25-09-2012, 01:23 AM
(This post was last modified: 25-09-2012, 01:56 AM by mochaccino.)
Just so everyone is clear on what I'm ranting about, Valeria Lukyanova is the woman in the last image above. Her real name is Amatue Kukulkán. Many of you are probably thinking that she's beautiful in some way's, but also a bit scary looking, and I completely agree.
My knowledge of her is pretty limited, but I'm a little disturbed by the few things that I do know about her. I got most of what I know about her from watching some sort of mini-documentary about her ages ago when she first gained internet fame, and out of morbid curiosity, I took a look at some of the strange things she was posting in her infamous series of Youtube videos at the time. I don't know much about her or what she's been up to nowadays, but I'll try to explain what little I do know as a disclaimer.
First off, I'm well aware that she's severely anorexic (and I imagine Doll agrees). If I remember correctly she is, or at least she used to be, a fervent advocate of anorexia, but she doesn't consider herself to be "Pro-ana". She had, and possibly still has, a number of bizarre, and in my opinion delusional, new-age beliefs that she attempts to use to justify and promote her eating disorder without having to admit to herself that she is anorexic. I don't remember the details, but it was all very strange. I'm not sure if she's still actively promoting this dangerous BS or what. I looked for some pictures of her to post here, and it seems that recently she migh have gained back at least a little of the weight, and gotten a little more fit opposed to just skinny. Even that small change has made her look a lot better and I hope she continues gaining. It's worth pointing out that there are a lot of good reasons to believe that she not only has anorexia and the body dysmorphic disorder that comes along with it, but probably some other mental disorder as well.
She's a very unusual case, and I don't want people to think that she's representative of everyone who engages in tightlacing, or cosplay, or just likes to dress up like a cute doll for fun. She definitely doesn't represent my personal body ideal, and I hope no one else takes too much inspiration from her either. The woman in the first photo, Laura Dore is a much better example of what I personally hope to look like in the future, and she's also a walking, talking slap-in-face to the notion that extremely thin catwalk model type bodies are the only legitimate ideal of beauty.
On the other hand, I do agree with Doll that Valeria is lying when she claims that she doesn't waist train. She may not be a good example of a healthy body, but she is still a very real example of the degree of waist reduction people can achieve from tightlacing.
In case you're wondering about those frumpy "before" photos of her circulating on the internet, most of them are not actual pictures of her. There isn't a plastic surgeon in the entire world who can produce the extremely unusual skeletal structure and proportions that she was apparently born with. As far as I can tell, aside from her waist and chest, she's always looked roughly the same way she does now. The only difference, in my opinion, is that she's probably had a nose job and a boob job. She's also done some waist training along with starving herself to a masochistic degree. Here is a video of what she actually looked liked in 2007, at a beauty pageant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPH3FpzguWk
Fast forward to the bikini section to see her original natural waist.
Here's what her natural waist looks like now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duxFQcoukLw
She doesn't seem as painfully thin in that video as I dimly remember her being, but she's still underweight. I hope that I'm not imagining things and she really is gaining.
Just as an added note, it is absolutely not possible for rib removal to give you such an incredibly tiny waist. People claim that she has had as many as six ribs removed, but they don't know what they're talking about. Dr. Aaron Stone is the only doctor I'm aware of who's actually willing to perform rib removal and he has this to say about it: "Although the hourglass shape after surgery is apparent, rib removal in and of itself will not decrease one's waist size or circumference. That is accomplished by the abdominoplasty portion of the operation."
My knowledge of her is pretty limited, but I'm a little disturbed by the few things that I do know about her. I got most of what I know about her from watching some sort of mini-documentary about her ages ago when she first gained internet fame, and out of morbid curiosity, I took a look at some of the strange things she was posting in her infamous series of Youtube videos at the time. I don't know much about her or what she's been up to nowadays, but I'll try to explain what little I do know as a disclaimer.
First off, I'm well aware that she's severely anorexic (and I imagine Doll agrees). If I remember correctly she is, or at least she used to be, a fervent advocate of anorexia, but she doesn't consider herself to be "Pro-ana". She had, and possibly still has, a number of bizarre, and in my opinion delusional, new-age beliefs that she attempts to use to justify and promote her eating disorder without having to admit to herself that she is anorexic. I don't remember the details, but it was all very strange. I'm not sure if she's still actively promoting this dangerous BS or what. I looked for some pictures of her to post here, and it seems that recently she migh have gained back at least a little of the weight, and gotten a little more fit opposed to just skinny. Even that small change has made her look a lot better and I hope she continues gaining. It's worth pointing out that there are a lot of good reasons to believe that she not only has anorexia and the body dysmorphic disorder that comes along with it, but probably some other mental disorder as well.
She's a very unusual case, and I don't want people to think that she's representative of everyone who engages in tightlacing, or cosplay, or just likes to dress up like a cute doll for fun. She definitely doesn't represent my personal body ideal, and I hope no one else takes too much inspiration from her either. The woman in the first photo, Laura Dore is a much better example of what I personally hope to look like in the future, and she's also a walking, talking slap-in-face to the notion that extremely thin catwalk model type bodies are the only legitimate ideal of beauty.
On the other hand, I do agree with Doll that Valeria is lying when she claims that she doesn't waist train. She may not be a good example of a healthy body, but she is still a very real example of the degree of waist reduction people can achieve from tightlacing.
In case you're wondering about those frumpy "before" photos of her circulating on the internet, most of them are not actual pictures of her. There isn't a plastic surgeon in the entire world who can produce the extremely unusual skeletal structure and proportions that she was apparently born with. As far as I can tell, aside from her waist and chest, she's always looked roughly the same way she does now. The only difference, in my opinion, is that she's probably had a nose job and a boob job. She's also done some waist training along with starving herself to a masochistic degree. Here is a video of what she actually looked liked in 2007, at a beauty pageant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPH3FpzguWk
Fast forward to the bikini section to see her original natural waist.
Here's what her natural waist looks like now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duxFQcoukLw
She doesn't seem as painfully thin in that video as I dimly remember her being, but she's still underweight. I hope that I'm not imagining things and she really is gaining.
Just as an added note, it is absolutely not possible for rib removal to give you such an incredibly tiny waist. People claim that she has had as many as six ribs removed, but they don't know what they're talking about. Dr. Aaron Stone is the only doctor I'm aware of who's actually willing to perform rib removal and he has this to say about it: "Although the hourglass shape after surgery is apparent, rib removal in and of itself will not decrease one's waist size or circumference. That is accomplished by the abdominoplasty portion of the operation."