Feeling anxiety or shame about one’s own genitals happens. Here are some things to consider and some approaches to learning to accept and embrace these body parts.
When it comes to body image issues the odds are stacked against girls. Three out of four teenage girls feel depressed, guilty, and shameful after spending just three minutes leafing through a fashion magazine. The Keep It Real Campaign wants to change this by making one simple ask of fashion magazines: print at least one picture of a model that is not retouched in photoshop in each issue.
Modesty taught me that my first priority needed to be making sure I wasn’t a “stumbling block” to men. Not being sexually attractive was the most important thing I had to consider when buying clothes, putting them on, maintaining my weight (can’t have things getting tight!), and moving around (can’t wiggle those hips, or let a little knee show). Modesty taught me that what I looked like was what mattered most of all. Not what I thought. Not how I felt. Not what I was capable of doing. Worrying about modesty, and being vigilantnotto be sexy, made me even more obsessed with my looks than the women in short shorts and spray tans I was taught to hate
Born in Boston, Our Bodies, Ourselves has become an international force for women’s rights.
Who is curious about, wants or enjoys receptive anal sex? People who are curious about, want or enjoy receptive anal sex. What does that alone tell us about someone’s sexual orientation? Nothing.
A mom gives Botox injections to her eight-year-old daughter and a sneaker company markets butt-shaping shoes for young girls. What messages are we sending young girls?
Gender and gender identity are complex and diverse: there’s not just one way of being a girl, being trans gender, and those also aren’t your only choices. So how do you figure out where you’re at when the little boxes don’t seem to fit?
A range of alternative options for managing menstrual flow and a little unpacking for someone worried about not having a first period yet.
Hopefully what I can do is help you to worry about it less and accept the way your body is right now more.
If I feel fat and ugly, and I hate my body, how can I trust that someone else can love me?
