Beauty Standards - Tumblr Posts

Poem: Beauty

I saw a half-drawn image of a girl,

One whom I nearly mistook for myself,

Before I realized how much smoother the lines were

That were painted on her face,

How few eraser marks I could discern on the page.

Her skin too vibrant,

Her eyes too bright,

How could I mistake her silky hair for mine?

I saw a half-drawn image of a girl,

Who bore no likeness to myself,

Before I realized how alike we were

In the first moment that I saw her,

When I saw my half-drawn self

Reflected in her eyes,

When her half-drawn eyes

Reflected her half-drawn self back into mine.

j.p

Poem: Beauty

I saw a half-drawn image of a girl,

One whom I nearly mistook for myself,

Before I realized how much smoother the lines were

That were painted on her face,

How few eraser marks I could discern on the page.

Her skin too vibrant,

Her eyes too bright,

How could I mistake her silky hair for mine?

I saw a half-drawn image of a girl,

Who bore no likeness to myself,

Before I realized how alike we were

In the first moment that I saw her,

When I saw my half-drawn self

Reflected in her eyes,

When her half-drawn eyes

Reflected her half-drawn self back into mine.

j.p

I hate it when people say skin whitening treatments and fake tanning are "two sides of the same coin." The South-Asian obsession with fair skin is rooted in British colonialism. The urge to get skin whitening treatments comes from a place of self-loathing and an inferiority complex. Meanwhile, people who get fake tans just want to feel exotic.

Drow beauty ideals

For both:

Smooth skin, a cadaverous complexion, a lack of eyebrows, bright pink eyes and healthy teeth. Both genders would sometimes rip out random tuffs of head hair, cut their eyelashes short and would also make random bald patches not only on the head hair, but also pubic hair. Looking slightly dead is considered attractive.

For guys:

Tall, a lean, muscular body (since elves have very low sexual dimorphism and are on the more slender side, it's still not that much muscle), a triangular headshape, a lack of eyebrows, a cold stare with a vivid pink color (10% of drow population has red or pink eyes) and intense dark circles.

For girls:

Snow white curls, a pear-shaped body (hard to achieve for elves, since they have very low sexual dimorphism to human standards) that is delicate-looking and on the slimer side, a doll-like round face and porclain skin. On younger women, cadaverous buttocks are prefered (meaning, were the skin is white or yellowish, lacks pinkness but with back thighs that easily blush or bruise), and scared knees and bum is considered "cute" and diminutive. On older women, who can still be considered very attractive, there no such aesthetic preference, prefering a more organized and put-together appearence.

Are these standards achievable: Rarely for a Drow. They are naturally less prone to acne, and elven females tend to be ashier...However, the hair styles are quite easy to do.

shocked that i haven’t seen a post about this already but the way that “full body deodorant” is being pushed on us is so vile. that woman in the commercials being like “i’m a woman and i know how it feels to be ashamed of your body’s natural odors. that’s why i invented this shit to rub between your thighs so you, too, can feel ashamed of your body’s natural odors. unless you buy my product :)” die die die die kill yourself fuck you fuck you

PREACH!

little rant

*inhales*

FATPHOBIC PEOPLE ARE SO GROSS LIKE IT DISGUSTS ME GO AWAY JUST GO LET PEOPLE LIVE

FAT PEOPLE ARE GOOD AND BEAUTIFUL AND WORTHY AND THEY DESERVE LOVE AND TO FEEL SEXY CAUSE THEY ARE LOVABLE AND SEXY

What's some unconventional things that you find attractive? Things that don't fit the typical beauty standards: hourglass figure for women and muscular/tall build for men. Clear skin, blonde hair, blue eyes, small waist, etc. Or things that don't fit the standard for that particular sex, for example, finding a woman with broad shoulders attractive or a man in makeup.

I think it would be good for people with those traits, things they may have been shamed for, to have a reminder that people out there think they're sexy.

I'll go first. For context, I'm a straight female.

There's nothing more attractive to me than a straight man with features, style, etc that are more typically associated with women. Corsets, slender arms, curvy figures, skirts, makeup, piercings, long hair, slender hands, soft shaved skin, painted nails, short frame, fishnets, timid personality, gentleness, softness... there's nothing like it. Femboys are some of the sexiest mother truckers God put on this green Earth.

One of the most attractive things about it is the confidence in and knowledge of oneself. The ability to go out in public wearing what you feel best in, fully knowing people are gonna think all kinds of wild and untrue things about you... and not changing. Refusing to adjust for society. Not selling out. Remaining true to yourself and making a stand for your individuality. Now THAT is hot.

What's some unconventional things that you find attractive? Things that don't fit the typical beauty standards: hourglass figure for women and muscular/tall build for men. Clear skin, blonde hair, blue eyes, small waist, etc. Or things that don't fit the standard for that particular sex, for example, finding a woman with broad shoulders attractive or a man in makeup.

I think it would be good for people with those traits, things they may have been shamed for, to have a reminder that people out there think they're sexy.

One of my extremely beautiful and plus size coworkers told me yesterday that she doesn't work around food because of her weight. She knows how she will be perceived by others if she works in restaurants, so she avoids it.

She also didn't get good grades in highschool. Not because she was incapable of achieving them, but because she was too capable. My coworker knew if she tried her best, she would have won an award, and that was a negative in her eyes: It meant walking across the stage and everyone staring at her. Judging her.

She told me her dream was to go to culinary school... but she didn't want to be the fat girl in culinary school. Because she knew how that would be perceived by others.

...

I am fat and confident in that fact. Anti body shaming patches are on my crust items. Shoes, pants, jackets, you name it.

Yet even I think twice about attending food related events; even with my dearest friends, who are some of the farthest from fatphobic people you will ever meet. Even though they have never shown a single sign of judgment towards my body type, I still feel unsafe.

Fatphobia stifles the potential of those it affects. It is as much of a virus as racism. When are we going to start treating it as such?

As a fat punk, I can confirm that I NEVER consider if my clothes are "flattering" when I buy em or put em on. Doesn't even cross my mind. I don't know what that word "flattering' MEANS anymore and I'm SO glad I don't.

Don't dress to be thin and don't dress to fit an invisible "beauty" standard. I dress every morning with the intention of looking like a supervillain and absolutely nothing else. Who's with me?!

but like it's so punk for fat people to wear clothes that are deemed "unflattering" for fat people. In fact the next wave of punk fashion should be all people emphasizing their fat. Cut outs where the fat folds. Seams, belts, cuts, and patterns that hilight the fat instead of hide the fat of people of all sizes. Radical acceptance of fatness

Freya Was Jacked

So there’s this story in Norse mythology, Þrymskviða. Compressed down, it goes like this: A Jotun steal Thor’s hammer Mjolnir and says he’ll only give it back if he’s given Freyja to marry, as she is the most beautiful goddess in all of existence. The gods argue over what to do for a while before Heimdall suggests they stick a bridal veil on Thor, says he’s Freyja, and pretend they’re giving Freyja (Thor) to the Jotun to marry so Thor can get close enough to the Jotun to steal Mjolnir back. 

Now typically when people talk about this story, it’s with an element of disbelieving comedy. “Oh my god, who would believe Thor was a woman, let alone Freyja, the most beautiful goddess in the world?” 

But I propose a different way to look at the story. 

See, different cultures have different beauty standards. Modern western beauty standards may be a delicate hourglass supermodel, but that’s not always been the case. Greece, for instance, depicted Aphrodite like this: 

Yeah. A Greek sculptor was told “sculpt the goddess of beauty” and they thought “alright, fat rolls, that’s where beauty is at, let’s do this”. And everybody else apparently agreed with them, because up went the statue. Beauty is a malleable concept is what I’m getting at. 

Now this is where it becomes relevant that Freyja is not just the goddess of love, sex, and beauty. She’s also the goddess of war. And the righteous dead. Goddess of war in the same Viking warrior culture that gave us shield maidens, women who wielded seven fucking kilogram (15 lbs) shields in combat. 

Sooooo … when the Norse storytellers said, “This is Freyja, goddess of war and the righteous dead, who rode giant murder cats into battle, she is the most beautiful goddess in the world”, I’m guessing they weren’t thinking of her as some willowy waif. No, I’m guessing they probably thought more along the lines of:

190 cm (6′3″), broad shoulders, built like a brick shithouse, with a jawline like whoa, and fully capable of murdering everything in her path.

Put in that context, the story of Thor dressing up as Freyja sounds less like a punchline about “how could anyone ever mistake Thor in a veil for Freyja?” and becomes more a case of “ohhhhhhhhhhh, no wonder all the gods thought this plan would work”. 

It did, by the way. The plan totally worked. 

take any standards you got on beauty (1-10) and subtract 20 before you start

that’s me

🤮

disgusting…but maybe funny

“Women have another option. They can aspire to be wise, not merely nice; to be competent, not merely helpful; to be strong, not merely graceful; to be ambitious for themselves, not merely for themselves in relation to men and children. They can let themselves age naturally and without embarrassment, actively protesting and disobeying the conventions that stem from this society’s double standard about aging. Instead of being girls, girls as long as possible, who then age humiliatingly into middle-aged women, they can become women much earlier – and remain active adults, enjoying the long, erotic career of which women are capable, far longer. Women should allow their faces to show the lives they have lived. Women should tell the truth.”

— Susan Sontag, ‘The Double Standard of Aging’ (1972)

“To my daughter I will say, ‘See your beauty without a compliment or a mirror.’”

— ‘Blind’ by Della Hicks-Wilson

I think its really funny when people get mad at the pro-hairy pussy posts on this site (yes including posts hating on bald pussy) and take an angle of “wow everyone is being so weird about shaving now and its so wrong to judge peoples choices like this” because like. Okay. Either you dont fuck or go outside, or you have been doing whats expected of you so long you have no idea how people who dont make the same choice as you are mistreated. Because so many people ESPECIALLY MEN are still convinced simply having body hair is unhygienic and will shame and dehumanize anyone who has it in the most vile and unnecessary way. Like youre seeing so many of these vehement bush or die posts BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE PUSHING BACK AGAINST THAT NOTION its not happening in a vacuum but once again tumblr users are out of touch with what actually happens on planet earth

If you like shaving: congrats, there are millions of people who would not accept you any other way

Praise our ancestors for blessing us with the perfect Earthly skin that ABSORBS the SUN & doesn’t melt into our adult age.

& hair that resembles LITERAL HUMAN DNA (DeoxyriboNucleic Acid)

“oh your hair is so curly, haha I bet you wish it was straight like every—“ no actually. I really like my curly hair and brown eyes and body hair I don’t want to look like what every basic northern european girl looks like. sorry if that makes you uncomfortable, deborah.

contours of confidence

for once in my life, i am grateful for my sister's incessant theft of my belongings. earlier this month, my sister was playing with my contour wand, which is a makeup tool that i use to add shadows that create the illusion of a slimmer face. then, she lost it.

throughout my life, i have struggled with having a round face, which is common among people of my ethnicity. seeing my side profile was frustrating, as i do have a double chin sometimes.

i think losing my contour has helped me appreciate the way i look. i often feel that i have to mold myself into something attractive so that i can get attention and be loved. but i'm appreciating my face lately. i'm ok with having a double chin. i think i care more about liking myself unconditionally now.

as i've been able to connect my wish to be smaller-faced with society's beauty standards, i've been able to let it go. when i'm old, i don't want to remember myself as resenting my body shape or ethnic features. i want to tell my children to be proud of who they are without seeming hypocritical. i like my round face, my wide nose, "small" eyes. i like my features because they connect me to my ethnic group. the art of my people looks the way i do. who am i to brush that aside?

i am an artist who tries to create work that celebrates many features. somehow i forgot that applies to me. it's easy to tell yourself that you're too enlightened for beauty standards. i thought i was. but focusing less on molding myself into the notion of beauty has helped me use makeup to have fun. silver glitter, red wine lipstick, drawn on roses--they make me happier than a "snatched" face ever did. some days i still look in the mirror and dislike what i see. i would be lying if i didn't contemplate plastic surgery or buying more contour products.

but i think i hold off for the sake of Future Minh. i want them to be proud of me. i don't want them to recall this period of life as one where i wanted to change everything about myself. if tumblr still exists which i'm ancient, i hope i can point to this as a reason