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Casey Legler – The Woman Who Works as a Male Model
Patients Lie in Coffins to “Die” as Part of Chinese Psychological Treatment
Woman Allergic to Modern Technology Is Forced to Live in Faraday Cage

Casey Legler – The Woman Who Works as a Male Model

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 07:32 AM PST

Casey Legler, 35, is a woman who exclusively models menswear. With her razor-sharp cheekbones and 6ft 2in height, it’s easy to see why she’s recently been signed to the men’s division at the prestigious Ford modelling agency

There’s something weird going on in the fashion industry these days. After we posted about guys like Andrej Pejic and Stanyslas Fedyanin, who have found success modeling women’s clothing, now it’s time we met the only woman in the world who models only men’s garments. French-born Casey Legler says her unlikely carer as a male model started after posing as a guy in photo shoot, as a favor for a friend. ’I am, in fact, buddies with a photographer, who had this story, who knows, in some ways my body of work, but also just knows what I look like and said, “You’re perfect for this. Are you in?” And I wasn’t doing anything on that particular Friday, and so I said yes!’ she said in an interview with TIME Magazine. After her friend showed the resulting photos to a booker at Ford, she was soon signed to the men’s division by the prestigious agency.

Photo: TIME Magazine

As weird as t may seem at first, it’s easy to see why Casey makes such a great male model. She’s got the perfect height (6ft 2in), razor-sharp cheekbones, flawless skin and boyish physique and fashion style. After she qualified for the swimming event at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, at age 18, she also cut her hair very short, to experience the sensation of swimming with a shaved head that her male teammates talked about, and now she wears her hair with a short quiff. ’Is it a stretch for me to get styled wearing men’s clothes?’ Legler asks. ‘Anyone can look at me for two seconds and know that that part is not so complicated. I think the part that can feel complicated sometimes is that I also look really fierce in a dress.”

Photo: Ford Models/TIME

‘It would be a really beautiful thing if we could all just wear what we wanted, without it meaning something, ” Casey says. What I wish is that we all get to be exactly who we are. And sometimes that’s complicated. We have very specific ways in which we identify ourselves as man or woman and I think that sometimes those can be limiting… Seeing me on the men’s board… speaks to the notion of freedom, you know. There’s something really bold about that, and that it really is saying look, there is also this other way, and it’s really rad.”

Photo: Ford Models/TIME

So there you have it, folks, Casey Legler – a gorgeous woman modelling as a gorgeous man…

Casey Legler – The Woman Who Works as a Male Model was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Patients Lie in Coffins to “Die” as Part of Chinese Psychological Treatment

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 04:43 AM PST

Most people would consider lying in a coffin and having the lid shut over them to be a traumatic experience, a special psychotherapy service in Shenyang, China is using it as therapy to treat psychological problems and heavy stress.

The Shenyang Evening News reports over 1,000 patients have so far been”reborn” by simulating death with the help of psychologists. Tang Yulong, a consultant at this unique psychotherapy clinic in Shenyang, says people who suffer from psychological problems can be helped by simulating death. People go in a 5-square-meter ”death experience room”, write down their last words, lie down into a coffin in the floor and are covered with a white cloth. To make this “dying” experience even more realistic, the “deceased” can even hear a dirge being played in the room. After five minutes of “serene time”, the sound of a baby crying breaks the silence, and a consultant opens the coffin with a cheery tune playing in the background. This rebirth apparently helps people get a new outlook on life.

Photo: Quirky China/Rex Features

“In the past 35 years, I thought what I pursued were what I needed, such as money and a high position. However, after this special therapy, I find out that what I need is not a house, but a home,” said Huang, a 35-year-old manager, said after going through the unique therapy. He tried to commit suicide four times, in the past, but was stopped by family or colleagues. Now, after going through this treatment, he has asked for demotion and has become involved with various charities, to help those less fortunate. ”This therapy makes use of suggestion theory in psychology,” consultant Tang said. ”However, it’s only part of the psychotherapy and is not suitable for everyone. We will choose proper ones to receive this death-experience therapy,” he added.

Photo: Quirky China/Rex Features

via China Daily

Patients Lie in Coffins to “Die” as Part of Chinese Psychological Treatment was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Woman Allergic to Modern Technology Is Forced to Live in Faraday Cage

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 02:02 AM PST

51-year-old Velma Lyrae, from London, England, spends up to 18 hours a day in her homemade Faraday cage, because she is allergic to electromagnetic fields. When she goes out she has to wear a special scarf that shield her from electromagnetic waves.

The Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Syndrome (EHS) sufferer says her problems began in her teenage years, after she suffered a shock when she touched the switch of an electric fire in her bathroom.At first the symptoms were barely noticeable, and at one point she even worked as a secretary for a number of companies, where she had to use a computer. "Even back then I could feel a huge agitation when using the computer, but I thought it was just because I didn't have the technological skills,” Velma remembers. Although it is believed previous shocks make people more susceptible, the rare condition really started to affect her after the introduction of 3G technology. Nowadays she has unbearable head and nerve pain, memory loss, tinnitus, heart palpitations, vertigo and aching joints every time she’s close the technology, so she spends most of her days in a Faraday cage she built herself, reading, writing and sleeping.

"I can't do anything that normal people do without my symptoms showing. I have to do everything in my cage,” Velma Lyrae says. "It's made my life a living hell." She says her social life is virtually non-existent, because even though her friends understand her problem and are very supportive, “there's only so much time you can spend with the woman that can't go anywhere or do anything.” Unable to get a job or even go out of the house without a special scarf to shield her from electromagnetic waves, Velma spends most of her time behind the wire mesh structure that cost $480 to build.

"We desperately need a white zone — an area where there's little or no emissions — where we can go to relax and recuperate,” Lyrae says, but the problem is EHS is currently only recognized as a medical condition in Sweden and Spain. She’s been to a physician countless times, asking for tests, but every time she was told there are people out there with bigger problems than hers. Talking about Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Syndrome, Dr. Erica Mallery-Blythe said: "Adults and children today are exposed to very high levels of electromagnetic fields (EMF) that no life on the planet has ever witnessed before. It is no surprise that the numbers of those with EHS and other conditions linked with EMF exposure are rising.” Independent experts say in five years time 50% of the world’s population could be affected at current exposure levels.

Velma Lyrae is not the only person who has gone to extreme lengths to protect herself from the grueling symptoms of EHS. Back in January, we covered the story of two French women who moved into a cave to escape electromagnetic waves.

via The Sun

Woman Allergic to Modern Technology Is Forced to Live in Faraday Cage was originally posted at OddityCentral.com