Cleopatra: Part I

I used to be obsessed with Cleopatra when I was in grade school. I even taught my self shading by copying the cover of the Royal Diaries: Daughter of the Nile, which was my first introduction to the historical figure. The book of course was aimed towards adolescents and was a fictional imagining of Cleopatra at age 12, but after I read that, I kept on going and read the entire appendix about the rest of her life. I researched her at the library just for fun and watched Elizabeth Taylor's "Cleopatra" and became enamored with her even more. Freshman year of high school I did a project on the Egyptian Queen and won a debate with my teacher Mrs. L. about her having a son with Julius Caesar, and for a quiet nerdy girl obsessed with Cleo, this was one of my crowning moments of the year. What fascinates me about Cleopatra is that there are so many different takes on her: some loved her, many hated her... but what is certain is that she was a powerful woman during a time when women were not supposed to be powerful who helped alter the course of history.


Cleopatra was not Egyptian at all but part of the Ptolemaic dynasty who originated from Greece. The royal family spoke in Greek and refused to speak Egyptian, however, what made Cleopatra particularly appealing to the Egyptian people was that she spoke Egyptian and even presented herself as the incarnation of Isis.

She wasn't first in line to the Egyptian throne... She had an older brother Ptolemy XII, and two older sisters Cleopatra Tryphaena, and Berenice. Cleopatra and her father went to Rome and in the meantime Cleopatra Tryphaena seized the throne for herself. Then, after "mysterious circumstances", Tryphaena died and Berenice took the throne for herself. When Ptolemy and Cleopatra returned from Rome, they came with Roman soldiers who helped execute Berenice by beheading, and bestowing the throne to Ptolemy and his daughter Cleopatra as his appointed regent.

After her father died a few years later, 18 year old Cleopatra and her 10 year old brother ruled the country as co-rulers. Although co-rulers, neither of them wanted to share Egypt so they both tried to work their magic to boost the other one off the throne. Cleopatra did tactics like making her face the only one on the Egyptial coin, denied Ptolemy's name on official documents, and tried to start a rebellion against him. However, Ptolemy had the support of the Romans who helped restore the throne to his father, and with Roman support, Cleopatra was ousted from the throne and exiled along with her younger sister, Arisnoe.

If one wanted to look at this from a feminist angle. It's possible that part of the reasons the Romans were so willing to help Ptolemy seize back his throne from his daughters was because the thought of a woman taking the throne was preposterous, not to mention the deviousness of it all. So they sort of played big brother with the Egyptians, like they were their science experiment, and used their influence to keep a male on the throne. It was clear at this point, to both Ptolemy and Cleopatra, that Roman support was the only way to succeed in the world they lived in.

Ptolemy XIII was only 13 when he made the biggest mistake of his life. As an attempt to secure an alliance with Julius Caesar, he ordered the beheading of Pompey and presented his head to the famous Roman General. Now in order to understand the significance to all this, let me delve into one of my other favorite subjects which is ancient Roman history: At the time, Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassius were part of the Roman Triumvirate, the governing heads of Rome. They were all political allies and enemies at the same time, all relying on each other to stay afloat in Roman politics, yet also wishing the others would sink so they could receive more power. You see they each had their strengths: Crassius had the money, Pompey had the armies, and Caesar (though he had an army too) had popularity. Pompey and Caesar knew each other well for they governed each other and Caesar's daughter Julia was married to Pompey. So when Ptolemy presented Pompey's head to Caesar with a proud grin on his face, Caesar was more than enraged and took control over Alexandria immediately in his anger and grief. Ptolemy learned that Roman politics were slightly more civil than Egyptian politics... but only slightly.

So as you can imagine, Cleopatra, having learned that Roman support was the key to success and no one was more powerful than Caesar, saw the Roman General's anger at her brother as an opportunity to gain her throne back.

Now before I go on, let me preface this by explaining that the beautiful Cleopatra that we see in the movies portrayed by Elizabeth Taylor and Vivian Leigh and in countless paintings and stories has been fictionalized. Scholars remind us that Cleopatra wasn't a sultry olive-skinned seductress... we see on coins and busts that she was actually a plain woman of Greek origin. What made her beautiful to men of power was that she was well educated, witty, and powerful in a way that separated her from other women during the time period. This simple aspect about her brings me hope and femininity and masculinity and that there is more to attraction than simply animalistic programming.

Legend has it that after Caesar took control of Alexandria, the exiled Cleopatra snuck herself into his chamber by rolling herself into a carpet that was presented to him as a gift. Caesar was immediately taken with her and they became lovers. She gave birth to his son named Ptolemy Caesar aka Caesarion. Caesar's armies fought and killed Ptolemy XIII and his soldiers and set Cleopatra back on the Egyptian throne along with another younger brother Ptolemy XIV.

Caesar's relationship with Cleopatra was quite a scandal because not only was she foreign, but he was married to Calpurnia. Cleopatra wanted Caesar to name their son as his heir but he refused, which in my opinion was wise due to their unpopularity, and named his nephew Octavian his heir instead. Then during the Ides of March 44 B.C, Caesar was assassinated. Cleopatra and her son were in Rome at the time of his death, and fled back to Alexandria where Ptolemy XIV had been poisoned by Arisnoe and Cleopatra made her son Caesarion her co-ruler.

It's important for me as a woman to look at Cleopatra and her life as an example of what works and what doesn't work, as a showcase of femininity and masculinity pulling and tugging at each other the way they were intended. I think Cleopatra really struggled with her gender identity... I mean, she had to arrive at a place where she was masculine enough to be taken seriously, but feminine enough to persuade. She used the more socially masculine traits such as ambition in some areas, and she mixed them with socially feminine traits such as persuasion. By straddling the spectrum in a sort of androgynous way, she was able to succeed in winning hearts and power. It was a delicate line to walk, and she balanced well.

Sashimi Cashmere

Sharing with you one of my favorite pieces of flash fiction. It's about Nyotaimori, serving sushi and sashimi off of a naked woman. And FYI serving raw fish of of a male body is called Nantaimori. I would love comments about whether or not you approve of this practice. I know some people who have expressed they would love to try this, and others who are completely appalled.



Sashimi Cashmere
By Carolyn Forde

Two sushi chefs begin arranging their work under fluorescent lights. They lay the cold damp slabs of flesh in concentric circles, alternating from tongue pink tuna to opaque white squid. They are noiseless and efficient. Their hands move rapidly, hovering over their art. They are surgeons performing a delicate operation.

The spiral starts around her belly button. Her midriff is a checkerboard. They move to her upper body and cover her breasts with the round purple suction cups of octopus tentacles, her throat with green chizu leaves. Below her waist they place a small triangle of blowfish—poisonous if improperly prepared—where hair would have been. A brush with death is more thrilling and more costly when eaten off a foreign woman. Her legs are covered with California rolls. They place edible flowers in her navel, in her underarms, behind her ears and in her hair and even tuck one between her thighs. She is garnished.

She is rolled from the harshly lit kitchen into the dim light of the restaurant. As her eyes adjust to the darkness she sees only the ceiling, which is covered with pinprick halogen stars. She hears low male voices murmuring appreciation when she arrives at their table.

She feels small jabs as chopsticks lift pieces of fish from her chest, her shoulders, her ankles. She conjures the image of herself reflected in a gilded fitting-room mirror. She is flawless in couture. She is immaculate in Armani. The air feels chilly as the men remove the cold pieces of fish one at a time, revealing damp patches of bare skin. Staring at the ceiling stars she imagines she is at the beach. She wishes she could smile but remains expressionless. The raw fish is a blanket. She wants to stretch, to move her legs, but has to wait for the party to finish. The sashimi becomes cashmere against her skin as she thinks of the Calvin Klein sweater-dress she will buy tomorrow.

The drunken chatter is easy to tune out because she can’t understand it. The clicking and probing chopsticks are harder to ignore. One misses the blowfish entirely and slides where it shouldn’t, another tries to lift her nipple as though it were a separate piece of edible meat. None of the men enter her field of vision, and as far as she can tell, none try to see her face. She is a table, a plate with a pulse. These men are consuming the most expensive meal in the world. By the end, the artistic arrangement is left an abandoned and incomplete puzzle. A clap announces the end of the party. She is rolled away.

Text from:
http://absintheliteraryreview.com/stories/forde.htm

Christina Hendricks: Esquire completely mutilating her figure

Just wanted to express how excited I was that the curvy 35 year old TV star Christina Hendricks from Mad Men and Firefly was named sexiest woman alive according to Esquire magazine, then was horrified when they did TERRIBLE photo editing to, get this, make her boobs seem smaller!?


What is wrong with this picture? Honestly, does that corset make sense in relation to Christina's breasts at all? The cup only seems to fill half of her breast, and the underwire cuts her boob in half leaving the rest of her boob to blur as part of her side. Especially if you look at the photos below of her in presumably the same corset outfit from the same photo shoot:



These photos show completely different breasts although she's in the same outfit. My question is that if Esquire claims that she's the sexiest in the world, and applauds her on ber beautiful natural curves, then why on Earth do they alter a photo to make her breasts seem smaller? Are breasts not "in style"? Below is a photo of Christina from a different photo shoot in which I believe her figure is shown more accurately, and you tell me if those boobs could have fit into the corset in the first Esquire picture!

After some interviews with her, she does not seem to have a negative view of her body at all. She doesn't even complain that she has a difficult time finding designers to make her clothes and dresses. Instead she finds that there are designers and clothes out there that work for her. Kudos to you, Christina, for being beautiful and confident!

Boobs and Bra Sizes Mythbusted!

Many of you have asked for this and I will now deliver unto you the truth of bra sizes!

8 out of 10 women wear the wrong bra size, because there is a lack of understanding as to how bra sizes work. I've even talked to some employees at Victoria's Secret and the ones I talked to did not understand nor place any value on correct bra sizes.

So when you hear 32AA, 34B, 36DDD, or 30G, what do these numbers and letters mean? Well the number is your band width, and the letters are your cup size. A couple different opinions exist as to how to measure this, but the one I was taught to do has been accurate for myself and my beloved thespians I've costumed.


Take a tape measure and wrap it around your ribcage right below your breasts. (Pictured above as the blue line labeled "1") Add 2 to that measurement. This is your bandwidth.

Now what most people don't know is that your cup size is the DIFFERENCE between your bandwidth and the fullest part of your breasts. A lot of people, even Victoria's Secret employees have the notion that there is a set cup size like a C cup that is plopped on to a 30 band bra or a 36 band bra, but the truth is that the cup size of a 30C will look a lot different than a 38C.

So, to find your cup size, take the tape measure and measure around the fullest part of your breasts without flattening them. (Pictured above as the green line labeled "2") Take that number and apply it to the oh so simple equation below...

Full Bust- Bandwidth= Cup size

AA= Less than 1 inch difference
A= 1 inch difference
B= 2 inch difference
C= 3 inch difference
D= 4 inch difference
E= 5 inch difference
F= 6 inch difference
G= 7 inch difference
H= 8 inch difference
I= 9 inch difference
J= 10 inch difference
etc, etc, etc...

So what about DD's and DDD's? where do they fit into the chart? They are pretty much alternatives for anything after D for people who don't know any better.

DD= E =5 inch difference
DDD= F = 6 inch difference
DDDD= G = 7 inch difference
etc, etc, etc...

Other double letters like FF often indicate half inches, or are bumped up to the next size like a G. It really depends on the manufacturer, bra specialist who is fitting you, etc.

So for an example, a woman measures around her ribcage and gets 30. She then adds 2 and finds out that 32 is her bandwidth. Next, she measures around the fullest part of her breasts and gets 36. 36-32= 4. Because she knows there's a 4 inch difference between her bust and bandwidth, she is a 32D

Math + Boobs! Huzzah



Other Boob Facts:

One boob is always larger than the other. Can you guess which one? Whichever one is on the side as your dominant is always slightly smaller than the other. I have heard of a rare instance where the breast was a full cup size smaller than the other... I believe one was an E and the other a D... that would suck! She ended up getting a breast reduction on both.

Recent surveys by bra companies have found that British women have the largest breasts in the world. Half the population has a size D or higher. I do know England sells high cup sizes more than the US does, in fact, most bras I personally wear are imported from Britain; and I don't know if that is because England genuinely has larger busts or if Americans and other countries wear the wrong bra sizes and are unfamiliar with anything higher than a D or DD.

It is normal for women to have anywhere from 2 to 15 small hairs around their nipples. It's not weird, it doesn't mean you have too much testosterone, that's just how boobs are made. I assume it's for various pleasure reasons such as arousal during sex or attachment while breastfeeding. But if you don't like them, do not fear! They are easy to pluck, wax, or shave.

The skin around breasts are stretched very thin because they stretched while developing. They are more prone to dryness and dermatologists recommend moisturizing them from time to time. I'm sure it would be healthy for generous someones to help a poor girl out with such things, you know. :P It's for her health.

Body Painting

It is my goal in life to either one day body paint someone or to be body painted myself. I find the concept of using the human body as a canvass so breathtaking! Here are some images of body painting I've collected, some beautiful, some sexy, some humorous, and others somewhere in between...










I wrote a piece of flash fiction for a class last year that isn't EXACTLY about body painting, but it's related. I share it with you now.

Brush Strokes

Chloe watches him jab and knead the buttons with his thumbs, his sweaty palms slipping on the plastic controllers. The glowing TV ensnares his unblinking eyes. A woman appears on the screen, she’s wearing no bra and yet her breasts are somehow lifted into their perky positions by invisible hands. The screen says, “Push A to kiss her”. His thumb crushes the button into the socket. “Push AB to fuck her” His thumb races to obey the motions.

“Let’s go do something different tonight. Let’s go try that new coffee place in Western Springs. I hear they have live musicians there.”

“Just Let me just finish this level.”

Trudging down the basement stairs, Chloe gazes at the four oil paintings lying on the floor she had just completed for her art final: a picture of she and her boyfriend, the coliseum, a leopard, a ship at sea. She stares at the stationary images for minutes, but the sound of explosions from upstairs nudges her to set to work.

She props the paintings up and screws them together so the four images face inwards. She turns on music, the new-age kind that transports one to the primitive, the kind that he hates, and she ducks into her newly constructed canvass box. After tearing off her clothes, she pounds on the coliseum canvass to the sound of the drums in the song. The wet canvass resonates.

Pressing lightly clawed hands to the paint, she slowly spins, scraping the colors in smudgy lines across the leopard, coliseum, ship, and the portrait of he and she. She dances and rolls her entire body over the images, leaving her wounded with slashes of paint over her skin, the images on the canvasses blur from her naked brush strokes. She smiles.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

He stands on the stairs, controller in hand. Only her head is visible over the top of the canvass box, and he sees her hair clumped together in red, purple, and yellow strips.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Her smile drops.

“Turn that shit down will ya?”

Chloe crawls out of the box wearing only the smears of fresh paint over her body. She sways her hips as she saunters up to him, stretches her hand lower and lower towards his belt, grabs his plastic controller, and drops it into a can of paint.

He rushes to save the controller, she puts on her clothes.

I love how the picture above looks so real you can barely see the women in it! The artist wanted to use the female curves as lines and curves in his artwork. Success! Beautiful and way cool.

High Fashion: Exposed

Tessa sent me this link and I would love to blog about it, however, it speaks on it's own. I'd love to hear your reactions to it. Tessa had one really beautiful and cool reaction, I had another unique reaction, and I'm sure there are more spanned all across the spectrum.

Here are some of the hottest high fashion models completely nude...

http://community.livejournal.com/foto_decadent/1987068.html

Society's Ideal Beauty is Relative to Wealth

One thing that I have conclude is that ideal beauty is partially naturally based in the sense of symmetry and such, but that ideal beauty is even more so socially based.

On that note, it is my opinion that society's ideal beauty is based on wealth and how money and power can attribute to a person's look.

For instance, before the 20th century, the ideal western woman was pale, plump, and had very little muscle. Only wealthy women could achieve this look because they could afford not to do heavy labor and could afford to eat heartily. The middle to lower class woman would have had tanner skin, muscular arms, and would have been thinner due to lack of nutrition.

But since the 20th century, this trend has flip flopped. Now tan skin and very thin waists are a sign of ideal beauty, and this flip happened because in the past 75-100ish years for only wealthier women can afford this look. The industrial revolution forced a movement towards more desk-related or indoor jobs rather than physical labor for the middle to lower classes, and so the middle to lower classed women tend to be paler, plumper, without toned arms. They don't have the money to spend on tanning salons or vacations to exotic beaches, don't have time to go to the gym or money to pay for a membership, and are often exposed to unhealthier eating habits by eating more processed foods and eating at fast food restaurants.

At the same time though, It's a slightly different story when it comes to race. I've read articles about arguing how in the media paler women give off the image of pureity and female strength and are more goddess-like, and tanner women give off the image of sexiness and seduction. Tanner women in the media are more likely to be wearing less clothing than paler women. I realize there are a lot of factors that could be playing into this study such as race... but it was an interesting read.

I have noticed that when I go into the makeup aisle at Jewell, the pictures were all of black or mixed race black/white women who had paler chocolate skin to begin with that were lighted to look even more white. The 3 I saw were Jessica Alba, Halle Berry, and Beyonce Knowles. All three of them are drop dead gorgeous, but they are black women with whitish features. In this way the make up companies are trying to appeal to women of color by using black women as their models, but also to white women because all three have very white features that are heightened and highlighted in the advertising. It makes perfect sense, but I feel almost tricked in a sort of way.... it's a very backhanded way to say that darker skin and black features are undesirable.