MyBodyGallery: How real human bodies look

March 15, 2017 5:29 AM

http://www.mybodygallery.com/ Female Gallery. Male Gallery "In a world full of images of how we "should" look it can get difficult to tell how we DO look. Our hope is to build a site where men and women can see what real people look like. What we really look like. Most people have spent so many years looking at themselves in mirrors that we can no longer see what's really there. The My Body Gallery project's goal is to help people objectively see what we look like and come to some acceptance that we are all beautiful.

Body image and how it affects mental health has recently been in the news again. A University of Missouri study has linked positive body image to being crucial to good mental health. A similar study from Sydney University shows how comparing our bodies to friends on social media can also be unhealthy.

At mybodygallery.com, You can search by Height, Weight, Age, Pant (trouser) Size, Shirt size, one of three generalised body shapes or any combination thereof.

All images have been user submitted. There is an open call for more picture submissions.

The My Body Gallery project needs real Men and Women! We need your help to develop the project and build a collection of photos that will help more men and women see themselves more clearly. Upload a picture of your full body. Our photo submission process also allows you to block out part of the image to protect your identity, if you wish. Please note that you must be 18 to upload a photo.

Aside from showing that all body shapes and sizes can be aesthetically pleasing, it also makes a good art reference for different body types and muscle definitions. Currently the height range for women spans 4 ft to 6.8 ft and for men spans 5.2 ft to 6.8 ft.

Enjoy

posted by Faintdreams (18 comments total)

I guess? Almost all of the men's photos are athletic-to-buff. It feels like I'm swiping through Grindr profiles. It doesn't make me feel better about my scrawny ass.
posted by AFABulous at 7:06 AM on March 15, 2017 [6 favorites]

Afa, I noticed the same. I guess the solution is to upload yourself so that the next skinny guy gets more benefit. But that's an odd model for a website trying to be body positive.
posted by radicalawyer at 8:03 AM on March 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

I saw a couple of substantial beerguts, AFABulous. It doesn't make me feel one way or another about my own. At my age, I'm kind of past caring what other people think of how I look. If they like it great, if not, hey, no big deal.
posted by jonmc at 8:13 AM on March 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

The site reloads for every "random image" chosen. On the men's side, there are no ads. On the women's side, it is loaded with ads. Draw your own conclusions about the sincerity of its stated purpose.
posted by beagle at 9:00 AM on March 15, 2017 [9 favorites]

The women's version also has a store with t-shirts, water bottles, and, uh, underwear. The men's version does not.
posted by AFABulous at 9:50 AM on March 15, 2017

A better version of this, I think, is the Height Weight Chart done by Rob Cockerham of Cockeyed.com (who I feel like must be a MeFite!).
posted by apricot at 9:57 AM on March 15, 2017 [12 favorites]

All the women I saw were under 25, mostly size 0. That does not make me feel better about my mid thirties, post kids body...
posted by Valancy Rachel at 10:11 AM on March 15, 2017

Hmm. The unbalanced advertising (along with all the women-specific merchandise) is enough to turn me off from engaging in this 'project' altogether. Too bad, as it could've been interesting, if it's purported purpose matched the site's actuality.
posted by but no cigar at 10:22 AM on March 15, 2017

Yeah fuck this. The advertising and the lack of diverse body types points to something fishy. There are better versions of this out there.
posted by agregoli at 10:22 AM on March 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

apricot linked to one...any other links to other sites that execute on this concept better?
posted by smokysunday at 10:32 AM on March 15, 2017

The store is on both version AFABulous.

Didn’t there used to be something like this with body shapes on a weight by height grid of thumbnails?
posted by pharm at 10:39 AM on March 15, 2017

(Ah, I think apricot has linked to the one I was thinking of.)
posted by pharm at 10:39 AM on March 15, 2017

There's also the Normal Breasts Gallery, which I think I first learned about via Metafilter eight or nine years ago and which is designed to show the breadth of real world variation in size, shape, symmetry and surgical scars that rarely gets represented in the media.

My boobs are in the gallery somewhere in a picture best described as "Nice tits, shame about the photography skills."
posted by the latin mouse at 11:46 AM on March 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

Meh, this site is promoting comparing your body to others--for what ultimate reason I'm not sure exactly. Plus, body shape is so contingent on factors other than height and weight, such as muscle mass and genetics. Other bodies with ostensibly similar stats to your own might look wildly different from you. I'd prefer to encourage people to focus on health and fitness than what their body looks like to foster positive self image.
posted by loquacious crouton at 12:01 PM on March 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

This isn't at all the same thing, but it reminds me of an art project I saw recently at the Chicago Cultural Center. It's a collection of portraits of men named David, all photographed shirtless in the same pose and lighting. It's called "Modern David" by Mariah Karson. Really beautiful photography.
posted by conic at 12:59 PM on March 15, 2017 [3 favorites]

It's interesting that people don't see themselves here. I felt the same after entering objectively true search criteria, so I started tweaking the numbers to get a more accurate picture. I finally found familiar-looking photos, but the women were 10 years older than me and the pants were two or three sizes larger than the actual, real life pants I am wearing now. That's fucked up. It feels like seeing photos that are ten years old and you can't believe you ever thought you were overweight.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:19 PM on March 15, 2017 [5 favorites]

Wow, that Modern David project is awesome. Trans men like me often get caught up in "what a cis guy looks like," and many of us seek to emulate that, so it's fascinating to see the wide variety of male bodies. I've become a rather keen observer of men, and almost any trait trans men have, cis men do too. There are short guys and guys with round faces and guys who can't grow a full beard. There are guys with delicate hands and small feet and large chests. It's really validating.
posted by AFABulous at 1:46 PM on March 15, 2017 [4 favorites]

I had that exact experience, Room 641-A.
posted by sockermom at 3:31 PM on March 15, 2017 [1 favorite]