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Rating: 
Summary: Beauty Comes in ALL Sizes!
Review: As a result of this book Laurie Toby Edison is my idol. ;) Seriously, every woman [and men too!]should get their hands on a copy. It's rebellious and freeing. It can make you re-evaluate who you are and who you will be. How? Read on... Our culture is currently worshipping the media-induced singular image of a woman increasingly starved. What has become acceptable as "ideal beauty" in this new millennium is a horrific portrait of emaciation reminiscent of the photos of the holocaust survivors of WWII. An image of beauty that the vast majority, unbeknownst to them, is supposed to never achieve. However, fueled by pressure from a 4 billion dollar a year diet industry- women, young and old, are buying into it and are literally dying to have bodies that fit the mold -regardless of health- with constant dieting, pills, shakes, bulimia, anorexia, surgery, etc... Women AND men are letting themselves be brainwashed down to the most intimate and private layers of their being. We conduct our businesses and most intimate relationships all in faithful obedience to this irrational oppressive social dogma. In America, we judge and allow ourselves and those around us to be judged. Then we live accordingly, without question, in this disgraceful, presently dominant looks-based caste system. We, in reality, are like a flourishing and diverse forest of humanity; yet, in America society would like you to believe that the young leafless little saplings with white bark are the only beautiful trees! What a weak forest that would be! Imagine trying to force all the trees to conform to that one ideal? ...shave 'em all down to twigs and paint 'em white? Sound silly? now apply it to people! Give me a tree that has some strength and character anyday! ...And thus we arrive at Laurie Toby Edison and Debbie Notkin's masterpiece, Women En Large. They have brought together images and words that speak for the over 60% of women in this country considered 'too heavy' to be part of the 'ideal' image of beauty. All women everywhere should see this book and try to absorb what it would really mean if we were all considered beautiful... that it IS possible to break out of this harsh and evil underlying caste system that plagues our ability to find joy in living in our own skin [thin or fat]. It isn't an easy task to take on. We are bombarded constantly over and over with one message 24 hours every day on radio, tv, magazines, billboards etc... and that is that we are too fat! We are now so pre-occupied with weight, that valueable chunks of our lives are wasted focusing on our size! I imagine that if our world ended today and a new society found our remains, they would think that only about five or six women over 95 pounds ever existed in our culture! .....Unless they found this book. ---You must get your hands on a copy and absorb it. Even if it is hard to look at at first, find joy in it. It can be powerful, scary, and wonderful. It is the antithesis of the images you are "supposed" to be looking at. Revel in that fact! Laurie Toby Edison's work can free us all! Do you DARE order this book? SAY YES! Do it NOW!
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointed with this one
Review: Ok, I know I may incur the wrath of many here but I can't agree with the 5-star assessments of this book. I'm a photographer who shoots art nudes and I agree that large women can and are beautiful and I've seen many examples of wonderful photography depicting them as such. However, I don't believe that comes across in this book at all. In all, I found maybe two photos that I thought had some merit.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning photographs of beautiful women
Review: Women en Large is a collection of breathtaking nude studies. The photographs are deep, rich, and powerful. The women shown are completely at home in their bodies, and their steady gaze challenges common assumptions about what kind of body is suitable for framing. This is a groundbreaking work, an important salvo in the body wars. It should be in every feminist library.
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