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WELCOME to the website for BEAUTIFUL Just The Way You Are (BJTWYA), an art action to protest the relentless objectification of girls and women throughout our culture. Launched on May 30, 2009 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, BEAUTIFUL Just The Way You Are takes place at any magazine rack, the most common place where we encounter the message that we are objects and we are flawed. With an infinite variety of images, words, films, and products, the female body is used as a tool, an object, a device. "It" can sell anything, including the idea that all girls and women need to fix the one they have. We know this culture. We get it. We absorb it. We rant about it. We adopt it. We ignore it. We normalize it. It robs us of our humanity and affects women, girls, boys, and men.

I invite you to an on-going art action to alter this visual landscape. Anyone, in any location, can participate in BEAUTIFUL Just The Way You Are.

This is the "action":

You walk up to a magazine stand and place one of the BJTWYA posters over every stack of magazines that uses the female body to sell something - to sell the magazine, to sell an article, to sell a product, to sell a lifestyle, to sell a promise, to sell the idea that you need to match your body to the picture. You decide which covers qualify. You place a poster over them. Then you walk away. That’s it.

You can do the art action anywhere - at supermarkets, bookstores, doctors’ offices, hotels, convenience stores, newsstands, libraries – any place you see the opportunity. You can return as often as you see fit. All you need is a supply of the BEAUTIFUL Just The Way You Are posters. There are two ways to get your posters:

1. Reply to bjtwya@yahoo.com with your name, mailing address, contact information, and number of posters needed. These posters are printed on 8.5x11" paper, heavy enough to stand up on a magazine rack.

[If you are interested in donating to defray the cost of printing and mailing the posters, donations are gratefully accepted. Each poster costs $0.13 (USD). A flat-rate package holding 75 posters costs $4.95 US postage. Just send an email to bjtwya@yahoo.com with your request, and thanks!]

2- OR print your own posters using the pdf at the top of this website [click the image above] and a color printer. The pdf has two sides, with the cover on the front and text on the back that explains the project. You can print the poster with just the front or with front and back.

NEWS

BJTWYA now has a blog! http://beautifuljustthewayyouare.blogspot.com/ Share comments about your action with all other participants - feedback from friends and strangers, strategies for spreading the word, and other comments.

Since the launch of Beautiful Just The Way You Are word has continued to spread! People are participating across the country and beyond, including Canada, Iceland, and Australia. BJTWYA can be found on websites, blogs, and YouTube. The greater the number of actions, the greater the effect. Thanks to all who continue to spread the word!

An exhibition related to Beautiful Just The Way You Are is installed at the Jane Deering Gallery in Gloucester, MA, from July 1 - August 3, 2009. RECEPTION: Thursday, July 9th, 6-8 p.m. 18 Arlington Street, Gloucester, MA 01930

Read about BJTWYA and the call-to-action on the July 8, 2009 post on the Ourbodies Ourselves blog: http://www.ourbodiesourblog.org/.

BJTWYA is posted on the website (under "get active") of Jean Kilbourne, widely popular and powerful lecturer, writer, and critic of advertising: http://www.jeankilbourne.com/involved.html.

Read what Laura Pappano, writer and journalist, had to say about Beautiful Just The Way You Are on her blog at http://fairgamenews.com/

BJTWYA had a table at the Dance for World Community Festival on Saturday, June 6, 2009, in Cambridge, MA http://www.ballettheatre.org/current