A Mostly-BDD-Safe List of Places to See Normal People
A good portion of my experience with BDD has revolved around the crippling disconnect between seeing my own face versus the faces on billboards around town, magazines in the mail, actors on tv...
Unless we specifically seek normal women out, the powers that be are generally content to fill our eyes with as many specially curated, airbrushed, and edited women as it takes to break our self-esteem and get us cashing out to the Beauty and Diet industries, which profit most when we see our bodies as problems to be fixed instead of once-in-a-lifetime vessels for immeasurable potential and experience or any mushy nonsense like that.
Intro accounted for, here are some places I like to go to remind myself that it’s perfectly normal to inhabit asymmetrical chunks of bone slathered in squishy, morphing sheets of organic tissue. Or, human skin, however you want to say it:
Humanae.tumblr
I can’t recommend them enough, honestly.
Height-weight-chart.com
Mostly snapshots of people, plus their heights and weights!
Mybodygallery.com
There are fewer *faces* here, but the number of unedited bodies in different shapes and ages is invaluable.
Amazon Product Reviews
I mean it---find some high-rated sweaters or dresses or something, and scroll down to the customer gallery for some wholesome Normal Person content.
Vintage Family Photos
The image qualities are generally poor enough that the subjects may as well have been airbrushed, so not much help if you’re hyperfixated on your pores, but it’s the facial structure variety that counts here.
Your Facebook Buds
“Aren’t they all posting Filtered Selfies now??” Yes, but we’re going to look passed the profile pictures and dig into their albums for weddings, family reunions, and other outings that are (as of yet) hard for the average person to filter.