NETWORK OF WOMEN

Our appearance is something that seems to be always open to discussion and suggestions. We are constantly under pressure to meet expectations about ourselves, especially how we look. Whether we like it or not, the free health & wellness advice comes freely with a dose of guilt, self-loathing and a reluctance to look at ourselves in the mirror. Where does this pressure arise from? Is it a conditioning to conform and comply with a set of rules decided by misplaced ideals? Or is it just a figment of social construct that is easier said than done? Stuck between conflicting thoughts is an overused term in daily speak – ‘self love’ – which feels really good to speak about. But how easy is to really love ourselves? And how exactly does self-love fit into the requirements of accepting ourselves wholly and truly as we are – in body, mind and everything in the middle?

I argue that bodies in and of themselves are sites of social constructions of differences. Certain bodies are seen as “acceptable” “respectable” “valued” and “admirable”. There are complex forces from the state and corporate organisation to religion and medical establishments that feed into these ideas. The body is placed in hierarchized (false) dichotomies, for example, masculine/feminine; mind/body; able-bodied/disabled; fat/skinny; heterosexual/homosexual; and young/old. Bodies that fall out of these are penalized, rejected or ignored. How do we understand our own bodies and reclaim it under these circumstances? What can we learn from the gender/sexual minority movement?

There’s a world of misinformation and shame that surrounds the issue of obesity. Issues of long-term weight gain and food dependence have deep psychological roots, yet often they are seen only through a lens of low will power and poor self-control. This engenders shame and a sense of hopelessness and helplessness in large sections of the population.The body often becomes a battlefield for a ‘larger’ person and terming it simply as a ‘body image’ issue can be counter productive. Discovering the positive psychological purpose that weight, body size and food might serve in your life can open the door to creating genuine self-acceptance and the choice of sustainable change. The focus through Body Boundaries is not on how to achieve 'optimal' body size; it is on developing the capacity to hear the stories our bodies are telling us and act from a place of awareness and congruence in this ongoing journey to reclaim psychological ownership of our bodies.