The Century Project
An artist. a man, photographed women of all shapes, colors, sizes, creeds, and backgrounds. All between the ages of 0 and 100. A centuries worth of women. It was beautiful;. Young girls exuberant about their bodies, comfortable in their fresh skin. Some girls who loathed their bodies, others who have eating disorders. women who are pregnant, lost children, had cancer, were raped. A M2F transsexual. Older women, a generation of beautiful women. Some scarred, some without breasts, some with stretch-marks, and excema. The experience was a whorl-wind. It was a journey of emotions. I shook the artists hand. He patted me on the back for being a male who could look at this gallery without getting shy, nervous, or making jokes. I wanted to be proud, but I had no reason to be. I grew up worshiping women. I loved femininity. I loved the way girls dressed, and smelled, and their long hair. They were sexy, and maternal, fierce and intelligent all at once. I'm gay, yes, but that doesn't mean I was particularily feminine. I never played the role of woman in my relationships. Rather, I embraced the feminine inherent in all men.
I grew up to have wide shoulders, ig arms, and because I'm overweight, a decidedly big guy feminine curves in my middle section. I have broad shoulders and wide thighs. A beard, and long, feminine curls. A contradiction, or maybe so much more.
If you have ever felt ashamed, ugly, alone, deprived, diseased, beaten, broken, too fat, too thin, too old, or anything in between, you need only to look at the people around you. Study their shape, know their vulnerabilities. You are so much alike them. We are all different. This can not be ignored. I am not Morgan. I am not Sam. I am not Kaila. I am not Dave. I am not Justin. But while Sam is petite and buxom, she is beautiful. While Morgan is leggy, and milky skinned, she is beautiful. While Kaila is thin, and small breasted with the physique of a gymnast, she is beautiful. While Dave is hairy, thin, and with a strong jaw, he is beautiful. While Justin is average in build, dirty skin and hair, bloody in dress, and smelling of smoke. He is beautiful. I am tall, hairy, wide, and a million other adjectives. And I am beautiful.
The Century Project is amazing. It respects, celebrates, and glorifies the woman. If you can see the gallery, go. If you can buy the book, buy it.
The only thing I would add, as a lover of the feminine, is that there should be an embrace of the masculine. It is easy for men to see nude women and think of sex. It is even easier to see a nude man an think of sex. Portraying men in the nude seems like we would not be exposing much. Men are outrght, fortwith. Our genitals thrust outward from our body like a lone hill in a delta. A womans genitals are neatly tucked away, something that can be hidden, and ignored just as the nest of a burrowing animal. So portraying nudes of men in a non-sexual manner is a hard thing to do. Our sex betrays us in it position on the body, in it's sensitivity. I wonder what it would be like to see a gallery of men, bearing their soul. Are there enough men out there, like myself, who would have something to say about their exposed body? Will men speak of abuse, a lost testicle, scarring, body issues such as anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating? Body-building? Will they expose their souls, knowing they have been abused, victims of sexual assault, former drug users, homeless, diseased, perhaps a father, grandfather, transsexual F2M, or what have you. Every time we see worship of the male physique, it is very Hellenistic in nature. We think of Apollon, the eptiome of man;s beauty, in his sexual prime. What about the grey-hared men, with swollen legs, and wrinkles he map to the trials and hardships of their lives.
So now I wonder if the rest of the world can appreciate their bodies annd selves. And each other. I wonder if the amazing enlightenment that I feel right now from such an experience will last. It is beautiful. I want everyone to understand this.
I grew up to have wide shoulders, ig arms, and because I'm overweight, a decidedly big guy feminine curves in my middle section. I have broad shoulders and wide thighs. A beard, and long, feminine curls. A contradiction, or maybe so much more.
If you have ever felt ashamed, ugly, alone, deprived, diseased, beaten, broken, too fat, too thin, too old, or anything in between, you need only to look at the people around you. Study their shape, know their vulnerabilities. You are so much alike them. We are all different. This can not be ignored. I am not Morgan. I am not Sam. I am not Kaila. I am not Dave. I am not Justin. But while Sam is petite and buxom, she is beautiful. While Morgan is leggy, and milky skinned, she is beautiful. While Kaila is thin, and small breasted with the physique of a gymnast, she is beautiful. While Dave is hairy, thin, and with a strong jaw, he is beautiful. While Justin is average in build, dirty skin and hair, bloody in dress, and smelling of smoke. He is beautiful. I am tall, hairy, wide, and a million other adjectives. And I am beautiful.
The Century Project is amazing. It respects, celebrates, and glorifies the woman. If you can see the gallery, go. If you can buy the book, buy it.
The only thing I would add, as a lover of the feminine, is that there should be an embrace of the masculine. It is easy for men to see nude women and think of sex. It is even easier to see a nude man an think of sex. Portraying men in the nude seems like we would not be exposing much. Men are outrght, fortwith. Our genitals thrust outward from our body like a lone hill in a delta. A womans genitals are neatly tucked away, something that can be hidden, and ignored just as the nest of a burrowing animal. So portraying nudes of men in a non-sexual manner is a hard thing to do. Our sex betrays us in it position on the body, in it's sensitivity. I wonder what it would be like to see a gallery of men, bearing their soul. Are there enough men out there, like myself, who would have something to say about their exposed body? Will men speak of abuse, a lost testicle, scarring, body issues such as anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating? Body-building? Will they expose their souls, knowing they have been abused, victims of sexual assault, former drug users, homeless, diseased, perhaps a father, grandfather, transsexual F2M, or what have you. Every time we see worship of the male physique, it is very Hellenistic in nature. We think of Apollon, the eptiome of man;s beauty, in his sexual prime. What about the grey-hared men, with swollen legs, and wrinkles he map to the trials and hardships of their lives.
So now I wonder if the rest of the world can appreciate their bodies annd selves. And each other. I wonder if the amazing enlightenment that I feel right now from such an experience will last. It is beautiful. I want everyone to understand this.