Life of a Held-Down Underachiever.

Tucked Miasie in for bed <3 (Taken with instagram)
milktree: Regine Ramseier, a German artist, had the great idea to created a ‘Dandelion Ceiling.’ 2000 dandelion flowers were treated and sprayed with a gentle adhesive to fix them. The dandelions were then transported by car to a little white room where they were hung.
xoblacklungs: the only one <3
lovee-katie: Ask something and I’ll love you forever ♥
15steep: so many movies to watch.
kat-actress: madmaxinstockings: rawwomen: xxxxarachnexxxx: redefiningbodyimage: breadstickjalapeno: landlockedbaker: sugaryumyum: I hate this shit. If I want to shave my legs, I will. And that doesn’t make me a pawn of the patriarchy; it makes me a feminist who feels like shaving my legs. Yes, shaving my legs is altering my natural body. And so is makeup and hair dye and bras and tweezing your eyebrows and getting tattoos and piercings. So is every single beauty ritual you engage in. But shaving seems to be the one many latch on to as proof of oppression. Some days I love my legs furry and others I love them smooth. I like my hair being pink, purple, and blue. I like my tattoos and piercings. I like altering my body into ways that make me feel authentic and honest. I like owning my body and being the only who decides what is and isn’t acceptable. You’re not allowed to shame me for my choices. You’re not allowed tot tell me I’m doing something wrong when I make a decision that affects only me. No, that’s not true. You have every right to tell me I’m wrong to do what I choose to my body. Just like I have every right to tell you to go fuck yourself. I’m allowed to have furry legs while wearing makeup. I’m allowed to shave my legs while sporting wild eyebrows. I’m allowed to let my fur grow for some years and shave weekly during others. I’m allowed to have a mustache while wearing bright red lipstick. I’m allowed to dress in ways that annoy and offend you. I’m allowed to be visible in any way I find appropriate. I’m allowed to be fat and lumpy and rippled. And why am I allowed those things? Because it’s my body. Body policing is body policing. And it’s bullshit. You’re not allowed to shame me for the choices I make. And seeing these messages on body acceptance sites? Hypocritical and crazy making. “You should love yourself…as long as you do the things I deem acceptable.” It’s my body and I will do whatever the fuck I want to it in order to make it look however the fuck I want it to. Dear Universe: I’m feisty today! Love, Heidi (This isn’t only about shaving and body hair, obviously.  It just happened to be an image I see a lot and I felt like getting all RAWR over.) this! Whenever I reblogged this I always thought of those who think they HAVE to shave, rather than those who choose to. But the commentary is lovely. Reblogged for commentary. If you want to shave, by all means shave. Nobody’s stopping you, and the majority of feminists I know of supports a woman’s right to do whatever the hell she wants to do with her body. Not only do feminists support your right to do this, but you have the backing of most of society to this as well. Shaving is the norm!  You know who doesn’t have the backing of society and are considered crazy, gross, unclean, disgusting and unhygienic? Women who don’t shave. There are many reasons why women choose not to shave. Some of us cut and scrape ourselves when we shave. Some of us have skin which doesn’t respond well to shaving. Some of us consider it a fucking waste of time especially since our hair doesn’t bother us but we have to get rid of it because it is expected of us and we don’t want people to think we’re unclean. Shaving for a lot of women isn’t enjoyable and is a tiring routine but we just have to do it because we don’t want to be considered ugly and disgusting. The above picture is why a lot of women shave even if they don’t want to. Maybe you sometimes do it as a form of self expression and I applaud you for that. But a lot of women do it because we fucking have to otherwise we will face the consequences from our peers and the rest of society. Nobody is policing anybody’s body in this picture, rather, this picture is a statement against body-policing. It’s not saying you shouldn’t shave. It’s saying that we shouldn’t be expected to shave. Some very valid commentary on both sides here! For me the bigger issue (and probably triggered the original commentary) is the language the image uses. it doesn’t say “changing” or “altering”, it says mutilating. What kind of connotation does that word have? What does it make you think of? me personally, it calls up scenes from horror movies where people’s bodies have been hacked and sliced and cut and bloodied by whatever psycho killer is on the rampage. the second thing it conjures up is cultures where female genital mutilation occurs. Let’s look at the definition of the word, shall we? mu·ti·late/ˈmyo͞otlˌāt/ Verb:Inflict a violent and disfiguring injury on. Inflict serious damage on. and here is why this image of “empowerment” bothers me. It’s implying that by deciding to shave my legs, or whatever part i shave, for whatever reason i shave (which is usually on whim, because i like the way my satin pj pants feel when i’ve shaved) i am inflicting violent and disfiguring injury on myself for the sake of beauty. That by adhereing to (an admittedly ridiculous and crappy) beauty standard is basically is self-harming. it doesn’t say that, but that is what the connotation of the word choice implies. erm. no. i mean, ok, if you have skin issues or are prone to cutting yourself, sure, you might actually  be inflicting injury on yourself. but lets not split hairs here (see what i did there?) because you are aware that happens and that’s why you make that choice. I think it’s shitty that people feel pressured to have to shave their legs by society or else they’re lazy and unattractive. it’s not fucking cool, and it’s not something i support. 99.9% of the time, I don’t shave because i think it’s a waste of time. I could be reading right now, or making whiskey cupcakes or watching porn, shaving my legs is dumb. but don’t make me feel like i’m damaging my body and self image if I do shave my legs, because seriously? also not cool. and that’s exactly what the language choice of this image does.  shave or don’t, YOUR CHOICE, but don’t make me feel like i’m self-harming if my decision doesn’t match yours. this image is STILL body policing by putting shame on an action or inaction, and it’s not fucking cool.  reblogging for all of the commentary (I personally shave my legs because (1) I’m a competitive/semi-professional dancer and it’s just expected because if you’re not wearing tights, it looks much better on stage (dance is 50% about looks and you have set guidelines for how you’re supposed to look) and then (2) I like how hairless legs feel…)
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