A Man Told Me My Body Was ‘Too Wrinkled’ For Him
I am not a young woman anymore. I am a woman well-lived. My body tells of all the years she has carried my spirit through life. Naked, I stood at the closet doors with the lights on and made myself...
View ArticleWhat Happens If We Let Fat People Be Happy?
There is this idea that if a woman celebrates her fat body as beautiful and worthwhile, then she is a bad influence on those around her. Imagine this: A woman tells a story on her personal blog about...
View ArticleAt 37, I’ve Finally Made Peace With My Body
Curvy is just who I am. I have the same kind of body that my mother had, that my grandmothers had. And I take good care of it. I can’t tell you exactly how it happened. I wish I could tell you there is...
View ArticleI’m A 43-Year-Old Mom And I Posed Nude. Here’s Why And What I Learned
I want to celebrate my beauty and my body and my whole self as I am, not as I wish I were. When my memoir Stripping Down was published in 2012, I thought I would be done with needing to talk about my...
View ArticleShutting Down The ‘Fat Talk’ That Plays Endlessly In My Head
Aside from a small amount of teasing in school, most of the insults I’d gotten about my body had come from my own brain. Like many women, weight has been an issue for me for most of my life. I can’t...
View ArticleOperation Commando: Three 50-Year-Old Women’s Trip To A Nude Beach
There we were baring more than just our souls to each other. It was nice and rather sensual with the wind kissing your naked bits. When my friend Sandy, as I’ll call her, announced that she wanted to...
View ArticleI’m Transgender And I Need Body Positivity Too
My body positivism does not hinge on the idea that all bodies are perfect as they are, because for some of us, this isn’t true to our experience. I love body positivism. What’s not to love? I’m all...
View ArticleWhy I Don’t Tell Anyone How Much I Work Out
In the collective imagination of American culture, if a fat person works out, it’s because she’s trying to become a thin person. And I’m not. Here’s my big secret: I work out five days a week. Not that...
View ArticleI’ve Spent 10,585 Days Caring About My Looks, And Now I’m Done
Countless hours, days, weeks, months, and years spent wondering if I am good enough. I haven’t shaved my legs for a few weeks. It wasn’t intentional. I just haven’t made the time in the morning to get...
View Article8 Reasons Why I Don’t Want To Hear About Your Diet
When you focus on dieting and weight loss, you’re feeding the cultural nonsense. I’ve sat with hundreds of clients who are breaking out of the diet/binge trap and developing a healthy relationship with...
View ArticleHow I’m Helping My Tween Daughter Embrace Her Changing Body
I will give her my undivided attention. No judgment. No interruptions. No advice. I will look her in the eyes and consume her every word. For a free-spirited tweenage girl whose aim is to conquer the...
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Why Fat People Should Wear Shorts (And Whatever The Hell Else They Want)
What you put on your body is your business. I have been fat every day of my life since I was born. I’m not just talking a few pounds overweight. I’m talking...
View Article10 Ways That Your Body Transforms From 20 to 30
You will now need caffeine with your booze to stay awake. I’m developing a love-hate relationship with the big 3-0 birthday looming ahead next summer. There are days when I can’t wait to shed my 20s...
View ArticleHow Do We Teach Young Girls Of Color Self-Esteem?
Because black women, especially dark-skinned black women, deviate furthest from European beauty standards, they are more likely to experience self-hate, distorted body image, depression, and eating...
View ArticleCan We Let Fat People Own Their Sexuality Already?
There are still mornings I look in the mirror and struggle not to tell myself that no one could ever want me. It is exceedingly difficult to come to terms with your own sexual identity, in any respect....
View ArticleThe Day I Realized I Can’t Protect My Daughter From Body Shaming
Body shaming is just one more thing in this big, scary world that I can’t protect her from, but damned if I’ll stop trying. My toddler was twirling in her tutu bathing suit while I shimmied into my...
View ArticleDear Dana: I Want To Lose Weight, But Can’t. Should I Just Accept My Body Or...
Dear Dana is a bi-weekly advice column for humans who engage in romantic relationships. Please send your dilemmas, issues, conundrums, assumptions, conflicts, anxieties, worriments, obstacles,...
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I’m Fat, And I’ll Wear Whatever The Hell I Want
Wake up: you don’t get to decide what I can and can’t wear. I am so, so tired of being told what’s right for my body. For once I’m not talking about politics here. I mean literally being told what’s...
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