About Face

My friend janni has some smart and thoughtful things to say about body image. As another woman who has fought that tiresome battle with body image and food, what she said made me resonate like a plucked string. But there's more to the matter of self-image than weight, and much of it starts at home (which, as a parent of girls, concerns me deeply).

Before I start trying to explain what I'm talking about, let me be clear. This is not a veiled plea for egoboo or reassurance, some sort of Interweb "do these pants make me look fat" rant. I'm trying to figure out how much of the harsh light I shine on myself comes from my eccentric upbringing, and how much from the world around us. I'm not at all sure, at this point, how to change my judgment about my own looks. I certainly don't feel this way about the people around me: all my friends are beautiful because they look like themselves. That's just not a rule I can apply to myself. Yet.
( More behind the mirror. )