This video outlines a specific tip Lindy West shares in her book Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman about how to love your body.
As a counsellor working with women, body image comes up as a regular source of pain. It’s almost impossible to ignore the messages we are sent constantly- straight or queer or white or WoC or disabled or whoever we are- about who or what we should look like, what’s ‘acceptable’.
This opens up a CHASM of crappy feelings that, quite frankly, serve no purpose and don’t help anyone embrace desired changes in their lives. They only serve the purpose of feeding the money-making machines when we consume in an attempt to ‘better’ ourselves in the name of the brand of beauty we’re meant to buy.
Not to mention how much more you are impacted if you are a survivor of intimate partner violence or child abuse, the impacts trauma can have on the ways you see your body are enormous.
I’m a curvy woman with fluctuating weight and PCOS. If you have PCOS (or you have a loved one with it) you’ll know there’s a lot of us who have struggled in particular with excess body hair.
When I was young, there wasn’t an easy way to expose yourself to positive images of women who are fat with hair on their bodies who are seen as beautiful.
Now there is.
Check out the video to see more on specifically how this can help you be good to your body and mind and get out of the Matrix creating our identities for us.
Re- this book. To be completely honest, it’s a little ‘preaching to the converted’ and it’s actually really painful to see how traumatised Linda is by the vitriol she’s received on social media.
However if you are or you have a youngish woman in your life- especially a late teen or early 20’s- do buy this book, or these ideas are all new to you, it’ll be a game changer I promise.
Also Lindy is pretty damn funny and completely irreverent. I’d say check out her Twitter, but she’s just deactivated it. I recommend reading this illuminating hysterical review of Love Actually.
FINALLY: here are the links mentioned in the video:
Instagrams of curvy celebrations:
Tumblr for non-normative babes
Random comic
Queer ten Straight zero: a comic about chin hair
Enjoy your journey away from self-hate body-beatups and towards being and feeling confidently awesome.
Did you like this video? Jump on my list to receive more as well as blog posts for women who want to embrace themselves in all the non-normativity they can. If you’re looking for a counsellor, I can work with you almost anywhere in the world on a safe, secure platform so please do get in touch. I’d love to hear from you.
Great video Nicole. You are a very courageous woman and use self disclosure in such a positive way. This is a subject most women grapple with and a source of great discomfort for many.
I will be getting in touch with you soon with some writing.
Thank you for these kind words Jan. Self-disclosure can be a tricky one sometimes! I just want women to know that I too am flawed and struggling with some of the same things we all do. I’m not immune to the pressures from society or from sadness or worry or any other human experiences. So if we can all share how we move forward in times of challenge then we may unearth solutions we hadn’t thought of! I look forward to writing with you again soon Jan.