Search results for: self-care
Why Black Women With Dark Skin Are Beautiful
Though this message is not promoted or affirmed within our society: Black women with dark skin ARE beautiful. Sadly, we have to combat a dismal representation of ourselves in the media and blatantly hateful stereotypes when we do get mentioned. But, the media is a lie! In this spoken word poem, Tova Charles affirms her beauty as a Black woman with dark skin.
Read MoreDon’t Look Down On Me: Dwarfs Are Not Here for Your Entertainment
Under the supposed context of “humor” and “media entertainment,” Dwarfs are the recipients of invasive and xenophobic bullying, assault, violence, marginalization, and ridicule. Not only is this demeaning and dehumanizing, it’s the sort of socially ignored oppression that compromises the safety, well-being, and economic access of an entire group of people.
Read MoreLarge Bodies Don’t Need Metaphors to Be Beautiful
Fatphobia is so rampantly internalized that many people justify their attraction to fat people by comparing them to non-human objects. It turns the possibility of mutual desire and appreciation into fetish. In this spoken word performance, Samantha Peterson rejects the dehumanizing nuance of supposedly metaphorical compliments and reclaims her body’s agency, humanity, and beauty.
Read MoreHow Body Love Can Change Society for the Better
What would happen if we stopped trying to satisfy an arbitrary standard of beauty, and focused on loving what we have? According to Jes Baker, a lot would change.
Read MoreEmotions of Weight
Everywhere we turn, there are voices telling us what’s wrong with our bodies. We hear them every time we watch an advertisement for a beauty product. They’re the voices of strangers, coworkers, and sometimes they’re the voices of our friends and families. But what happens if you stop listening to all of these voices? Kat Lazo has some thoughts on the matter!
Read MoreThe Body Is Not An Apology
Check out the spoken word poem that started a powerful movement of self-love and remember that your body is not an apology!
Read MoreFeminism and Anxiety: How the Movement Changed My Relationship with My Mental Health
Feminism can change your relationship with your anxiety. Here is how it changed for this author.
Read MoreCutting Fatphobic Language Out of Your Life
How can we cut fatphobic language out of our fat-positive lives? Here are some easy tips!
Read MoreAbleism Online: Virtually Passing While Disabled
If you want to make your disability known, go ahead! It’s a really important part of our lives and you should feel proud to embrace it. If you want to pass, rock on! It’s nice not to have to deal with ableist BS once in a while. No matter what you decide, remember that your disability doesn’t define you – online or offline.
Read More5 Reasons Fitspo Is Bad for Your Health
(Trigger Warning: Body Image) According to Glamour, “Fitspo refers to images and words that women post with the purpose of inspiring themselves and others to live a fit, active life.” The problem that we see with fitspo, though, is that it looks too much like a not-so-cleverly-disguised thinspo. And these ideas that our bodies just aren’t good enough the way that they are is still dangerous.
Read MoreTo Keep Ourselves from Drowning in Emotion
To others, it was strange that as a young kid, I would often sit for hours with only the thoughts in my head. Over time, I saw how easy it was to become consumed by my thoughts and feelings, letting them take over. A lot of the back and forth wasn’t so nice, and I could get mad at myself for almost anything. So what I want to address is how NOT to get stuck in uneasy emotions.
Read MoreThe Non-Dieter’s Holiday Survival Guide
It seems that every year around this time, I get gazillions of e-mails from folks who are nervous about the holidays. Explaining to your family that you don’t want to know the number of calories in pecan pie, or that – yes – you have put on a little weight, and it’s totally okay, may not be your idea of a fun holiday. So what can you do to survive through it? I’ve got some ideas.
Read MoreHate Your Body? Take More Pics!
Sometimes I feel like we’re living our entire lives and viewing our whole world through a camera lens – including ourselves. And yet, on the bright side, I also see it as an interesting opportunity to reclaim your self-image. I think that if you go with it, you can actually use things like selfies as tools to improve your body image – and your overall self-esteem.
Read MoreWhy Deciding To Go Gray Is Not A Black And White Matter
Courtesy of genetics, this author’s hair started graying in her late teens and she’s been dying it ever since. She’s learned a lot since then and at 41, she’s seeing things a bit differently.
Read MoreLet’s Show Our Bodies Some Love!
I like my body! I may even love my body! More days than not, I look at my reflection and smile with gratitude. And this is a huge deal – because for the majority of my life, I wanted to crawl out of my own skin. It was a long and complicated process that has taken me nearly two years of hard work, but here are some of the major factors that led me to where I am today.
Read MoreYou Have My Permission To Love And Accept Your Body, Just As It Is, Right This Minute
When you feel love and approval toward your body, then you can truly experience your life and the world around you. You can live your life with more peace. You can hear your inner truth. You can enjoy being in a body that is uniquely yours. You can do and experience all this and more, but first, you have to give yourself permission to love and accept your body.
Read MoreOMG, Un-Tag Me!: Photo Sharing and Body Image in the Facebook Generation
Social media trends change as rapidly as the technology itself, and we need to make sure that our dialogue with teens about body image and self-esteem (dialogue that includes listening) is changing just as rapidly. Because the Facebook Generation is the next generation of thinkers, leaders, parents, and activists. They’ll be the ones changing the world. And we need them to be fully present in it!
Read MoreLose Hate, Not Weight
I lived a very long time with the belief that my body was my enemy. I believed it had betrayed me, swallowed me up, and that the real me was deep down somewhere inside. Because I was a girl, self-hatred was part of my cultural inheritance. My life began when I stopped trying to lose weight and set my mind to losing hate. Because I only get one body, and I will fight for it, not against it.
Read More8 Secrets from 8 Curvy Women Who Love Their Bodies
Everyone is entitled to a relationship with their body that is based in care and respect. It’s time to stop thinking of your body as a hostile encasing in which you are imprisoned. So, in search of answers about self-love, I asked eight of the most fabulous curvy women that I know one question: What is the big secret of your relationship to your body? And here’s what they said.
Read MoreThe Sound of Silence: Giving a Voice to Anorexia
What we need while recovering from an eating disorder is real-life, real-time support. But the fear of being judged or written off as “narcissistic” or “self-absorbed” or being told to “just start eating normally and get over it,” forces too many people into silence and too afraid and ashamed to seek help. And silence is the least helpful thing you can put in your recovery toolbox.
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