STATES CHRONICLE – Nowadays, it can be very hard for women to stay positive and be self-confident as we can see everywhere unrealistic beauty standards. However, according to the new research, they are starting to have more trust in their bodies than ever before.

The researchers had done a meta-analysis, with more than 100, 228 participants from 1981 to 2012. They had focused on what opinion people had about their bodies. The report  was presented at the American Psychological Association’s Annual Convention. The results showed that even women seemed to be less satisfied with their looks than man, this thing changed over the time.

Dr. Byran Karazsia, the author of the study said that the last two decades had witnessed increasing attention and awareness on a body-acceptance movement which was aimed mostly at women. It may come as a surprise, but men maintained the same level of dissatisfaction with their bodies over time. The study was made in the United States, where more two-thirds of adults are overweight. Although the weight of the average American is on the rise, people seem to be more satisfied with their bodies.

Talking about self-confidence, women seem to have a problem with their bodies and looks since forever. The destroyers of their confidence are stress, natural nerves, over-reacting and what our society is advertising. There are some things a woman can do if she wants to raise her self-confidence.

First of all, if you do not like something about your body, make sure that this isn’t only your opinion. People think less about the way that looks even though that is not the truth. Secondly, have a positive attitude. Do what you like, have more outdoor activities, work on developing your communication skills and get out of your comfort-zone. Every woman has moments when she is feeling nervous inside about the way she looks, but if you appear confident, you will become confident.

The most important thing is to avoid comparing yourself to other people. When people over-analyse, they start feeling down and wonder if they really look good or if their weight is okay. You should not worry about these things. Take care of yourself, have self-confidence and other people with notice that. More and more women are starting to think like this and they become confident about their bodies and looks.

Image source: Wikipedia

 

 

Book are crucial when it comes to the education of children. They are also easy to carry, they don’t require a charger, and can keep them occupied during long car drives or while hanging around at the beach. However, not all infants are attracted to this sport, so we have compiled a list of ways you can keep your child interested in books this summer.

“Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty, but rather as a gift that emphasizes the fun of opening a new book and celebrating the satisfaction that comes from reading another story,” says Kate DiCamillo a winner of the Newbery Medal for writing and champion of the National Summer Reading Library Program.

Experts recommend that children read for at least 20 minutes a day, or six books during the entire holiday so that they could keep their mind working and avoid the summer slide.

Some parents find it hard to convince their infants to pick up a book in their spare time, but we have compiled a list of tricks that could help you keep your child interested in books this summer.

Always keep a book in your bag.

Whether you are waiting in line at the doctor’s office, or you’re stuck in traffic, a book can keep your child busy and engage his mind at the same time.

Plan a reading trip.

During the summer vacation, you can make things interesting and plan a short camping trip (it can even be in the backyard) where you read a couple of interesting stories with your child. They will appreciate the attention, and you will be able to spark their interest in a new book.

Find a subject that your child is interested in.

The fun part of reading as a hobby or an extracurricular activity is immersing yourselves in worlds you want to know more about. If your child has a hobby, let’s say dinosaurs, buy him a book about the ancient reptiles. It will spark his or her interest and devour the book before you have time to look for another.

Children magazines are great.

Lately, children magazines have been getting better and better. Find one that suits your child and your own preferences and have it delivered to your doorstep. Apart from featuring interesting articles, short stories, and exciting challenges, the magazines also often come with small surprises that bring excitement to the kids.

Combine reading with another fun activity.

If your child has a regular group of friends, challenge them to read a book and then try and reenact it as good as possible. They will have plenty of fun and besides reading the book, they will also understand the action and characters better, preparing their minds for future scholastic endeavors.

Image source: Pixabay

This past weekend marked the summer solstice, also known as the official start of summer, and thousands of druids, hippies and pagans gather at Stonehenge to watch the Sun rise and celebrate the event.

Known to everyone for being the longest day of the year, the summer solstice brought together no less than 23.000 according to law enforcement officials, which was surprisingly less than last year, when 36.000 people came to celebrate the day at the neolithic site.

Despite the cloudy weather, most attendants were happy to be there, and expressed great excitement around 5:42 am, when the Sun finally came over the horizon and they were able to get a look at it. They beat some drums and many cameras were pointed at the stone circle just as the Sun shinned over the structure.

Some visitors expressed joy, saying that this year’s summer solstice sunrise was one of the best that they had ever seen. Police officials were deleted as well, with one of the officers informing that it was one of the years light on arrests, with only nine (9) people being cuffed for drug related offences.

Supt Gavin Williams of the Wiltshire police operation gave a statement saying that “Solstice 2015 has been a great success with approximately 23.000 people celebrating at Stonehenge in the positive, friendly atmosphere as they waited for the sunrise”.

He went on to stressed that attendants are the only ones responsible for the success of yearly even and the this year was a good one.

The summer solstice was important to ancient humans for a few different reasons. Professor Anthony Aveni from a Colgate University in Hamilton, whose expertise is in astronomy and anthropology, explains that the Sun was one of the very first things that ancient humans used in order to keep track of time. But more than that, the very idea of fire was linked to purity and fertility in medieval Germany.

In Britain, Stonehenge had religious implications for the druids. It was seen as a Sun temple right from the start, with the structure being deliberately arranged so that the person sitting in the middle of the stone circle would be able to capture the Sun’s disk inside the Heel Stone gateway, that’s at the north-east.

As we all wait for the days to keep getting shorter until December, when the winter solstice takes place, the internet is sure to fill up with more photos from the vent each day.

Image Source: prehistoricshamanism.com

 

Celebrities show off underarm hair and this is becoming a sort of a mainstream statement right now. It all began when teen idol Miley Cyrus died her underam hair pink and instagramed it for the whole world to see.  Actually, it all began in the 1990s, when Julia Roberts first appeared at a red carpet event and flaunted her hairy arm pits in a sparkly red evening dress.

Everybody was shocked and she stated that it was her manifest to show that women can be beautiful outside of socially accepted norms that are imposed by advertising and patriarchal views on life. Women are free to express themselves visually anyway they want and new standards of  beauty should be taken into account.

Pop Queen Madonna was another promoter of the “raw” look, and she claimed that it was an artistic statement as well, hash tagging it #revolution of love and #art for freedom. Jemima Kirke from HBO’s very popular series “Girls” is just as quirky and original in real life as her character is. She attended the Council of Fashion Designers of America Gala in June showing off her very “naturel” look, that seemed to embody the spirit of punk meets indie.

It seems that women everywhere are ceasing to comply with society’s standards and want to escape the pressure that is imposed on them to look perfect. Or, better said, they are trying to redefine “perfect”. Xiao Meili, a famous Chinese blogger even started an “Armpit Hair Competition” as a form of protest on her blog, and the competition became extremely popular, receiving millions of hits. The winners received prizes such as condoms and dildos, other subversive objects.

Xiao believes that all the campaigns that are advertising female hair removal such as cremes or even laser operations are absolutely ridiculous and this should stop. For the generation of women that her mother was a part of, these sort of things didn’t even matter. Women everywhere should have the right to look however they want to and mainstream society should accept it. Punk feminist groups have been advocating this for years and it seems that now they finally succeeded.

Image source: cloudfront.net