I have been overweight and miserable for the past 4 years. In thinking about this the other night, I had an epiphany of sorts. I have never been pleased with my body. Even when I was 110 pounds, I hated my body. I have always been unhappy with some part of my body. When Eric and I got married I weighed 140 and was OK with my body, but not happy.
What does this to us and how can I NOT pass this misery on to my precious little girl. How do I make her understand it what she is about and not how she looks that is important. How can I teach her to look in the mirror without analyzing everything she sees?
I once had a male manger tell me that it was "a crying shame you don't have the boobs to go with that a**". Ok, he was a jerk, but that was 18 years ago and it still haunts me. WHY do I care? Why was the opinion of a total jerk important to me?
Why........
1 comment:
Well for one we're programmed for acceptance by men. That's not my inner Gloria Steinem talking... it's just the truth. Two, we're inundated with ideas and images of the beauty standard. Paradoxically, if you don't meet the standard, you must not be attractive and worthwhile but it's also impossible to meet the standard. No winners in this game.
Awareness is part of the solution, even though there is no quick fix. I believe that we'll overcome this appearance obsession at some point, at least to some extent. But I think it's going to take a lot of proactive work on the parts of women, moms, friends, aunts, etc... to make that change come.
Remind me to get that book list to you. Every time I go looking for books, I find more I want to read. Maybe we can tag team it.
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