Just The Way We Are
In the past few weeks, the entertainment world revealed their horror over writer/director/actress, Lena Dunham. Why? She dared to do two horrific, unforgiveable things: 1) win an Emmy as a young newcomer 2) walked around naked as her character Hannah without the decency to be shamed by her body. We see naked women on HBO [...]
I recently received an email from a reader asking for help. She hates dieting but loves diet Coke (not because it’s diet, mind you, but because she likes the taste and that’s fine by me). She hates dieting for the sake of dieting and she hates her body even more. She knows she’s overweight and [...]
I’ll never forget it. I was sixteen, getting ready to go to prom with my high school senior boyfriend Pete. My BFF had curled my hair and put it up just so. I was wearing blue eye shadow from the Clinique bonus I had just gotten as a side effect of buying [...]
A strange thing happened today. I didn’t notice it right away, of course. There was no dramatic realization. No being struck by a figurative lightning bolt. It was more like the rising of the sun… Slow. Steady. And something that, when you stop to think about it, shouldn’t really come as a surprise. [...]
I can already see my son at 17, a sweet soul with floppy curls and ski pants: the size of a football player with ski poles instead of shoulder pads. I can see his confidence on stage and his ease at making friends. What I can’t envision is how he’ll view his physical self [...]
Kinky hair. Olive skin. Big brown eyes. Full set of lips. Mascara? No thank you. Tweezers? Yes, please. Eyebrows gettin’ crazy. Lady-stash? Pluck off. Crooked smile. Baby teeth. Triple D’s. Holy hips. Hour glass curves softened by motherhood Cellulite. Muffin top. Doesn’t matter what I see. What matters is How she sees I see [...]
Skin wrinkles. Hair whitens. Butts droop. Aging is not a pretty picture, is it? And it’s even less pretty when you’re in a dressing room with all those mirrors that don’t hide anything. Rather, they emphasize all those parts of your body which you’d like to imagine looked differently. But those mirrors don’t lie. I [...]
I’m damaged. Broken. Messed up. Fat. I’m weathered. Not good enough. Never will be. So many cracks. So much to fix. So much to wish away. I’m imperfect. A bad example for the daughter I hope grows up to be nothing like me. I don’t want her to have to pretend confidence, self-love, and pride [...]
It seems the world is trying very hard to remind me of what I thought I already knew. Everywhere I turn I see a new reminder that body image, self-love and self-worth are the foundation on which our reflections are built. And once that foundation is shaken and cracked, it seems that the woman [...]
Things I thought today: I’m fat again. It’s okay because it’s temporary. I can get myself back on track. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again. Until then I may as well say “fuck it” and make sure to hide the candy bar wrappers. My daughter doesn’t own socks and we are moving [...]
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