I recently wrote a post about nakedness - nudity, actually - that was sparked by reading an autobiography of sorts by a nude model.  That post sparked a lovely conversation with a Naturist from the UK.  And then, a few days ago, I showed a bunch of pictures of naked people to my college class.
I [...]

I recently read Live Nude Girl: my life as an object by Kathleen Rooney.  The book chronicles Rooney’s experiences in being a live nude model, discusses the history of nude modeling, and delves into the psychology of nudity in general.  I quite enjoyed the book.
What I felt was missing completely, and quite a glaring oversight [...]

Today is the last in this semester’s series of my college students’ Sexuality in the Media projects.  We’ve had three so far (body shapes, teen parents, and LGBTQQIA).  But today’s project is easily my favorite of the semester.  The beauty of both the image and the message are both stunning.  Melissa Hernandez created this image [...]

Today we are continuing on the fabulous media images my students created this semester.  Earlier this week I posted images about teen parents about LGBTQQIA in media.
Today’s student, Faith Jaschke, was looking at representations of body shapes and sizes in advertising.  She found over the semester that there is a substantial amount of unhealthy uniformity [...]

There has been much to-do, over the past several months, about “plus-sized models.”  All of this conversation is, of course, moving media images in the right direction.  But it is using language that is damaging.
First, some history:
The bulk of this conversation started back in September when Glamour magazine put a photo of a woman with [...]

My last two posts have been somewhat negative - or rather me complaining about the vast seas of incompetence and ignorance out there.  So I sat down to write this morning determined that it be positive.  So follow me through my train of thought and we’ll take a nice little ride together.
First, this YouTube video [...]

This morning a fellow teacher who, according to his degrees and professional standing, appears competent to do research, perform statistical analysis of the output, and make balanced statements about populations made such an outrageous statement to me that I am still having a hard time comprehending it.  He said:
“Fat women all hate prostitutes.  The skinny [...]

I wrote a reaction over on The Belly Project about Glamour magazine’s article and accompanying photo spread with “plus-sized” models. Glamour’s rather self-righteous tone and the plethora of too-excited, supposed-society-exploding headlines were all getting to me.
The one really good thing to come out of Glamour’s photo shoot? This really beautiful picture:

(Please ignore the [...]

I recently went over physiology and anatomy with my college students.  Afterward, one of the young men thanked me.  He was clear and direct:
“Thank you for teaching me what is inside a girl’s body.  I never knew, but I really wanted to know.  It’s always been a mystery to me how things happen up in [...]

I was contacted today by an amazing group: PURE: Public Urban Ritual Experiment.  They have an upcoming show, where the dancers reflect on their body image as it developed over their life spans.  It sounds completely amazing, and if anyone wants to fly me to New York next weekend, I am totally there.  If you [...]