We all see what women look like every day on magazines and newspapers. Many many of us look in the mirror and sob at how "wrong" our bodies are by comparison.
So here are two links so we can all see what women REALLY look like:
The Shape Of A Mother You can search for specific areas or just read by date - each entry includes pictures and a personal story.
Normal Breasts The breastfeeding/ex-breastfeeding mamas are in the lettered galleries, the pre-baby women are in the numbered galleries.
Enjoy
Bx
Last edited by paradise lost; September 22nd, 2008 at 08:05 PM.
: for Ryn :)
Great links Hoobley - what a shame the Shape of a Mother site has a Google ad for "Rule 1 of losing belly fat" in the bottom corner!
Love the breasts site too.
I know! I'm assuming the google links are there because google pay for the privilege and the actual searches are automatically generated by the terms in the blog titles. My gmail account does it too. Yesterday i was sending DP an email about the fact that i was ovulating and it gave me a link about early abortion! Bit much, but that's the "magic" of remote automatic search generation...
And what about us long, lanky "you look like a model" people? Are we not real now .
Great post Bec but I'm real and my body is the envy of many a model. Shame I don't have the face to go with it . I'm just sick of people thinking I'm not real and I can't find clothes cheaply and the abuse you get about your size when you're like me is something you can't whinge about because taunting for being gorgeous isn't the same as taunting for not fitting in with those stupid (airbrushed) pictures.
It's the use of the word "real" that annoys me - I've been doing the same vent for years now! I hate that many people consider me not real. Particularly clothes shops that will do size 30 but not size 8, and if they do then only in "petite" because 6' and size 8 just isn't real. Getting clothes (especially T-shirts that cover my near-flat post-baby tum) is a nightmare - if only I were shorter or fatter I'd be fine!
We're all women, we're all real, we don't need pictures to prove that!
Thanks Bec I do have insecurities about my breasts, although I know they're reasonably 'normal'. It's always nice to be reassured that you're not the only one!
That is exactly what I needed to see. I have many body issues and insecurities which seem to be getting worse since having my sons. I'm still feeding Oliver and have started to notice that my breasts are asymetrical and it's really been bothering me. It is wonderful to see pictures of woman who are not re-touched by computers.
Thanks so much for posting, those women are truely beautiful.
I understand your gripe Rosehip-Fairy. Not that I'm the envy of any models - far from it! But if we were to say something like this is how a REAL mother feeds her child.. well.. imagine the reaction.
Why is there so much comparison with women? We are what we are. Some things we can change, others we can't. Can't say I enjoyed seeing those 'real' women any more than the 'fake'. *shrug*
I'm certainly wearing the battle scars of pregnancy, not so much of breastfeeding.. if anything that's given me boobs & nipples LOL. But I've never been sensitive to all the models in magazines and things (probably helps I've never bought them hehe) so it doesn't worry me too much. Of course I have bits I'd rather cover up, but that's ok.. easy enough to do. hehe.
Before I was pregnant I was quite small breasted (10A-B) depending on my weight but since having children, WHOA! I reached 12DD about 3 months after my first was born and with my second I've become noticeably asymetrical - I'm at least a C on my left and a B on my right, but it's fine! It's not a drama! We come in all shapes and sizes
hoobley, you are a star! i've been trying to deal with my post-twin, post-caesarian breastfeeding body since my lovelies were born, and only succeeded in the last few years, post-40, lol. what a brilliant site! i'm sending links to my girls!
It has been difficult, these past 6/7 weeks accepting my new mummy body. I had anorexia for 7 years, fully recovered and weight restored beginning 2006, but since having Jazz I've felt that loathe for my body again. I'd never seen a post-pregnancy body uncovered. No one ever said that my belly would be jelly. No one ever told me I'd have extra skin. I know everyone says that your shape changes, but no one ever says HOW. It's a shock. Seeing these pictures just lets me know that this, too, is normal. I'm a bit squishy, a bit saggy, a bit dimpled, and my stretchmarks look like a window on a rainy day... before today I didn't know that other people looked like that too. I mean, I'm sure they did, but I never really knew. Oh goodness now you have me in tears Thank you Bec, it really has made my day.
Ryn, i don't think anyone is trying to say that gorgeous size 8 flat-tummy mummies aren't normal. Just to let us, who aren't that anymore, know that we are still normal. Pictures of model mums are plastered everywhere. Even the Johnsons amd Telstra ads show mums with newborns in hospital who don't look ANYTHING like I did in hospital. Its just good to finally see pictures that I, and others, who aren't picture perfect, can relate to...
You're welcome Leash. It's very early days with your body, you can expect massive changes yet. When DD was Jazz's age my boobs were a 36J, but they were down to a 34E when she was 5 months old. My belly was like unbaked bread then, now it's much better though still wobbly (i have good muscles, and not too much fat, BUT i still have extra skin so the fat isn't held as firmly and thus it's a bit wobbly...DD often gets in bed with me in the mornings to rub "Mummy's lovely wobbly tummy" so it still has fans ). THere's a lot one can do with hig-waisted control pants before then too!
I think the thing about size 8 mummies and size 24 mummies is that no-one is saying the former DON'T exist or aren't real. It's just that in magazines, on tv, in films, they are MASSIVELY over-represented, and the bigger baggier type of mummy isn't represented at ALL, or if she is it's some celebrity pictured 7lbs heavier and in trackies to "show" us how they've let themselves go. There are definitely women on both sites who are what i would consider modelesque - very slender, good tone, etc., but they are represented in a far true-to-life proportions. It's not about saying NO-ONE looks like that, it's about accepting that most people don't.
I love these sites, the more i look the more impressed i am. I think i'm gonna go out for a run, because however saggy/wobbly/bouncy various areas of me are, my body works and that's a fabulous thing
Loves to all you beautiful (all sizes and shapes, ALL of you!) ladies!
I don't have a problem with ANY size. I also don't feel the urge to look at other naked women - I have an anti-urge for that in fact so will NOT be checking out that site. No matter why the picture was taken, I really don't want to see it.
My only problem was with the word "real". I know it's not because of Bec, but because of my own hang-ups. I'm sick of being not "real". I know it's my issue and no-one elses, but that word really upsets and offends me.
BTW, to be on TV I'd need a LOT of breast enhancement and probably a tummy tuck; while it is considered "flat" I know it was a LOT flatter beforehand and DS keeps grabbing the loose skin on it! I don't have a TV body, not at all (a super-trim model body, yes, but not a TV body). But I do have a real one and I HATE being told that I don't, especially by shops who "only stock for REAL women, sizes 12-30" and crap like that - so I'm not real or not a woman? Is that it? How is size 30 normal? I'm sorry if I offend because you are a size 30 but there are a LOT more size 10 women out there than size 30. Doesn't make either not real though.
You have your own body, it is YOUR body and it is REAL. So why be told "this is what a REAL woman looks like" when YOU are a REAL WOMAN and can just look in the mirror.
Maybe "this is what some other women look like" would have been better for me!
Given the amount of magazines that seem to exist just to photograph "celebrities" and their cellulite/spots, I can't see why anyone would consider air-brushing in films as something we don't know about.
ETA: I was told so much in pregnancy that I should be putting on more weight, that I wasn't big enough... blah blah blah... everyone compared me to every pregnant woman they'd ever known, I did feel like a freak then. But it was other people calling my REAL body having a REAL pregnancy a freak. My only solace then WAS pregnant models in the pregnancy/baby catalogues because it showed me that other people DO have pregnant bumps like mine, so I can see why other people need this sort of thing. I just see every woman as being beautiful in her own right and it's only being told we're freaky or not real that makes us wonder about it. (OK, I didn't see women calling me a freak as beautiful but YKWIM in general.) I've never subscribed to the media image of beautiful, but I suppose for most of my adult life I've not had people calling me a freak so I deal with things differently; teenage years were very different though, I was freaky for not having breasts then (same as when I was pg LOL), so I suppose that site may have helped. But then I wouldn't have looked; if I were deemed a lesbian for not having breasts then what would I be for looking at naked women? LOL.
My point is that no-one is 100% happy with their body and everyone gets called names or feels freaky because they're different. But we should concentrate on being nice to each other so we don't need things like this for our confidence. (My breasts are the same size, btw: if one were bigger than the other then I'd have a breast at last.)
Last edited by Ca Plane Pour Moi; September 22nd, 2008 at 08:01 PM.
What women look like...
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I don't really know what to say! LOL.
Thank you Bec, it really has made my day. 
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