28/06/2025
It’s time to share this again. Representation.
It’s so important ❤️❤️❤️
THE VENUS PROJECT - Why it had to be done.
There is no doubt that beauty is a vital component of all cultures, and a necessary element of human existence.
Narratives of beauty are everywhere, and influence all aspects of life, including a women’s personal abilities. For example feeling beautiful can boost your self-esteem, and an increase in self-esteem can provide an avenue to enhanced abilities and opportunities. Plastic surgery and miracle beauty products exist and are pervasive on store shelves across the globe, because many women understand that a “pretty face” can open many doors.
Nature has long been attracted to physical symmetry and it is definitely a thing of beauty but here today it is the alternate views of beauty that we wish to bring to the forefront. We must awaken to remembering that courage is beautiful, fragility is beautiful, imperfection is beautiful, many aspects of character are beautiful, and if we’re comfortable with that expanded view of beauty, claiming it ourselves, then we will embody the beauty in ourselves too.
It’s ridiculous to think there is only one standard of beauty. If we accept the judgment of beauty as defined by mainstream media and advertising then most of us are at best just mediocre looking (which I personally refuse to believe), after all less than 1 percent of the population are supermodels or even ‘ordinary’ models.
Beauty is and should be subjective, where “no one definition can capture beauty entirely”. Therefore, today in this project, in your lives, there is room for a pro-woman definition of beauty to exist amidst a mainstream consumer culture, which promotes limited and specific ideals.
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The purpose of this Venus project was to reveal women’s bodies to themselves and to others. Giving women a chance to see other women like themselves naked. Currently most women only see nakedness in the media, on TV and in movies. That is problematic in so much as there is never much if any deviation from standard conformative body sizes. In fact if we take a look at most Australian TV shows we can get a good measure for what is acceptable body size in our country. There is hardly any diversity, in size, body shape or ‘beauty’ in Australian TV with the exception of perhaps comedians (and that’s a whole other discussion).
Women not seeing each other naked regularly in everyday life is skewing our perspective on what’s normal. Many of us are getting more and more prudish (as we lose our confidence) about nudity all the time. Go to any gym and see how many women 20-50 are getting changed in cubicles or under towels. It is only the over 50s ages group that don’t give a hoot about judgment, and that’s because in many cases they are moving towards no longer believing themselves as beautiful at all.
Full representation of women’s body diversity not only can lower women’s anxiety in fulfilling the beauty ideal but also minimize the stereotypical portrayal of women in advertising and media.
On a patriarchal level we are lead to believe that beauty is an inherently good and beneficial quality and that, without it, we are lesser and even invisible. Therefore it is presumed that women should do everything in their power to pursue, achieve and maintain it. This myth of attainable beauty is kept alive so that women remain controlled, vulnerable and divided and the way to overcome this is by becoming aware of this beauty myth and fighting against the perceived beauty standards.
All of us who’s bodies do not resemble the ideal, bodies that have lumpy, bumpy and excess bits, or in any way don’t resemble ‘normal’ really only see ourselves one way – negatively, as unacceptable, as a problem to be fixed, as a project. Those of us that are labelled ‘obese’ are an ‘epidemic’. We are only seen on TV lumbering down the street in news clips, without heads so that we are not only dehumanized, but "protected" from the shame of being seen in such a disgusting body.
Our society perpetuates the oppression of women all the time in the visual onslaught in advertising, social media and the entertainment industry. And this oppression is propagated every time anyone critiques your looks or your body shape or size. Whether it’s your boyfriend, partner, mother or co-worker or even god help us ourselves, we are being programmed to be only believe in one ideal body.
In this society we are rarely allowed to think of ourselves as beautiful. There is only one time in our life when this rule is null and void. Think about this - there is no such thing as an ugly bride, because for that day, for one day you are ALLOWED TO BE absolutely beautiful, the most beautiful woman in the room. Imagine all the women who have only felt truly beautiful that one time!!!
Self hate and systemic oppression is the current reality for most women in Australia and it is kept in place by the constant critiquing and holding up of the unrealistic ideal. At the core of this oppression is a nation brainwashed into believing the so-called ideal body shape. Creating a nation that benefits so many:- health, fitness, food and self help industries, have much to gain from jumping on the bandwagon. The need to control us, rein us in and get us to conform to industry specified standards of beauty that can be sold to is immeasurable.
As consumers of the media many of us strive to discipline our bodies in order to match the ideals displayed on print and screen, and some women are willing to go extreme lengths to transform themselves from ‘plain’ to ‘glamorous’ in the pursuit of an ideal portrayed by a favourite celebrity. And so it is that female celebrities have becomes the guide for the ideal beauty in Australia.
But do we want to be defined by media, told what to think. There is a choice here. You can rebel and resist, and look for different types of beauty. You choose to see all forms of diverse and inclusive beauty and name it to friends and family. You can be a part of subverting this mainstream brainwash.
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But however tempting as it is to continue to blame media and advertising for perpetuating the internalisation of those limiting beauty ideals, we have a real chance ourselves here to play a significant role in counteracting these beauty ideals by reinterpreting beauty as non-hierarchical and beyond appearances alone.
We can do this visibly just as we have here, baring ourselves in our naked glory, to redefine what normal really looks like. Proper depictions of women not only can lower women’s anxiety in fulfilling the beauty ideal but also minimize the stereotypical portrayal of women in advertising and media.
We can turn down the authoritarian inner critical voice. Trusting the authority of our own body experience as the opposite of accepting our societal norms. Listening to our own intuition, the wisdom of our bellies and our bones, is the path to freedom and to boldly living our precious lives. Women who reject the beauty ideal are likely to have more positive views towards their bodies including healthy eating habits and generally higher self-esteem.
We must listen to women’s voices and expand our culture to include all perspectives. This also means that we need to strengthen female solidarity and relationships. We cannot be part of the solution if our compassion stops at people over a certain size.
We need to continually initiate conversations with young women, in the home, in schools and on the street about creating a movement of change. Let’s support girls in knowing that it’s their birthright to feel beautiful in their unique bodies, to know that their thoughts and feelings are valid and heard. Here we have to do the work to quiet our own internal critics so we can truly SEE the girls; reflect back to them their magnificent, powerful yet “flawed” and vulnerable human selves, because we honor all of these qualities in ourselves.
Let’s encourage younger women to be focused on their dreams, hopes and desires, not on their bodies. Don’t let them lower their expectations because they think they are too fat, too ugly, too stupid, too whatever!
The voices of others, and the voice inside ourselves are all holding us back. I let that happen to me and it took away and 30 years of my life. Imagine who I might have been, how much more influence I might have had, certainly how much more energy I couldn’t given to projects like this if I allowed myself to grow up in a loved body. If I had given space to me and my development instead of spending years focused inwards trying to fix myself. That dialogue about too fat or not good enough and unlovable, could have been replaced by positive expectations and explorations. Yes, I know, my experiences have made me into the person I am today and have given me these skills. But I do wonder what type of artist I might have been, if I hadn’t been crippled with self-loathing for so many years. Having said that it is what it is. I’m here now and doing this and this is something!
Naomi Wolf believes as long as a woman sees herself as beautiful, she challenges the world by refusing to be trapped within the beauty myth. Wolf says we can reinterpret ‘beauty’ as universal, non-competitive and non-hierarchical. So I encourage you to go ahead and read the subversive authors on body image, view photography of alternative beauty - fat, disfigured, old, ugly, in order to normalize it both internally yourself and then naturally as a continuum of that externally in the world.
The courage and wisdom of the women in the narratives of this Venus Project is universal and undeniable. We are not our bodies, we are so much more.
So I just ask you this…Are you living your best life, free from judgements - yours and other peoples? Are you being the best role model you can be for those young women who look up to you?
I hope so because that’s what it takes to change our world.
With much love and thanks to all the women who bared their bodies and souls to me for this project, I am deeply grateful.
