venla

After the recent discussion in the Photography group about photoshopping mishaps, and, since I'm aware that my set differs from the common plastophilic look some people prefer their erotica, I decided to shed some light on my thoughts that lead me to the decision not to photoshop my skin flawless. As you can see, there are scars, pores, hair and other whatnot that makes me a real person with herstory. Hiding them would be denying essential parts of myself.





Have you ever thought why girls in older pin-up pics seem to have "cellulite"? It's not because the times were somehow more tolerant but because no-one had yet conjured up a thing called cellulite and that it somehow needed to be banished off the skin of an ideal woman. Nowadays the whole shebang isn't just about the cellulite -the ideal woman does not have pores, body hair or love handles, either. The skin needs to resemble, well, a doll's. I think it's just a way of controlling women, controlling the scary, overflowing excessive female body and its abjects. By cutting away the personalizing features of an individual and, making the body doll-like, a thing, the will and the personality of the said person will also be cut off . It's funny that on a site that celebrates personalized bodies marked with tattoos, piercings and other kinds of bodily modification, some of the public still wishes the surface of the body to look entirely unpersonal, flawless, plastic-like. Hiding the marks of ageing also brings to my mind the age-old fantasies about young, helpless girls. It's easier to gain control over a nave, adolescent creature and even easier over something that's not a person, but a thing.

To me, this site has always been about challenging the standards of convenience. However, I can't help but feel disappointed if the definition of beauty is only "given" to slim, tattooed bodies -all the different sizes, shapes and herstories are left untouch. I know I'm going to get some nasty comments about my body size, especially if the set goes live (and into myspace) but -you know what? If some anonymous misogynist is afraid that seeing a real girl will destroy his fantasy of power over womankind or some poor teenager so deeply attached to the mainstream idealsl about body shapes that seeing other kinds of beauties celebrated frightens her, I'm more that happy to scare those unlucky people.







Otherwise, I'm fine