I don’t need to see someone asking for help to feel sorry for them if they have a disorder. As I said, the mind can become twisted by this disease. I don’t rule out hope for people caught inside it (for instance, if Guy actually has the disorder), even if they do despicable things. The actions are deplorable, but the people are redeemable.