Comments on: A Rebellyon Against Roadrunner

By: The Rebellyon « Unruly Bodies

The Rebellyon « Unruly Bodies — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:26:14 +0000

[...] She proclaimed a return to love the belly, although in her own vanity she was frequently self-conscious of it. After posting a photograph of her belly, many of her fans felt inclined to follow in her actions. At one point there was a website devoted to those pictures (which I can’t happen to find now), but they have been collectively amassed and put on various sites. There have been discussions about how the body should be loved as it is. An interesting take of the Rebellyon is discussed here. [...]

By: DanaVarney

DanaVarney — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 06:54:00 +0000

Ugh, THANK. YOU. With the few, shall we say, pudgier exceptions, all I see are tiny bellies or any excuse for people with said tiny bellies to show off.

By: Dead-Looking Women in Fashion Imagery (Possibly NSFW) » Sociological Images

Dead-Looking Women in Fashion Imagery (Possibly NSFW) » Sociological Images — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 05:32:21 +0000

[...] an earlier post on Amanda Palmer here. var addthis_language = 'en'; 31 Comments Tags: animals, clothes/fashion, gender, [...]

By: J

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:37:10 +0000

I don’t understand this man’s line of thinking – if he didn’t notice it, nobody (except those that watched the video *just* for her belly) would care, and even then it’s iffy. It seems to me that this guy has a very specific kind of belly fetish. How selfish to deny the rest of us the pleasure of viewing it! He’s trying to prove he knows what the public is thinking at large when really, he’s just shaping it through censorship, what a useless way to execute your job. (sorry, my logic is probably a little masked by my vehement reaction to this, I apologise)

By: Sociological Images » NORMALIZING NORMAL BREASTS

Sociological Images » NORMALIZING NORMAL BREASTS — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 07:04:01 +0000

[...] also these selections of bellies and vulvas, and this attempt to refigure [...]

By: Mike Haubrich, FCD

Mike Haubrich, FCD — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 00:52:16 +0000

If she’s trying to look HOT in the Leeds video, she’s doin’ what needs to be done. I hate it when record producer guys think they talk for all of us, okay?

Go Amanda Palmer!

By: amandaw

amandaw — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:45:57 +0000

Whether you see a variety of women’s actual bodies or not depends on a lot of factors… region, socioeconomic status, social circle, age, where you work or what sorts of groups you’re involved in.

I think a LOT of women (and especially girls) have seen maybe one real body for every hundred thousand body-representations. And yes, it is incredibly damaging.

I grew up very sheltered and ended up very liberal – I’ve lived both sides of the spectrum. The turning point for my body image was, much like Lisa, finally seeing a web site that showed real women’s bodies, unretouched, unairbrushed, just photographed (which isn’t free from “influence” itself, but). The public standard still existed — but at least I knew then that real women were out there who looked like this and like that and like that. I saw a range of bodies and realized how little that public ideal resembles the real bodies women live in.

But I think the biggest thing it did for me was it compelled me to start looking for differences in appreciation — rather than looking for differences in a critical fashion, or looking for conformity to the ideal in appreciation — if you can grok that distinction. And once I started looking, it became obvious within — oh, a day? — there is far more variation to the human body than is represented in our media.

Life drawing classes helped enormously, too (even though four out of five days was the same model, a very very skinny tall model-ish chick, but she still had a real, organic body).

So, yeah. Solidarity, sister.

By: Sanguinity

Sanguinity — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:41:23 +0000

@ OP Minded:

The quotations here don’t make it clear, but the label refused to promote the record and video over this — the label deemed her “uncommercial” because of her belly.

Which, in my mind, makes the situation very different from the one you’re hypothesizing.

By: OP Minded

OP Minded — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:09:26 +0000

I’m giving the label a bit of break on this one. There are plenty of women in Hollywood and in the recording world that would be PISSED OFF if the label and the director didn’t do EVERYTHING to make them look good. Hurray to her for declining the changes in the video, but the label executive is not a mind-reader. 90% of the time the video artist will say, “Yes, make me look thinner and younger.” They guy was just doing his job. I’m sure there are folks who have lost jobs because some prima donna was unhappy with the way she looked on a video.
I’m happy she made the decision she did, but why should she attack some guy for doing his job?

By: lisa

lisa — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:10:27 +0000

Hello all,

Some random thoughts:

I find the confusion as to how I could say I don’t know what women’s bodies look like to be completely valid. You’re right. I’ve seen women in the gym and I go to the beach. I don’t do either very often. When I do, however, I don’t look very carefully. Perhaps I think it’s rude, but I also am a little bit afraid. Women on the beach and at the gym aren’t exactly representative. Maybe it would contribute to some sort of insecurity on my part.

Or maybe I have just seen SO MANY MORE bodies of models and actresses (and 20-year-old college students) that it overwhelms the realism I do see.

Or maybe I am just more accepting of men’s bodies and, so, don’t have the same need to consume images of non-ideal bodies of men.

And I’m not a mom, so I’ve never been part of that accept-your-body mom culture.

Relatedly, I grant the point that these particular bellies in the Rebellyon don’t represent reality in any sort of representative way.

Interesting comments! Thank you!

By: Dubi

Dubi — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:22:11 +0000

Me… ummmm… six? I mean, I’m a guy, but still – I saw many more female bellies than my number of partners. And I don’t peep into women’s showers or anything. Don’t you, like, go to the beach and stuff?

By: Lazercat

Lazercat — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:29:15 +0000

Jumping on the bandwagon. I was also a bit puzzled by that line. I’ve seen far more women than men naked, and I’m 100% hetero. That’s what happens when you go swimming, or to the gym, or when your friends change in front of each other at sleepovers.
Back to original post…I’ve never heard of Amanda Palmer before this, but honestly, what the fuck planet is that guy at Roadrunner from? She’s hardly fat at all (and even if she were, how is that a problem?) And since when does what “a guy” wants = what people want? And since when does what that “guy” wants even = what all guys want? Some guys…don’t even like women! What a concept!
At the same time though, my stupid, irrational brain keeps telling me that it’s because of my fat stomach that I’m still single :(

By: Abby

Abby — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:40:36 +0000

Yeah, me four. I’ve seen enough women’s bellies–in locker rooms, swimming pools, hanging over low-rise jeans, at riot grrrl concerts in the 90s :) etc.– to know that these photos mostly represent really teeny ones! I agree with the sentiment that it is reassuring (and surprising) to see a variety of women’s bodies in the media, but I’m not seeing anything like my post-pregnancy belly (or the bellies of many of my friends and relatives) in these pictures…

By: Sonja

Sonja — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:16:02 +0000

me three. *g* I see women naked every time I go swimming, for example.

By: Penny

Penny — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:24:18 +0000

I’m startled by the same line as Sanguinity. Maybe I hang around in different gym locker rooms and dressing rooms (and have different roommates at conferences), but I think I see plenty of other real women’s bodies in person. Especially other mothers–we’re not that shy about our bellies or breasts after being pregnant together, breastfeeding together, etc. (I remember the NICU offered me a “privacy screen” for nursing, and thinking, “a whole room of people just watched me give birth stark naked, you really think I’m modest about this???”)