How Mainstream Media Fools us about Body Image

I stopped buying fashion magazines a few years ago and switched over to following fashion bloggers instead. It took a couple of years but I recently realized it's had a big impact on how I see my own body and that of other women in a very positive way. I follow a variety of fashion blogs. Some are outfit of the day formats and others are written by stylists or fashion enthusiasts. I follow a couple of petite bloggers as well as the blogs of women in specific age categories. The most important factor here though is none of these women are models. There is a real variety of body shapes from fine boned petites to plus sizes matched up with a love of fashion and the fun it can bring to our lives. I was sitting in the waiting room at the dentist when I picked up a copy of Vogue. As I flipped through the pages I was surprised by how odd the images looked to me. They seemed freakish.  That's when I knew that fashion blogs are a positive influence for me. 

You can find many of them easily through Pinterest. Just search by category followed by the words fashion blogger. Here's what came up for plus size bloggers:

Here's what came up for mature bloggers: 

These photos are from J's Everyday Fashion. I follow this blog because I love how she uses fashion photos as inspiration for her outfits. She's very slender and pretty but not model tall. She looks like a woman I would see on the street or in any office. 

Now compare to the inspiration photo. 

Super thin with extremely long limbs and possibly altered by photoshop?