Body love

This list is from Courtney Martin via Feministing - it's so kick-ass, I just had to post it:

Ten Things You Can Do Right Now to Love Your Body

1. Make the radical choice to commit to healing your relationship with your body.

2. Never diet. Never ever. It is a $31 billion industry that fails 95% of the time. That's just stupid.

3. Reconnect with your authentic hungers. When are you hungry? When are you full? What are you hungry for?

4. Move in ways (African dance, yoga, running, sex...) that make you feel happy instead of adhering to strict fitness regimens.

5. Add a compassionate voice to the chorus in your head.

6. Don't spend money on products made by companies that make you feel inadequate. Duh.

7. Stop hanging out with toxic people that make you feel bad about yourself.

8. Change conversations about weight to conversations about wellbeing.

9. Nominate someone for the REAL Hot 100.

10. Redefine your notion of success to include your own wellness - including joy, fulfillment, resilience, and self-love.

***

Ask any woman - we bond over how much we hate our bodies. Really, it's pretty fucked up. And I don't claim to be above all the crap that tries to keep us hating ourselves - it's something I struggle with, too (especially because I consider myself a feminist, and I feel like I should be past it all). But think about it: a group of women are talking about how much they've eaten this week, how much they hate their thighs, how wide they think their asses are - if there's a woman there who has nothing negative to say about her body, if she's totally comfortable in her own skin, then she's looked at differently. Cause, geez, how could she not have anything negative to say? Who does she think she is?

Why is it weird to be comfortable with our own bodies?? And why is it so fucking normal to hate yourself??

Check out Courtney's book, Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body.