Perception.

Book of Face. Metaphysical Visions.

[fyblackwomenart]

Afro beauty by jenyn-da-queen

[the-modernblackgirl]

Where is the lie? -Pierre

[fogo-av]

No shade but many of the naturalista blogs be like this too.

[ghdos-blog]

The bolded.

[mellisa-angela-bell]

OOP

[justice4mikebrown]

Oct. 24 #FergusonFriday

[therecoverybitch]

ok but seriously I’m tired of the “Thin girl looking in a mirror and seeing a fat girl” image being used as The Universal Representation of Eating Disorders

like, yeah, okay. It kinda works like that, kinda. Even body dysmorphia doesn’t exactly work like this — a sufferer may perceive their abdomen as being “too large,” for example, but it’s not like they literally lose the ability to gauge how much physical space it occupies. From a neurological standpoint, BDD has more to do with the emotional centers of the brain than the visual cortex, which is not what these images imply.

It promotes the idea that eating disorders are a sort of hallucination, which in turn perpetuates the myth that they can be “cured” with comparison shots or simple reassurance. It also exaggerates the overlap between BDD and eating disorders — not everyone with an eating disorder has BDD, and vice versa. 

As it specifically relates to photos, I also find something a little disgusting and insulting about asking a larger woman, “Hey, would you mind posing in a photo for me? I’m going to need you to personify the self-loathing of an eating disorder sufferer. Like, you’re going to need to stand opposite a really, really thin chick, and you have to represent the thing she hates and fears the most. And you both have to be in your underwear. Cool? Cool.”

In general, it promotes a warped view of eating disorders, and I also think it’s kinda insulting to bigger girls (because it’s ALWAYS girls in the photos). It’s cheesy and stupid and just plain inaccurate. 

A perfectly viable replacement would be someone “body-checking,” by touching or squeezing common areas where fat is deposited. I’ve seen it as a typical eating disorder stock photo before, and though it’s corny, it works fine without perpetuating inaccuracies or being nasty. 

Excuse the bad photos, but here are some rough examples: 

It conveys the idea of dissatisfaction with the body. The upper arms, abdomen, and thighs are typical areas for fat accumulation, so it’s easily recognizable. It’s also something we actually do, unlike looking in the mirror and hallucinating someone three times our size. 

I’ve seen it used as a stock photo in other articles about EDs, it’s just not as common as the mirror bit. It’s still kinda corny, but I’d much prefer that to the “fat girl in the mirror” cliché.

[minn2x]

As a black person this makes me really proud but at the same time it really frustrates me because the news never focus on the positive qualities of blacks which in reality actually out weighs the negatives but the media only focus on the negatives.. why does a 4 year old black boy cussing makes huge media headlines but a 4 year black girl genius does not……that’s what really frustrates me. 

[chaosconqueso]

[exgynocraticgrrl-archive-deacti]

Historian and Feminist Scholar Gerda Lerner

[dynamicafrica]

Spotlight: Photographer Damion Reid and the “Beauty of the Black Woman” Project.

How do you describe what a black woman is? How do you even begin to define her?

You don’t. You leave that up to her.

As black women, as black people, we are well aware of our complexities - whether inherited or otherwise. What’s more, despite our differences being used to divide and separate us, whether through experience or heritage, history has played out in such a way that we are and will always be connected to each other in ways words cannot even begin to describe. As romantic as this may sound, and though there is so much beauty in who we are, there’s a lot of pain that we are still forced to triumph through. Despite all this, as we combat that which has manifested in our lives through both structural and internal racism, it’s so important that we look for ways to find and recreate ourselves on our terms.

Living in a world where black women have to constantly defend their existence and personally find ways to continuously reaffirm their beauty and self-worth, it’s hard not to love what Damion Reid does.

As a Communications Major, Reid was, to say the least, troubled by the negative images and stories he’d often come across of Black women and Black people in the Diaspora. In the Spring of 2002, armed with his camera and desire to show the multi-faceted reality of Black women, he began approaching women he’d see in public in an attempt to capture the “Beauty of the Black Woman.”

Ridding himself of mainstream notions of what beauty is or is supposed to look like, Reid opted to go for something deeper when approaching women, "I share a spiritual bond with Black Women. They are the only people that can understand what me a Black Male goes through. That is beauty to me. I go with my feelings. If it feels right to approach someone, I will do it."

So far, the responses Reid has received have been incredibly positive and wonderfully surprising, “Sometimes the Women are shocked that I want to photograph them. They were not used to be called beautiful, much less photographed.”

For Reid, this is a “never-ending project.” He does plan on taking things further and is currently working on a project that concerns Black men in the Diaspora. 

All photos courtesy of Damion Reid.

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[seeedkeeeper-deactivated2018062]

oh my

[wiigz]

[selmarosa]

[anthonycoldwinter]

Litttttt

[eikae]

happy earth day friends

[older-and-far-away]

this is…the best possible use of this particular gif. 

[lifesdenial-blog]

Yes.

[thegentlemansarmchair-deactivat]

Solar Road Trip

http://i.imgur.com/eb9IlE4.jpg

[humansofnewyork]

Seen in Times Square

[awkwardsituationist]

the indian city of bikaner host an annual camel festival in january. the designs are the results of trimming and dying the camel hair. photos steve hoge and osakabe yasuo

[staceythinx]

Rain or shine, macro photographer Vadim Trunov captures the surprisingly adventurous lives of snails.

[pdlcomics]

[sonyvegaspro12]

The Silence of Dogs in Cars, Martin Usborne.

I was once left in a car at a young age. I don’t know when or where or for how long, possibly at the age of four, perhaps outside a supermarket, probably for fifteen minutes only. The details don’t matter. The point is that I wondered if anyone would come back. The fear I felt was strong: in a child’s mind it is possible to be alone forever.

Around the same age I began to feel a deep affinity with animals – in particular their plight at the hands of humans. I saw a TV documentary that included footage of a dog being put in a plastic bag and being kicked. What appalled me most was that the dog could not speak back.

I should say that I was a well-loved child and never abandoned and yet it is clear that both these experiences arose from the same place deep inside me: a fear of being alone and unheard.

When I started this project I knew the photos would be dark. In a sense, I was attempting to go back inside my car, to re-experience what I couldn’t bear as a child. What I didn’t expect was to see so many subtle reactions by the dogs: some sad, some expectant, some angry, some dejected. It was as if upon opening up a box of grey-coloured pencils I was surprised to see so many shades inside.

There is life in the darkest places inside us.