Body image

[Katie Russell]

I spent a while the other day observing GG. I know that there has always been a lot in the media about pressure on women especially young girls to fit a 'model' standard. They are bombarded with images of perfect bodies, hair, complexion etc but they come in all different shapes and sizes.

I know that we spend a lot of time and effort in trying to achieve the perfect feminine look but are we striving for the 'model' ideal as portrayed in magazines and TV or just trying to fit in?

Are we influenced in the same way as GGs?

Katie

[Tracii G]

Not me I will never fit that model so I do the best with what I have and strive to be the best I can be.

[suzy1]

Are we influenced in the same way as GGs?

Katie


I am Katie and I don’t mind admitting it.

I spend a lot of time keeping my body slim and toned.
I do this to keep fit but I also do it to keep my figure as slim and shapely as I can.

[Beverley Sims]

I aspire/dream to look like a lot of the others that present here.
Alas! my turn is over, my aspirations were realised years ago.

[Katie Russell]

I do look at the photos in magazines and websites and try and imagine myself in the clothes. I know in my heart of hearts I am never going to look the same but it does influence me when I buy. I'm learning what I can and can't wear which is part of the fun (plus benefiting charity shops with my mistakes). I do try an emulate a female figure with waist pinchers and breast forms but only to make the clothes fit better. I do like to feel comfortable in what I wear.

With regards to the makeup I feel myself being sucked into all the hype - longer lashes, fuller lips. My male side laughs at all the false science but my female side seems to buy in. Very confusing!

I think the point is that women are all shapes and sizes and very few fit the ideal. Likewise most CDs would definitely struggle to meet the ideal but can still be very passable with the right amount of confidence and styling.

I was really wondering if we all try to meet the ideal and put extra pressure on ourselves when the majority of GGs feel the same.

Katie

[Kate Simmons]

Hard to say Katie. many say they want to look like a woman as much as possible but are not trying to attract a man. That in itself is a kind of conundrum in my mind. I, personally, just try to look nice and easy on the eyes of any beholders if that's possible. :battingeyelashes::)

[noeleena]

Hi,

Well in some ways im not counted as a GG , yet i am a female / woman, So can comment from a women who's different ,

Many years ago both Jos & i brought clothes & i rang up or shoped with Jos so saw what we liked & what suited our bodys & what we thought was nice, & would look lovely on Jos , now myself i would say the same though how i look over all is another matter, body wise a female face very masculine so you see i automaticly have an issue before i start out the door,

What you need to remember not all of us women have that female look ,

So could i follow ...The ... fashons could i look like a normal female ( face wise, ) not a hope in .....just not going to happen before now or later ,

Im happy with my height weight size & shape & have for over 55 years just not how i look facial wise,

The other detail im over 65 have lovely olive skin quite soft, hardly any lines or how many women who are younger than i have lines hard skin & quite with drawn so where i have missed out on, i make up in other ways, in fact quite a few, & i know others know & see this, I know Jos does, & yes i get commented on,

As one woman said you have lovely skin & when i told her my age she was very surprised,

...noeleena...

[Norah_joy]

I agree with Suzy about the importance of staying slim and fit. Regular exercise was always an important part of my life, especially running. I say "was", because now that I'm in my seventies isn't as easy to do. I just think its easier to present yourself as a woman, if you're fit. Norah

[Jaylyn]

Every time I used to closet dress I always looked like a man in women's clothes, when I closeted put on makeup I would look like a man in makeup. My wife has started helping me when I came out to her ( she always knew actually) and so we went shopping and now am I realizing a difference. She has helped me pick out some things that actually she has even commented on that they look nice on me. Not as a women but as a cross dresser. So I have come from looking nice as a man to a nice looking CD. ummm I might get to the woman look when I get the applying makeup down and breast forms in. I say we are influenced some but not to the point of having to be a full woman. We are CD's and we look like them or most do. I will always strive though to get to the point of totally passing as a woman. When I arrive at that point I may be influenced by the fashion world and all it's hype. I'll let you know then, but don't hold your breath I've got a long way to go and looking forward to the journey.

[Tilly Vega]

Lookup the book Picturing the modern amazon It will completely change your outlook on the modern female aesthetic. Especially comforting for all us muscular ladies :)

[mikiSJ]

Most of us here realize that we are physically male first and and at best, an approximation of the female body. Most of us also realize that most marketing to women, is really marketing to young adult women idealized for the far end of the bell curve.

For me, it is way too late for any hope of a feminine figure (more than 50 years). The only TS I know enough to talk about this with transitioned when she was a teen and has what everyone, even to the most critical out there, a feminine body- but it took a lot of effort and skill to get to where she is now.

The best I could ever hope for would be to get rid of my belly!

[Chari]

No matter how we try to emulate the female form, there will always be something we could improve upon. Whatever your problem as to body or face shape/size, there is somewhere a GG with the same issues. Makeup/padding can (and does) cover many flaws, but we should always be comfortable, confident, and the best we can be in what ever we wear - also with who we are.

[MisterEgurl]

I do, often get caught up in the ideal of the female form, but I definitely feel that it's pervasiveness and consequences are different than they are for any GG or transgendered women. For me, the construct of the idealized feminine form is rife with conflict, because, I guess you could say, I look at women through at least three sets of perspective. Each perspective gets it's time to take precedence depending on context and situation.

First, as a guy who is attracted to the female form, I share many of the stereotypical, media-enforced concepts of objective beauty. My base sexual urges have me taking notice of curvacious, voluptuous physiques like a chauvinistic pig.

Second, my logical mind applies a deeper consciousness of that inherently limiting context of popularized objectivity and fights to defeat it. I remind myself not to get caught up in the objectification of women and preface my interactions with the actualization that women are not things to be lusted after. I admit that this logic overrides the first perspective to a point where I have horrible trouble making any sort of romantic advances on women for fear that my romantic interest in them may be construed as objectification.

Third, I see it as a sort of personal ideal, something I would strive to attain if the world were perfect and I wasn't built like an ogre. My own sense of dissatisfaction with my body gets tied into this as well, which, I guess may approximate the sort of pressure GG's feel when they see what the media and society promotes as the impossible ideal. That central dissatisfaction with myself does kick me down a few pegs and is the root of much of my self-esteem problems. So, I guess then, I could say that if the root of the GG's crisis of fitting the impossible ideal is a dissatisfaction in ones self not meeting that expectation, then I guess I understand it and experience it. That said, I, as a guy, have the luxury of stepping away from that impossible ideal by reassuring myself that I am, in reality a guy, and must comply with a completely different set of external expectations - that of the big lumbering brute - which I have effortlessly, and tragically, nailed.

In terms of my dressing, I am far too large in height, frame and BMI to shoot for the stars. I accept it and, instead, look at how large and tall ladies comport themselves and strive for that as best I can. Unfortunately, most of the women I know who fit this demographic tend toward the ill-fitting, sweatpants, loose shirts, their boyfriends stuff, layers, comfortable sneakers and color pallets that blend in with the background. Pretty much the contents of my drab guy closet. My sense of feminine whimsy (?!) has me wanting to wear cute skirts, frilly things in shocking colors, towing heels, and overly tight-in-the-wrong places outfits, but I know I can't pull it off without attracting all the wrong sort of attention.

[Cheryl T]

I would say that "model image" is always in our thoughts. We'd all love to look like some of the models or actresses we see, but I believe that most of us realize that we are never going to actually be that image. It's something to strive for just as hitting .400 in baseball, or that undefeated season in the NFL. If we didn't have goals we would never improve ourselves.
To that end I don't try to look like the models as I'm just too tall, too big and too old, but that won't stop me from having that image in mind when I try to look my best.

[Karren H]

More so I think..... I don't want to just fit in.... or fit the mold.... I want to stand out and be the mold.......

[ArleneRaquel]

At my age I'm just moldy.

[Vickie_CDTV]

I am an individualist, I desire to be what I want to be, I don't care what the lamestream media thinks is the "ideal" woman. My mother was once a model, she can tell you stores of how utterly nasty some of those people behind those images are.