By Courtney E. Ackerman — 2020
How do you feel about your body? If you don’t immediately answer “Great!” with a smile—don’t worry, you’re not alone! This is a very common problem for people today, especially women.
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It’s no secret that certain segments of the gay community hold high, near-oppressive standards of what counts as sexually attractive. Countless gay men have struggled to see themselves within it as a result.
What began as a proud assertion of identity has itself become a trope; the stereotype of a gay man now is one who goes to the gym and takes care of himself.
“Millions of adults across the UK are struggling with concerns about their body image, but of all the groups surveyed, the LGBT+ community is most likely to be affected.”
For many of us, men with broad shoulders, narrow hips, taut muscles, and white skin — sun-kissed or pale under hot lights — became an ideal we couldn’t escape. We coveted images of these bodies like treasure, and they educated us in the rules of attraction.
I had spent years disliking my body and now I would give anything to have it back!
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Despite their many visible differences, they’re bound together by more than breast cancer: They are linked through an ambitious portrait series meant to explore body image, illness and self-esteem called The Grace Project.
For women like me who lose our nipples to breast cancer, learning to love our changed bodies can be a journey.
I live in a culture that’s only too eager to court my vanity.
Paige More gets real about what it was like to be a body positivity advocate who didn’t love her own body, and how she’s repairing her relationship with it now.
The scar represented the loss of my younger self’s sense of invulnerability, and — no surprise — triggered a fear of death.