news

Who says these bodies are not beautiful?

This is going to make your day. It’s a collection of photos from South African photographer Jodie Bieber for a project entitled Real Beauty which was inspired partly by Jodie’s personal life and partly by the now famous Dove campaign featuring women of all shapes and sizes.
Now send it to all the women you know…
About Face, an organisation that equips women and girls with tools to understand and resist harmful media messages that affect their self-esteem and body image says

One of the images from Jodie Bieber's collection

What words have we been programmed to use when defining beauty? How about flawless, skinny, model,glamorous, celebrity, or perfection? How about painful? Well, I’m rebelling.I have a word I would like to include my in my definition of beauty; that word is “real”. “Real” as in something we all possess. “Real” as in every woman in her own uniqueness. “Real” as in the stunning photographs by acclaimed South African photographer Jodi Bieber.

Real Beauty depicts women who live in and near Bieber’s South African community. According to Bieber’s website, she encouraged all of the women she photographed to explore their own personalities and fantasies for their shots.

The photos are intimate. In some instances, they are so unflinching and personal that they are hard to look at. I felt like a voyeur, yet I wanted to keep looking.

The women in the photographs are proud and dignified. They are black and white and fat and thin. Some of the women are clothed, some are not. Some of them are sensual and some are very matter of fact. Each of them is very real and beautiful.

I dare you not to find at least one that doesn’t make you think “that reminds me of me.”