At 65, Cecylia Metcalfe is the oldest pole dancer in Britain -- but she says she feels younger than ever. Cecylia, from Durham, took up the unusual...
It is painful enough for a woman to know how to think about her body. Here's culture, screaming at us on the one hand to be sexy, and on the other not to be sluts. And here's nature, permeating social interaction with both desire and revulsion.
Mum-of-two Sarah Willman has been addicted to tanning since she was 14 and cannot stop because she loves 'the Barbie look'. Sarah was nicknamed 'Ma...
Abercrombie and Fitch have been catapulted into the social media recently with Robin Lewis' revelations that the CEO of the company, Mike Jefferies, doesn't want larger people buying his products.
When HuffPost US Women asked women to send pictures of themselves in bikinis to remind us what a real beach body looks like (see Amber, above), they g...
Thousands of women are entering a competition to find the UK's next plus-size models, showing that big(ger) is indeed beautiful. Almost 3,000 women...
Stereotype is a funny thing, not least of all when it comes to spas, but it is also something that has the capacity to be extremely dangerous. While the vast majority of people associate spas with time out and something enjoyable, the range of details of what one might do on a day or break seems to remain remarkably narrow. The association between spa and relaxation is engrained, but often the details remain elusive.
Department store Debenhams has broken the fashion mould by casting a diverse range of models for its summer 2013 campaign. The High Summer Look Boo...
Lack of libido in women, especially mums, is common. Many of us come to accept that the occasions on which we "feel horny" are fewer and further between as we get older. Our sex drive gets put back firmly in its box by tiredness, body hang-ups or the comfy familiarity of our relationships.
As an image consultant, I work with people every day who have garments and accessories which they feel give them super-heroic powers - or some variation thereof. Welcome to the transformative power of clothes.
What also became apparent from my conversations with the girls was that although they were concerned about the pressures they felt from the media to look 'perfect' they were also increasingly concerned by the representation of women in the media as a whole.
Over 2012 we saw a backlash to the skinny model with more 'real' models being used in campaigns (for example the latest M&S and Dove adverts) but still the catwalks are full of size 0 waifs. Has the fashion world really changed?
We need to open the debate up further and to talk more openly. We already understand how low body confidence can affect 15 year old girls. But what happens when those 15 year old girls reach 25, 35, and 45? How does their low body confidence translate into social confidence? How does it affect their performance in the workplace? How does it affect their families? The government is already doing a lot to support women, but we also need to ensure that we can nurture and support the aspirations of women and girls.
If so many people genuinely feel worried about the hairless state of affairs we've found ourselves in, why not do something about it? Imagine the time and money you could save, imagine the other things you could do instead of heading to the salon, and imagine how much better you might end up feeling about yourself.
Digital fakery. Airbrushing. Perfect models with perfect make up, their perfect figures clad in perfect clothes. This imagery is everywhere and it's having a damaging effect on women and girls, who simply can't attain the unrealisable ideal.
It's time to face facts; whether we like it or not we are living in an aesthetic age where appearances matter. The discussions surrounding body image and the pressure to look slim have become almost a part of the everyday.
Dance has proven to be a fantastic engagement tool for girls and young women who often begin a life-long pursuit which brings them both fitness and pleasure.
With this pressure to look like celebrities, why should girls look for role models who are famed for intelligence over their fantastic figure and always perfect dress and make-up? At one of my recent Guide meetings we asked girls to come dressed as a female role model with some surprising results.
Switch on your television, flick through a magazine or browse the internet and you'll be assaulted by headlines tempting you to behold the spectacle of "the 63 stone man!", the "anorexic who weighs the same as your average five year old!", or "the model whose desperate bid for success ended in botched cosmetic surgery!".
I am still conquering my lack of self esteem, goodness only knows how girls of today will turn out. We owe it to them to reverse the trend - let's start the inner beauty revolution.
We at the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation believe that the London 2012 Olympics will be the best ever for women. These are some of the reasons why...
Essentials first published a Real Women special issue in 2010, marking the first time it had not used models or celebrities on its cover. The positive feedback prompted editor Jules Barton-Breck to make the decision to continue to use real women on its covers throughout 2011 and into 2012, reinforcing its tagline of "No models, no celebs - just you!"
Picture the scene. I've just taught a co-ed year seven class, at an endearingly lovely state school, in the posh end of Hertfordshire. The teachers have whipped the students (and themselves) into a state of frenzy, convinced they have a 'celeb' in their midst (largely based on my regular appearances on Radio 5 and the fact that I know Gok Wan, I am later to discover).
On 26 May 1992, in the King's Fund Centre in Camden Town, a tiny kernel of an idea was planted. 20 years later, Lynne Featherstone, Minister for Equalities, gave her strong vote to what we think is now a fine-looking sapling that is Changing Faces today.
The advertising industry is highly aware of its responsibilities. Pretty as a Picture was commissioned to help advertisers understand what young women think about images in advertising, and it's good to hear policymakers recognising the industry's positive response.
