"Real women have bodies"
Have you ever wondered why we don't love our body? Only a few of us are happy and satisfied with the way they look: there are always some minor or (as it seems to us) significant flaws, features that we would like to change. Why is it difficult for us to accept ourselves as we are?
For women, feelings of self hate and shame are the common background of life. This attitude has become almost the norm. And unattainable ideals of beauty are imposed by society as the only thing worth living for. However, in fairness, it must be admitted that not only women suffer from non-compliance with generally accepted standards. Any psychologist will tell you a dozen situations when the inability to fit into a social or professional framework plunges completely physicaly healthy people into a state of severe frustration.
On June 9, the artist and LGBT activist Yulia Tsvetkova was officially allegated with distributing pornography. The reason was the body-positive drawings of a naked female body, which the artist published in her small online group "VKontakte". Now Yulia Tsvetkova faces up to six years in prison.
These were innocent artworks about menstruation, wrinkles, stretch marks, aging and body hair. They were accompanied by the captions "Real women have ... and this is normal!". The artist wanted to remind us that the female body changes throughout life and is far from the ideal that is broadcast in glossy magazines. Tsvetkova wrote: "Women are not dolls, and that's wonderful."
The artist presented her drawings, photographs, sculptures, collages and computer graphics about the female body at one of her exhibitions. Her works depict women in different poses, naked and with open breasts. Women who accept their body and enjoy it. Women experiencing pain from menstruation and cosmetic procedures. Striving for freedom from public pressure about marriage, beauty and the birth of children.
At one of the exhibitions, girls and young artists pondered why the female body for them is not pornography. Their answers are written near Yulia's artworks. For example, such as: "The body itself is not good and not bad, it is the same natural part of the world as mountains and forests. There is nothing shameful in the image of the body, just as there is no such thing in the landscape."
Citations:
'the vulva has become a trigger': Russia's trial of feminist artist Yulia Tsvetkova (no date) ArtReview. Available at: https://artreview.com/the-vulva-has-become-a-trigger-russia-trial-of-feminist-artist-yulia-tsvetkova/ (Accessed: October 26, 2022).
Free yulia Tsvetkova (no date) FREE YULIA TSVETKOVA. Available at: https://www.freetsvet.net/ (Accessed: October 26, 2022).
Шесть лет тюрьмы за рисунки вагины: Что не так с делом Юлии Цветковой (no date) The Village. Available at: https://www.the-village.ru/city/biz-comments/368385-monologi-tsvetkovoy (Accessed: October 26, 2022).
