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Redefining Beauty
MODERN MATRIARCHY
Women are more then just their bodies. Their bodies are an instrument for their own use and experience. Not an ornament to be admired for. The cultural construct of the ‘ideal’ body has been around sinds pre-history. We went from curvaceous, thickset silhouettes to thin, waif-like models and to shapely backsides. In the 20th century there was a very defined shift towards an increasingly young, athletic and slender body. The influence by the ‘male gaze’, social media and the obsession to stay fit and healthy has brought women unattainable goals to be met. Within the Modern Matriarchy the way that women look towards their body has shifted. Woman realize that the feminine power isn’t just in beauty. It’s in who you are and what you do. It’s in your physical power, the power to be, do, live and move. This change of view creates a focus on our inner worlds, mental health, spirituality and building meaningful relations with others. It is a mindful way of looking at ourselves. It is not about loving or hating our bodies. It’s about the space in between where we can create sustainable bodies and minds. Within this space we realise that it is not about posting your body on instagram, it’s about experiencing the moment. It is not about companies using diverse models, but about finding out that we might not need all these products at all. It is about allowing failure into our lives and understanding that without failure there is no succes. So that we learn to appreciate the body as a tool for expressing kindness and developing the inner beauty of generosity and virtue.
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MODERN MATRIARCHY
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Sweat Skin Blush Freckle
Lips
Blood
Shadow
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MODERN MATRIARCHY
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The less time we spend on valueing our bodies, the more space it will create for ourselves, our loved ones and our community
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MODERN MATRIARCHY
Unhealthy body images, whether positive or negative, start with
the assumption that the body’s
worth is measured by the beauty of its appearance.
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MODERN MATRIARCHY
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MODERN MATRIARCHY
It’s not about loving
or hating
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It’s about the space in between
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MODERN MATRIARCHY
The feminine power isn’t just in beauty. It’s in who you are and what you do. It’s in your physical power, the power to be, do, live and move.
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MODERN MATRIARCHY
Sustainable Body Image 72
Eating and exercising to be healthy may generally be a good policy, but a concern for looking healthy can be unhealthy for the mind. The modern obsession with impossibly perfect body images has taught so many people to hate their bodies that we’ve come to identify all positive body images as psychologically healthy, and all negative body images as psychologically sick. Unhealthy body images, whether positive or negative, start with the assumption that the body’s worth is measured by the beauty of its appearance. The damage done by this assumption when it leads to negative body images is common knowledge, but the damage done when it leads to positive images is just as bad. This is because the perception of beauty carries a power. Outer beauty is a quality that invites comparison, and often carries with it a sense of pride and conceit with regard to those you perceive as less attractive than you, along with the kinds of unskillful actions that pride and conceit can so easily engender. An unhealthy negative body image sees an unattractive body as bad. A healthy negative body image sees that physical unattractiveness is simply a perception, as empty as all other perceptions, and irrelevant to the body’s worth or to your own worth as a person. To create a truly healthy body image, we need to focus not on how good the body can look but on the good it can do. Within the spaces in between, we learn to appreciate the body as a tool for expressing kindness and developing the inner beauty of generosity and virtue. With this sort of body image, the appearance of wrinkles is not a threat to the worth of your body but simply a reminder to accelerate our efforts to do good as time is running out.
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MODERN MATRIARCHY
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Women shouldn’t be hypersexualized or desexualized
we just want to be afforded the same neutrality as other bodies existing in space.
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MODERN MATRIARCHY
SPACES IN BETWEEN
Ever ything Is Neu tral 77
The mean ing is what you attach to it
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MODERN MATRIARCHY