January 2012 Issue Of PLUS Model Magazine

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PLUS Model Magazine, the premiere plus size virtual magazine celebrating the plus size fashion, beauty, arts and plus size modeling industries, inspires YOU to thrive in your curves, crave contemporary fashion and design your life on your own terms, sans apologies.

Visit their main website for future issues and for more information.

iNAKED wishes PLUS Model Magazine all the best!

'Most Runway Models Meet The BMI Criteria For Anorexia', Claims Plus-Size Magazine In Powerful Comment On Body Image In The Fashion Industry [Body Image]

This article is from the Mail Online:

A magazine dedicated to plus-size fashion and models has sparked controversy with a feature claiming that most runway models meet the Body Mass Index criteria for anorexia.

Accompanied by a bold shoot that sees a nude plus-size model posing alongside a skinny 'straight-size' model, PLUS Model Magazine says it aims to encourage plus-size consumers to pressure retailers to better cater to them, and stop promoting a skinny ideal.

Size 12 (U.S.) model Katya Zharkova, 28, stars in the shoot, which has a powerful statistic accompanying each image.

One, printed alongside a photo of the Russian beauty holding a tape measure across her rear, reads: 'Twenty years ago the average fashion model weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today, she weighs 23% less.'

Another states: 'Ten years ago plus-size models averaged between size 12 and 18. Today the need for size diversity within the plus-size modeling industry continues to be questioned.

'The majority of plus-size models on agency boards are between a size 6 and 14, while the customers continue to express their dissatisfaction.'

And finally, further highlighting how poorly the fashion world caters to plus-size women, the magazine tells us: '50% of women wear a size 14 or larger, but most standard clothing outlets cater to sizes 14 or smaller.'

In an accompanying editorial, the magazine's editor-in-chief, Madeline Figueroa-Jones, explains that the feature is a response to a fashion and beauty industry which continues to endorse a skinny ideal that is not always healthy and alienates a huge percentage of the market.

She writes: 'We are bombarded with weight-loss ads every single day, multiple times a day because it’s a multi-billion dollar industry that preys on the fear of being fat.

'Not everyone is meant to be skinny, our bodies are beautiful and we are not talking about health here because not every skinny person is healthy.'

Size matters: PLUS Model Magazine has shot size 12 Katya Zharkova pose with a 'straight-size' model to demonstrate the difference between them 

Body image: The model proudly bares her U.S. size 12 curves in the magazine shoot

Big deal: The magazine wants to encourage women to embrace their bodies as they are, and not strive to emulate an unrealistic ideal

Body image: The Russian beauty poses with a tape measure around her rear alongside a statistic that shows how different models are from real women

Ms Figueroa-Jones says consumers can no longer identify with models; the disparity between real woman and those that grace ad campaigns and the covers of magazines is to wide now.

'Small women cannot be marketed to with pictures of plus-size women, why are we expected to respond to pictures of small size 6 and 8 women?' she asks.

The PLUS Model Magazine feature has generated a mixed response from its readers though.

While some have praised the statements the shoot makes, others believe that positively endorsing a fuller figure is as dangerous as advocating a skinny one.

One reader on the magazine's website comments: 'If this article is saying you should feel pretty at any size, fine. but don’t tell me you’re obese and healthy. We have a twisted sense of what healthy is in this country and an even more twisted sense of what people are allowed to say about it.'

Another adds: 'I don’t think the fashion world should support obesity, just as I don’t think it should support anorexia.'

The article has also generated an equal share of agreement, though. Reader Danae writes: 'We all women are brainwashed to believe that we are ugly and men will never look at us if we are not starving... We need more variety of healthy female body images.'

The January issue of PLUS Model Magazine is on sale now; plus-model-mag.com

SOUCRE: Mail Online

Open publication - Free publishing - More 16

Plus Size Bodies, What Is Wrong With Them Anyway? | PLUS Model Magazine [The Pulse of Plus Size Fashion, Beauty, Arts and Plus Size Models]

Killing Us Softly 4 (2010) [Body Image, Women]

In this update of her pioneering Killing Us Softly series, Jean Kilbourne takes a fresh look at how advertising traffics in distorted and destructive ideals of femininity. Killing Us Softly 4 stands to challenge a new generation of students to take advertising seriously, and to think critically about popular culture and its relationship to sexism, eating disorders, and gender violence.

Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D. is internationally recognised for her groundbreaking work on the image of women in advertising and for her critical studies of alcohol and tobacco advertising. In the late 1960s she began her exploration of the connection between advertising and several public health issues, including violence against women, eating disorders, and addiction, and launched a movement to promote media literacy as a way to prevent these problems. Kilbourne is the creator of the renowned Killing Us Softly: Advertising's Image of Women film series and the author of the award-winning book Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel and co-author of So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids.

Killing Us Softly 3 (1999) [Body Image, Women]

Jean Kilbourne's pioneering work helped develop and popularise the study of gender representation in advertising. Her award-winning Killing us Softly films have influenced millions of college and high school students across two generations and on an international scale. In this important new film, Kilbourne reviews if and how the image of women in advertising has changed over the last 20 years. With wit and warmth, Kilbourne uses over 160 ads and TV commercials to critique advertising's image of women. By fostering creative and productive dialogue, she invites viewers to look at familiar images in a new way, that moves and empowers them to take action.

Jean Kilbourne - Her Official Website

The Politics Of Porn And Pubes: From The Public To The Personal [Women]

This article is from The F-Word by Joanna Whitehead:

Around six years ago, I had unfortunate sex with an unfortunate fellow. It was unexpected and we ended up fumbling around in his bedroom. When we paused for him to put on a condom (one saving grace), he looked between my legs, looked back at me and tugged my pubic hair, pronouncing, “This has got to go…” I was young - and absolutely mortified. Rather than turfing him out of his own room and branding his behind with “this boy is bad for women’s self esteem”, I squirmed and giggled nervously, before getting back down to business. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t much fun after that, and I sure as hell didn’t feel very sexy.

Last Thursday, I went to a talk at the Women’s Library in London entitled 'The Politics of Appearance'. As is often the case at such events, the audience question and answer session at the end proved to be the most telling and thought-provoking discussion of the evening. One woman put up her hand to say that she had a 20-year-old daughter who refused to go for a cervical smear unless she’d had a Brazilian. A smear test is a standard medical procedure, not Girls Gone Wild. Why should the poor woman feel such shame? Why was it so important for her to be trimmed and “tidy”? And, why was I embarrassed, rather than incensed?

For the uninitiated, a “Brazilian” is when all your pubic hair is removed except a neat “landing strip” of hair on your pubic bone. They have become de rigour amongst many women, some of whom apparently consider anything resembling natural pubic hair as “grim” or “gross”. Why is this?

One response to this question argues that the increased availability and (some could argue) prolificacy of pornography in society has seeped through from the public to the personal domain. Virtually all females in pornography are shaved and plucked within an inch of their life, and many people view this online and then request it or expect it from their real-life sexual partners.

Read The Whole Article @  The F-Word

Topless Protester Was 'Abducted And Beaten' In Belarus

This article is from The Independent, The story was first published on 23 December 2011: 

A Ukrainian woman who dared to hold a topless protest outside the headquarters of Belarus's feared KGB has told The Independent how she and her colleagues were abducted by security agents and subjected to a terrifying ordeal that included beatings, mock executions and having a corrosive substance thrown in their hair.

Inna Shevchenko, an activist with the controversial Ukrainian feminist group Femen, described how masked men told her she would "breathe her final breath" as they cut up her hair with a knife and beat her for daring to protest inside the quasi-Stalinist state.

The 21-year-old had travelled to Belarus on 19 December with two friends to demonstrate against the ongoing crackdown by the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. In a country where insulting the dignity of the president is a criminal offence, the trio stripped to their waists and put on fake moustaches to lampoon Mr Lukashenko, who is often described as Europe's last dictator.

Femen's modus operandi involves going topless to highlight feminist and human rights causes. The group had never travelled to Belarus, a country that languishes close to the bottom in international rankings for free speech.

Read The Whole Article @ The Independent

Is Pubic Hair Coming Back Into Fashion? [Fashion]

This article is from Jezebel:

New pictures of Dutch model Saskia De Brauw in vintage Versace jewelry, stilettos, and nothing else, shot for the magazine Industrie are notable for one thing: they actually show her pubic hair. While toplessness is practically a staple of fashion photography, a frank depiction of pubic hair — or even just the acknowledgement of pubic hair's existence — had become a sort of oughts-age taboo.

This year's Pirelli Calendar, which Mario Sorrenti turned into a 24-oversized-page celebration of the male gaze, was obviously rife with full-frontal nudity. But at the key moment, a funny kind of modesty prevails: here a wrist obscures Lara Stone's crotch, there a shadow falls over Kate Moss's, and there the soaking wet white garment that fully reveals the shape of Isabeli Fontana's areolas pulls discreetly, and opaquely, away. Everything gets slightly blurry at the crucial cleft. From the waist down, these women are all shown to be about as featureless as Barbie. De Brauw, coincidentally, also posed for Sorrenti's calendar: her shots betray no hint of the hair Industrie was apparently comfortable enough to let her rock.

Read The Whole Article @ Jezebel

Veena Malik Says She Was Topless But 'Not Nude' In FHM [Showbiz]

This article was taken from BBC News:

Pakistani actress Veena Malik has defended a recent photoshoot in an Indian men's magazine, saying she was "topless" and "covered" but not "nude".

Ms Malik is seeking $2m in damages from FHM India, alleging that they "morphed" the images to make her appear naked. The magazine denies the claims.

Ms Malik told the BBC that she did not get paid for the photographs, which have caused controversy in Pakistan.

She said she had refused another offer from an agency for a nude photoshoot.

Regarding the photos in FHM India magazine, she said: "If you look at my shoot, I do admit that I have done a topless shoot."

"But it was not that topless - a proportion of the body was covered with my hands," she said.

"I liked the idea of a bold shoot, but I did not do a nude shoot - that's why I am standing here today, because I have to prove it.

"I won't allow anybody to remove my bikini or my shalwar (loose trousers) or my dupatta (scarf).

"If I want to do it, I will do it myself. And if I do it, I will own it," she told BBC's World Have Your Say programme.

Asked about reports that her father has disowned her and has called for her to be punished, Ms Malik said, "My father is angry."

"They are my family - I love them," she continued.

"Once I am done with this case... I will go back to my family and I will convince them, and I still love them."

Many listeners and readers contacted the BBC World Service to offer either support or criticism - much of it very harsh - of the images.

One Pakistani listener who came on air accused Ms Malik of behaving in an "un-Islamic" way, and of betraying her religion and her country.

Ms Malik defended the images, saying: "If you look at the industry which I am working right now, there are various examples of such shoots - it's not that I am the first one who has done it.

"Why is sexuality such a big problem? Are we actually grown up? Are we still living in the jungles?" she said.

Karachi-based journalist and writer Bina Shah said criticism of Ms Malik was unfair.

"My question to all the men who are so upset about this, is why did you look at the pictures? If it upsets you so much, why did you click on the link?"

"Women's empowerment is about many more important things - and so is Islam for that matter - so I think we need to all of us grow up and just forget about this controversy," Ms Shah told the BBC.

The photo on the cover of December's edition of FHM was also controversial because it shows Ms Malik with the letters ISI - Pakistan's intelligence service - printed on the top of one of her arms.

In an interview with the BBC earlier this week, the editor of FHM India Kabeer Sharma said the ISI tattoo was intended as a playful joke.

He also said the magazine has video evidence which proves the images from the photoshoot were not tampered with.

Veena Malik has been at the centre of controversy before.

She caused outrage among conservative circles in Pakistan for appearing on the Indian reality show Bigg Boss in 2010. She hit the headlines again in March this year by challenging the views of a Pakistani cleric on television.

SOUCRE: BBC News

Pakistan actress sues over nudity
Pakistani actress: I posed topless, not nude

Ukrainian Women's Rights Activists Stage Topless Protest Against Uefa [FEMEN]

Ukrainian women's rights activists have staged a [topfree] demonstration at Kiev's Olympic Stadium to protest what they say are attempts to legalise prostitution during the 2012 European Championship.

Five members of the Femen group chanted slogans and displayed banners criticising the tournament organiser, European football's governing body, Uefa.

A Femen spokeswoman, Inna Shevchenko, said Uefa was "trying to influence our government" to legalise prostitution during the tournament, which will take place in June and July next summer. Uefa will hold the draw for the finals in Kiev on Friday.

Kiev police arrived at the gates of the downtown stadium five minutes later and the women were dragged into a police vehicle and driven away.

Click here to see pictures from the demonstration.

FEMEN - Main Website

FEMEN [News In Pictures]

Feminist political activism organisation in the Ukraine, FEMEN stages street protests against everything from sex tourism to Silvio Berlusconi. These protests are almost always topfree. Here are just a few pictures of them in action.

READ MORE

Naked Ambition: Ukrainian Topless Protests Go Global [FEMEN]

A naked woman in a city's central square is bound to attract attention, which is exactly what Ukraine’s Femen group is hoping for with a series of high-profile demonstrations against the abuse of women's rights which has made the news across Europe.

And as [iNAKED] found out, the Ukrainian feminists are ready to conquer new horizons.

On a chilly morning in Kiev, half-naked women in racing outfits drink champagne and chant slogans. This is how the Femen movement celebrated the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi. Several days prior to that, Femen were in Rome, lending their support for the anti-Berlusconi protests.

Activist Aleksandra Shevchenko states, “We had staged a lot of protests against Berlusconi and his sexual adventures here in Kiev. And we are really happy his political career has finished."

“But we came to the Italian embassy not only to celebrate, but to say that he needs to go on trial for his sexual crimes,” Femen member Inna Shevchenko added.

For more than a week, Ukraine’s topless protesters have been making themselves heard across Europe on a road trip dedicated to drawing attention to the sexual exploitation of women.

While in Rome, one of their activists even made a revealing protest against injustice towards women in the Catholic Church at the Vatican, right in front of the Pope. Before that, they hit Paris, storming the residence of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

“Women from Italy came to us in Switzerland and said: ‘We know that you’re coming to Rome and will be staging protests against Berlusconi and the Pope. Thank you,’ they said, ‘for sharing our problems,’” Alexandra Shevchenko continued.

Their wild bra-free rallies in Ukraine have been making international headlines for several years, from protesting against the alarming rate of prostitution, especially with the upcoming Euro 2012 football tournament, to exposing flaws in Ukraine’s politics. Now they are looking even further afield.

“We understood that classic feminism no longer works,” Inna Shevchenko said. “It is, if you excuse me, impotent. But what we do brings the desired effect. That’s why not only Ukraine needs us, but Europe as well. We are planning to take over the world.”

The Femen movement has been well-received at home in Ukraine and in Europe, and now its members are planning to extend their reach even further.

“We receive lots of letters telling us to continue fighting religious injustice towards women, especially in Muslim states. That’s where we want to develop,” Alexandra Shevchenko told RT. “We are even ready to go to Iran or any other Islamic state to stage our topless protests, knowing all risks it could entail for us.”

In Ukraine alone, Femen has garnered tens of thousands of supporters. The network has taken root in Europe and now stretches as far as the United States. But with sex-tourism, prostitution, and the ‘mail-order bride’ industry still plaguing Ukrainian society, Femen say they still have a lot demons to fight at home.

Israeli Women Strip In Support Of Egypt Blogger [Video, Human Rights]

Dozens of Israeli women stripped off their clothes Saturday in a show of solidarity with the 20-year-old Egyptian blogger who caused a stir in the Arab world last week when she posted a naked photo of herself in protest against the limits on free expression in her country. Touched by the spirited protest measure, some 40 Israelis posed for a nude group shot in support of the Egyptian activist, Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, who received threats and harsh criticism for her actions. Unlike Elmahdy, however, the Israeli women did not fully display their intimate parts for the camera.The brains behind the operation is Or Tepler, 28, who opened a Facebook event inviting women "to show support in a non-violent and legitimate way for a woman who is just like us -- young, ambitious, full of dreams and evidently has a developed sense of humor." More than 100 women said they would attend. The participants were photographed holding a sign saying "Love without Limits," and "Homage to Aliaa Elmahdi. Sisters in Israel."

Egypt Shocked After Female Dissident Blogger Posts Nude Photos [Politics]

This article is from The Daily Beast:

An attention seeker or a true freedom fighter? Twenty-year-old Egyptian college student Aliaa Maghda El-Mahdy has split the Arab dissident community with her new political stunt: posting nude self-portraits on her blog.

Aliaa Maghda El-Mahdy, a 20-year-old dissident from Cairo, describes herself as a “secular liberal feminist vegetarian individualist Egyptian.” A college student, an atheist, and a blogger, she may seem like just another attention-seeking political activist. But her latest act of political rebellion has set off a firestorm in Egypt and in the Twitterverse of Arab dissidents.

Read The Whole Article @ The Daily Beast

Egypt's naked blogger is a bomb aimed at the patriarchs in our minds | Mona Eltahawy | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
مذكرات ثائرة: فن عاري

Miss Representation [Film Trailer]

When the documentary Miss Representation premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, audiences were riveted and OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network acquired its broadcast rights.

The film explores how the media’s misrepresentation of women has led to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and influence.


missrepresentation.org
facebook.com/​missrepresentationcampaign
twitter.com/​representpledge

Beauty and Body Image in the Media

Images of female bodies are everywhere. Women—and their body parts—sell everything from food to cars. Popular film and television actresses are becoming younger, taller and thinner. Some have even been known to faint on the set from lack of food. Women’s magazines are full of articles urging that if they can just lose those last twenty pounds, they’ll have it all—the perfect marriage, loving children, great sex, and a rewarding career.

Why are standards of beauty being imposed on women, the majority of whom are naturally larger and more mature than any of the models? The roots, some analysts say, are economic. By presenting an ideal difficult to achieve and maintain, the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of growth and profits. And it’s no accident that youth is increasingly promoted, along with thinness, as an essential criterion of beauty. If not all women need to lose weight, for sure they’re all aging, says the Quebec Action Network for Women’s Health in its 2001 report Changements sociaux en faveur de la diversité des images corporelles. And, according to the industry, age is a disaster that needs to be dealt with.

The stakes are huge. On the one hand, women who are insecure about their bodies are more likely to buy beauty products, new clothes, and diet aids. It is estimated that the diet industry alone is worth anywhere between 40 to 100 billion (U.S.) a year selling temporary weight loss (90 to 95% of dieters regain the lost weight).1 On the other hand, research indicates that exposure to images of thin, young, air-brushed female bodies is linked to depression, loss of self-esteem and the development of unhealthy eating habits in women and girls.

Read the whole story: Media Awareness Network

Venezuela: Hugo Chavez Takes Aim at Breast Implants in a Country Full of Beauty Queens

Hugo Chavez, the Venezuela president, has criticised the "monstrous" fashion for breast implants amongst Venezuelan women.

Related LInks

Hugo Chavez attacks 'monstrous' boom in breast implants - Telegraph
Venezuela: Hugo Chavez Takes Aim at Breast Implants in a Country Full of Beauty Queens - ABC News

Naked Tea Parties / Art Show [UK EVENT]

Please tell as many people about this great event that's happening this and next week!

Naked art exhibition to be held in Manchester

Artists, naturists and activists are collaborating on mass-nude body-positive art projects for an upcoming exhibition in Manchester on the 26th of September. The exhibition will explore themes of non-sexual nudity, feminism and body positivity.

Pieces of art will be collectively created on the 21st September, between 6pm and 10pm, at Islington Mill, Salford, where members of the public will be invited to strip off to whatever degree they feel comfortable and be drawn, painted and photographed by various artists in a variety of mass-nude poses including, “Body Landscape”, “Tea Party” and others.

The art pieces will then be exhibited at Kraak Gallery, Manchester, on the 26th September between 6pm-11pm, where performance artists and members of the public will stage a public “Naked Tea Party”, with live music and (naked) poetry performances from local artists.

Organiser Jess Bradley said “We are really excited about both the events; mass nudity is a fantastic tool to help normalise nudity and promote positive body image – especially in a society which idealises an unacheivable perception of beauty”.

Please Note

1. The events are being organised by the collective behind www.nakedvegancooking.com in order to highlight issues surrounding body-image in modern day consumer culture.
2. Both events will be filmed for a Channel 4 documentary on young naturists.
3. Media attendance is welcome and encouraged at both events, we have several people willing to be interviewed. We request that no filming or pictures are taken of individuals without their explicit prior consent.
4. Mass naked art creation – Islington Mill, Salford, 6-10pm 21st September. Directions and venue info: http://www.islingtonmill.com/contact.php
5. Exhibition and public naked tea party – Kraak Gallery, Northern Quarter, Manchester, 6pm-10pm 26th September. Directions and venue info: http://kraak.co.uk

Contact: Jess Bradley for interviews and information 07773432780 education@ssdp.org.uk

Flyers

Related Links:

Naked Vegan Cooking