Book challenges stereotypes about beauty

• By JUDY BERGERON
• News Features staff writer
• Published: Jul 13, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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THIS IS WHO I AM
By Rosanne Olson
Artisan, 116 pp., $25.95

The fact that women come in all shapes and sizes is reaffirmed in this is who I am.

But the book is much more than that: it’s a collection of 54 women who were not only brave enough to bare it all (or most of it) for the book, but were willing to bare their souls as well, sharing thoughts on their feelings about their bodies, and their lives, warts and all. The women, none of them models, come from all walks of life and range in age from 19 to 95. Their impetus for agreeing to be photographed nude by Olson and telling their stories was to help other women, and even men, get past the stereotypes of beauty and find the real thing within themselves.

Looking at Olson’s tastefully-done images, all sepia-toned, one sees a common air of confidence in the women’s eyes and poses. Reading their stories, the complexity of self-body image and how it can shape one’s life emerges. Some have moved past it; others still struggle.

Twenty-two-year-old Emily seems the picture of youth — healthy-looking and beautiful, with long, blonde hair, big dark eyes, thin, wrinkle-free body. But looks are deceiving, as behind all that, as one learns in her accompanying text, is a body coping with cystic fibrosis, a body already minus part of a lung due to the disease. Emily says the hardest part is when people say, “You look so normal.”

“Having an incurable disease and being chronically ill isn’t easy,” Emily writes. “But this body of mine seems to keep chugging along and pulls through every time.”

A positive attitude no doubt has gone a long way in helping Gretchen, 42, through the ordeal that is breast cancer. After a mastectomy, Gretchen chose not to have reconstructive surgery and a faint scar across the flat side of her chest is the outward sign of what she’s been through. But when she looks in the mirror, she sees much more.

“All of me is still here, just a little less. This isn’t a deformity, it’s just different. I’m so happy and grateful for this body I chose. I still see my stamina, my beautiful skin, my happy disposition, my youthful smile, my zest for living. the contortions that my mind and body have gone through with this fight are enough, I have learned to treat myself more kindly.”

In the book’s final photo, one sees Alice: gray hair, thin netting draped over her from the chest down, a slight smile across her gracefully aging face. Alice is 95, and she’s definitely now looking back at how her body might have been in its younger glory.

She’s matter-of-fact about her aches and pains, saying she’s too busy to dwell on them, or her body.

“This is the body I was given, and it has served me well. I never thought about loving it, but I have accepted it.”

Words many can learn from, and from those of the other 51 diverse women profiled here.

The photographer attests to learning about herself by photographing these resilient women.