Feeling old and ugly? Think again.

[atommom]

In my youth, there was scarcely a part of my body I could look at without critique.

But over time I made peace with a few parts I had disliked for decades. My feet, for one. Those broad peasant feet began to look sturdy, smooth-skinned, touchable, with attractive outlines. The toes were charming.

Like many other women touched by the magic wand of feminism, over the last few decades I began to overcome the self-hatred that comes of having a young female body in patriarchal, capitalist America. Thank the goddess I'm no longer so young.

And then -- perhaps as a consequence -- in the shower one morning I was twisting to look back and down my side. In the shower you can never see your whole self, only parts. Suddenly the curves of my hip, buttock, thigh, calf and ankle came into view -- startlingly elegant, powerful and voluptuous.

http://www.alternet.org/story/23885/

[Misunderestimator]

1. GREAT Article! Thanks for posting it.

"End the lamentations. Let's not allow ourselves to be walking commercials for the commerce in aging. Let's deny the bosses another excuse to downsize our jobs. Could we focus instead on the parts we have learned to love? (Did I tell you already that my shoulder looks strong and silky from above? No? Well, it's another hot-shower effect.) And then you would have to say something similar about a once-unloved body part that you have taught yourself to find pleasing.

Maybe, in time, what we praise could be the whole integrated body-mind, with its spirit, character, charm and responsiveness. Confession of a new kind is in order. This is not a boast to each other but a taunt to decline culture. It feels good."


What a beautiful, strong woman. It IS true that age comes with a certain satisfaction for things that used to dismay... at least for me it does.

I have always found an elegant, powerful, voluptuous, intelligent woman to be SOOOO much more desirable in every possible way than the types foisted on us by the media... (dare I say the patriarchal media?).

Very "Shirley Valentine"-ish! Love it. I hope we all can grow in this kind of confidence as we grow older.

"Thank the goddess I'm no longer so young." :toast: to that!

[LisaLynne]

2. Awesome article.

Thanks for posting it.

[Eloriel]

3. Simply marvelous:

Suppose that every single day, for just two minutes, every single woman in America loved that much of her body. What a different attitude toward ourselves and other women we would carry out of the bathroom and into the world.

Thanks!!

[u4ic]

4. Fantastic piece

Let's not reinforce women's supposed ugliness in the guise of friendship. If friendship really exists, one of the women needs to stop right there and ask judiciously, "Isn't that product placement speaking?" Or, "Isn't 'I'm not the same' just what a plastic surgeon wants to hear you say? If the perfection industries didn't make billions on your misery, would you be worrying so much about your hair, your abs, your waist?"

Exactly!