What’s Up With All The Asses?

Posted by Tiff in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Good heavens, I love a good social experiment. And it didn’t get much better than the facebook ass mobbing that happened over this past weekend! I watched them pop up on my feed, and then read the comments and got a lot of personal messages of feedback. So I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about both my ass and yours.

The way the reactions went, it’s like most people have never seen an ass before. It’s like, *shock!* and *awe!* I just saw someones actual BUTT on the INTERNET!!! As if the internet is somehow an ass free zone. *snort* riiiiiiiight.

The thing is, we’re exposed to a lot of ass in this culture. A LOT. Asses are used to sell lots of things. Asses are used to draw attention to stuff all the time. Asses are on the TV and on billboards and in magazines. And sure, people may complain about the oversexualization of butts everywhere, but we seem to be somewhat resigned to it. Maybe that’s not the right word. We seem to be somewhat immune to it in a weird way. Like, asses are just a nice body part that fuels consumerism. Acceptable fact.

So when real, unphotoshopped, uncommercialized, unsexualized asses started showing up all over, I loved the honesty and acceptance of it. And I felt a little unhappy that all of a sudden THAT is what created some ruckus. We’re probably exposed to 15 asses a day through various social and print media, but the one ass that stands out is the one of a familiar person on a facebook wall saying, “OMG you guys, I love myself so much just the way I am. Our bodies are amazing!”

I’d rather get that message than the message I get page after page in a magazine saying, “OMG you guys, I love my ass so much but only because I spent money changing it to make it better! Your body is terrible the way it is but can be so much better if you do the same thing I did!”

If I have to look at asses, then I’d rather them be real butts from real people who really love themselves. At last count, over 200 people joined in and loudly…proudly…shared their backsides. I love the way Shannon put it in her blog:

I did a photo shoot of my ass for me. For my own personal growth as a woman who has forgotten how to love every little imperfection that is mine.

I shared the post here and on Facebook cause I want the world to be different. I want the world the big huge world to love every BODY. I want there to be chances for every human being to spend a lifetime loving every part of their physical self.

I want there to be images plastered on main stream media that celebrate our diversity. I want every little girl and boy that is looking outside of themselves for a little reassurance that they are indeed awesome, to potentially stumble across an image that looks like them.

For that to happen we gotta start sharing, posting, talking about and celebrating in crazy out there kinds of ways just what we are carrying around.

For those who think that showing your ass in a nonsexual, noncommercial, playful way is immoral or obscene…well, I think we’re already fighting that war and it’s being won by commercialism and porn. Maybe the problem is people have a hard time telling the difference between obscenity vs. a real human body. To me, the best way to fight back is to show the other side of our bodies. Our human form in it’s natural state. Real and awesome!

I have a whole lifetime’s worth of family/religion/society that would tell me that picture of me is inappropriate and shameful. I call bullshit. Inappropriate is my girls learning that it’s OK to use your body to sell a soda.

For everyone who played along, I really really thank you. I mean, it was about your ass, but it was about so much more than just an ass.

For everyone who wanted to play along but couldn’t quite go so far as post it all over the internet…find someone to share your ass pictures with. Hahahaha. Seriously. Valentines Day is coming up…I’m sure a boyfriend/girlfriend/significant other would be more than happy to get that pic. Also, I still am engaged in an ongoing ass picture volley with some tried and true best friends. I’ve never sent ass pictures to ANYONE before, but now I do it all the time and vice versa. And I have to say, nothing makes me happier than getting a text from a friend saying “hey! look at my ass today! BAM it rocks these pants!”

All I’m saying is, I hope this doesn’t stop. I hope I see more assbooking. I hope you keep celebrating yourself and your ass. It’s been nice getting to know you!

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