I’m now most of my way through the top floor of the dollshouse. The side that is completed looks great, I’m really pleased with it. One of my main feelings while I’m creating this is of my disagreement with how women are still represented in the media and the images that are portrayed about how we are supposed to look.
It’s also about the feeling of being judged not only for women in the medi but in everyday life, having people question what you wear, your size and many other aspects of appearance and never having been 100% confident of my own appearance and how people view me, this is a very personal piece of work.
Now I am going through all the changes that happen during pregnancy I feel like the eyes are on me even more, how much weight have you put on? Your boobs have got big, your bums sticking out and even things said as compliments can knock me. The people around me are very supportive and I’m well aware that media imagery is altered and what pressures they put on, but I still find myself conditioned to think I should be a certain way even if the other half of me screams ‘stop being so ridiculous!’
I saw a comedy tweet the other day about Princess Catherine with mock headlines from the major newspapers with three saying she’d given birth and one saying had she lost the baby weight yet. It made me laugh and also rang true with the attention the media puts on these issues and how even if people around you are putting no pressure on you whatsoever, in your own mind you can be the person applying the most pressure.
