What would you change about yourself if you could?

One of our experiments during the process of our performance was to strip down to what you feel most comfortable in, this went from being fully clothed to naked. We had to write/draw on ourselves lines on what we wanted to change about ourselves and then with an invited audience which were all girls they had to do grab a pen and write/draw on our bodies of what they would change 0n our bodies to make ‘the perfect body’.

There is a lot of pressure on the ideal body especially amongst other girls, they look at airbrushed models in magazine that claim to have this perfect body with no lumps, bumps, stretch marks or scars. Additionally, women and girls want “to look like the models on television or in maga- zines) predicts the development of weight concerns” (Tiggeman and McGill, 2004,  pg. 24) this is the case for me i feel vulnerable in how my body looks and if someone was to know how much i weighed or what close size i was , it would make me feel vulnerable especially if it was for the public to see. Additionally, in relation to the piece i will contribute a memory of me trying to kill myself which brings to light how media and magazines have influenced how i see my body today, and by sharing this story it will hopefully start making it easier to come to terms that my body isn’t as bad as i think it is.

contemp

photo taken: 13/11/2013

During this experiment we asked the people taking part if they would rather be drawing or to be drawn on and 50% of the people taking part would’ve wanted to be drawn on so not to offend people. Additionally, what made the experiment easier was that we all had our eyes clothes so we didn’t know who was drawing on us at what time.

After the experiment we thought that if we did this again we should invite an all males to participate as they could have a different concept on how they see the female body and what makes the female body perfect from a males perspective.

Tigemann, Marika and McGill, Belinda (2004) The Role of Social Comparison in the Effect on Magazine Advertisements on Women’s mood and Body dissatisfaction, Journal of social and Clinical Psychology, 23(1), Pg. 23-44.