This morning I decided to send in a little submission to a zine. It is based on body image and I thought that everyone has a little something to contribute to that discussion. Yesterday I had a very animated discussion about an Axe commercial based on a post on the feministing blog.
We talked about societal perceptions of body image. The thing that I think is interesting is how much I missed within myself. I know about what marketing and society does to women but does that help me actually avoid the pitfalls of the brainwashing?

A few years ago my cousin told me that I was anorexic. I was sooooooooo insulted. (By the way I am sorry to bring this up again Moo but I thought it was important). We were talking about it recently and I asked him why he said it. He told me that I wouldn't eat, that I constantly talked about my weight and I was completely obsessive. Here is the definition:
anorexia
noun
a prolonged disorder of eating due to loss of appetite

I was anorexic and I didn't even notice it. You know for all of my so called self awareness I really was in the closet about a lot of things...which is another story for another time. For now I would like to thank my cousin for helping me see the things I didn't want to....Ohhh and here is my submission:


A few years ago I got very depressed and stopped eating. I unintentionally lost 20 pounds in two weeks. When people saw me they were all amazed. I looked so wonderful, amazing, beautiful, confident, sexy, happy, healthy, etc. All this really only meant that I looked thinner. I didn’t think I was fat before. After that I felt compulsive about not gaining weight. I felt that it was really strange that my body image issues came from losing weight instead gaining it and that compliments fed it. Since then I have gained 40 pounds and become a radical feminist. My mind understands this and sees the magic in my curves and is proud. There is a little demon though, I call her StandardX, who lives in my thoughts and constantly tells me how much nicer it would be to wear those clothes again.