….And thus concludes the end of my second week back at uni. Was I ready for this jelly? No, no I was not. Regardless, you’re more than likely to find me bouncing out of bed ready to LEARN IMPORTANT STUFF rather than clutching at my pillow, praying for JUST 5 MORE MINUTES PLZ. I love learning, and I’m so happy to be back at uni. It’s the ultimate indulgence to feed my mind, to bounce ideas off of other inspiring, positive and creative people.

Things might be a little more quiet now that I’m back at big school and writing essays and trying to remember how to use the APA referencing system (which I totally don’t remember existed, by the way). I wish I had more time to jump up and down on my computer keyboard excitedly and churn out more posts like the eager Gen Y smarty-pants I am, but my course requires a lot of attention and little time for…well, life. Having said that,I’m really determined to make time for the projects that matter to me these days. More writing! More photography! More reading! Like a grocery list chock block of awesome food for the soul! Time is trickier than Where’s Wally. You can’t find it, you have to make it, and you’re never too busy for the things you love. Never.

This week I definitely noticed a trend in articles on self-loathing and self-loving in the physical sense. Because Girls Are Made From Pepsi is all about lady love, coming to terms with and accepting our diverse physicality is a large part of appreciating and celebrating your foxy self. Females of all ages – whether young girls or middle aged women – have all gone through some sort of body image crisis. Some deal with their inner critics more effectively than others, whilst some of still unconsciously grab at imaginary love-handles when trying on new jeans. I personally don’t feel ready to write a body image post of my own, so below are some of the best I’ve read this week (or ever!).

How gay-friendly is Facebook? With the Google+ machine ploughing through the digital stratosphere aiming to catch as many band-wagon enthusiasts as possible (oh yeah, I saw it riding past and climbed on!), Lesbilicious takes a look at how the world’s most popular (and infamous!) social networking site helped (or hindered) queer visability. Can we expect the same from Google+? Do social networks force people out of the closet when they ask you disclose information? Or is it still possible to keep some of our life private? It did not escape me that Google+ does not ask for your sexual orientation…

By the way – it’s awfully lonely on Google+! If anyone wants an invite, holla at me! I’m willing to spread the love around!

Liz at Autostraddle does a fashioncap of the latest Pretty Little Liars, turns the majority of the cast/extras into homos, and consequently makes my week whilst doing so.

THIS IS NEW INFORMATION. Not all women like pink. If you are one of those women, I’m sorry for my blog’s colour scheme and it’s affect on your retinas. Not really, because I love pink! But don’t worry, I still like you. This study, published in the Harvard Business Review (and handily dissected for the sake of my poor attention span by Gawker), suggests that women don’t like pink because it reminds them of other women.

Despite the fact that a full 100% of lesbians are women, it appears that women do not actually love themselves? Because it’s not the color of pink that women hate, according to the study, so much as the fact that pink is “a gender cue” that triggers a “defensive response” among women. This sort of self-loathing behavior is really sad to see among a gender that has produced lots of really quality gymnasts.

The study was conducted in relation to breast cancer donations. Although it seems fairly obvious that sometimes, you know, women prefer blue, some parts of the study actually sounded like they might not be completed baseless.

We put breast cancer banner ads on a website we showed the subjects but never mentioned them. When the site was geared to women [with the colour pink], 33% of women recalled the ads. When it was gender-neutral, 65% remembered. It’s been three years, and we have duplicated the same basic finding 10 times. It keeps happening.

Check out this video for Vanessa Bruno’s SS 12 collection. It features a Lou Doillon and Jessica Joffe as beautifully dressed forest sprites of some sort. (I am still recovering from Stevie Dance’s departure. I feel the need to talk about this. Anyone?)

140 characters can say a lot about your gender. According to a sociolinguistic study, women use a lot more emoticons and exclamation points ( !! =] ). I think I may have been an unwitting subject for this study…

Girl With a Satchel (Erica Bartle, or GWAS as she is known) is talking about body image. It’s a regular topic on GWAS, but I always love her posts on body image because they’re not just empty, superficial rhetoric about how important it is for us to love ourselves. Erica’s past experiences inform her views on body image and the media, so it’s not like she comes across all gung-ho about fighting the evil advertising standards which allow women to look like pore-less faces of sparkling beauty. She just recognises that it really, really sucks to open up a magazine and not feel like you resemble the yummy young things that dominate the pages.

What can be done by publishers in light of the fact that the Voluntary Code of Conduct has not been widely accepted? Go easy on the Photoshop, embrace what’s real, and complement fashion and beauty with a greater proportion of content that gives credit to women and girls’ other attributes. Devote sections to cultivating their minds, creativity, social conscience, resilience and knowledge of the world, as well as playing on their capacity to empathise, laugh, have fun and contribute something positive.

Source: weheartit.com

Rachel Hills shares her personal experience of BDD (body dysmorphic disorder).

When you’re actually living through something, it feels like some dark, impossible shame you could never speak openly to anyone about. Then there’s the stage of recovery where the whole event seems far enough in the past that the stigma begins to evaporate and you can speak about it freely. And eventually, you get to the point where it seems so long ago that it no longer feels relevant, almost as if it happened to another person.

I think I feel a bit like Rachel in a way when she says she finds it hard to open up, and not because she’s ashamed or doesn’t want to relive past events she’d rather keep locked up in her 16-year-old diary, but because it’s had to relate to who we were in the past. How do you speak for someone who exists outside of your here and now? Just as it’s difficult to comprehend and interpret another person’s state of mind, so too is it problematic to try and justify the actions of your former self. I, like many other girls, feel so far removed from who we once were, and that’s why many things are left unsaid.

Conversely, Anna Sussman writes of the eating disorder cliche – ‘Me Too’ Syndrome. I would really love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this one! Do you think there’s an E.D cliche? Or are you more partial to an open book policy? Over sharing? Or over people not caring?

Your vagina is a beautiful flower and anyone who gets your naked as hit the jackpot. Nay to vulva antagonism!

Look familiar?

Apple, Pear, or Eggplant? I never understood why people compare their bodies with the shapes of fruit. I get the need to associate the female form with a deliciously sweet snack, but I’ve never felt these so called guides to female body shapes ever achieve anything.

Not satisfied? You might have more luck with something like Trinny & Susannah’s body shape guide, which has 12 possible forms—but, if you’re like me, you’ll still be left untyped. This isn’t because of your crazy, freakish body type that is unfit to be clothed. It’s because your body is probably a combination of run-of-the-mill (I mean that with love!) without a particular feature that calls for attention, and certain features that you may want to highlight or conceal but that don’t land you in one of the classic types.