Body shaming is just one more thing in this big, scary world that I can’t protect her from, but damned if I’ll stop trying. My toddler was twirling in her tutu bathing suit while I shimmied into my plus-sized polka dot bikini. Since my 2-year-old is still in the phase where she finds it socially […]
Was there something inside of me that just didn’t feel like being devoured anymore? Or was there something inside of me that believed I was no longer devourable? I got my first Barbie doll just before my 43rd birthday. Away on a girls’ weekend, I made the late-night fireside admission that I had not been […]
While one instance of street harassment is annoying, one every block can start to feel debilitating. It started for me last week, when I decided to spend a few hours running errands in the summer sunshine while audaciously wearing a loose-fitting baby doll dress, comfy flats, and a denim vest. Apparently my need to keep […]
I like not having to strive for anything regarding my body other than basic maintenance in the hopes of keeping it running a little longer. I like the freedom to ignore even that. When it’s only us in the room, only fat women, someone might quietly say, like a guilty confession: “I’m trying really hard […]
How can I possibly think about being naked around others, when it’s so difficult to confront my own nudity even when I am by myself? When I was 5 years old, my mother would take me to our local Jewish Community Center to go swimming. Afterward, we’d rush to the locker room for a hot shower before […]
Countless hours, days, weeks, months, and years spent wondering if I am good enough. I haven’t shaved my legs for a few weeks. It wasn’t intentional. I just haven’t made the time in the morning to get it done. There is a part of me that wants to just say I’m done. I’m going to […]
We are scared to face women who have gone through a pregnancy loss or the loss of a baby and we don’t know what the hell to say—even if we’ve gone through it ourselves. I had a miscarriage. It’s not something I’ve written about before. But last week’s launch of Dr. Jessica Zucker’s “pregnancy loss cards” […]
Where are the gaggles of innocent college boys lusting over stretch-marked and taco-eating female parents? Last week, when The Odyssey published 500 words on Why Girls Love The Dad Bod, fathers across the Internet exhaled, allowing their distended tummies to hang generously over their belt buckles. Mackenize Pearson, piggybacking on our recent obsession with Lumbersexuals […]
For many women, constant reminders that they aren’t pregnant aren’t just annoying—they can be downright cruel. When I got married, I was shocked at how quickly people started asking me when I was going to have a baby. And when I did have a baby a few years later, I expected a fairly lengthy reprieve […]
