BlogHer - A Letter to My Body - Comments

Website Dedicated to this Cause

Elisabeth from joggerslife — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:24:39 -0500

I just came across this post, and wanted to let everyone know that I just started a website dedicated specifically to this cause. The difference is that my website allows everyone to mail or email the letter anonymously.

www.letterstomybody.com

bunch of thanks

stellar725 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 04:27:20 -0500

wow i was inspired... to tell you the truth it was sooo hard to write it. as i slowly ponder some thoughts i feel like how did I come up such a thing before. After writing the letter I feel so light and Im loving my body no matter how it looks. very nice post. i love it! thanks!

Movie Review Blog

yay bodies!

MrsPyle — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:58:31 -0500

I wrote mine the day of, but didn't get a chance to post it till today.

<3 Sara

What a beautiful thing!

Shaynee111 — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:16:38 -0500

So many awesome women loving their bodies! Now that's power :)

A letter to my body, well a poem anyway

Crazy Poem Lady — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:05:22 -0500

Ok this is my very first post to a blog, I'm so proud of myself! Really putting myself out there...oh please don't shoot me down. Just kiddin' I felt pretty safe here, we are all putting ourselves out there, good for everyone! Thanks for the opportunity to post here.

http://crazypoemlady.blogspot.com/

loving self great

Wellness Informant — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:57:03 -0500

I am glad to see this keep up the good work

KNOW WHO YOU ARE, KNOW WHAT YOU EAT.

I LOVE MY BODY &

MYNEWPEACE — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:48:47 -0500

I LOVE MY BODY and I'm so glad this blog is here to aid others into loving themselves. Teach a young person to love themselves today.

KNOW WHO YOU ARE, KNOW WHAT YOU EAT

NATASHA, Radio Host and Wellness Informant

www.WHATHAPPENEDTOYOURLASTMEAL.com

Part Deux

sleepingmommy — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:22:58 -0500

I did a follow up today to my previous letter on February 22, 2008. I've made a lot of progress in changing my lifestyle to a healthy one and I wanted to share that progress in this format.

Sleeping Mommy "If sleep deprivation is an effective form of torture, then the CIA should seriously consider employing my children."

This was a difficult one

artpax — Fri, 23 May 2008 18:50:26 -0500

but like most things you have to work at, it was good for me. This has actually helped me get in touch with a part of myself that I need to explore and listen to as I write about being a survivor of medical abuse (Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy Abuse.)

Thanks for opening up this collective narrative.

Build Peace
Virtuality
My Life As An Avatar

What an accomplishment!!!

GansonAgain — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:29:11 -0500

I have never, ever addressed my body this way! Thanks for a brilliant idea.

Finally wrote my letter...

alvenable — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 21:29:10 -0500

I love this idea and definitely wanted to contribute. I've finally written my letter.

Dimple and a Smirk.com

I adore this idea!

Steph Matulich — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 23:36:01 -0500

Ok, I finished writing my own letter to my body, which turned out to be more of an apology for not treating it better. However, it really got me to thinking about how remarkable our bodies are and how much they do that we take for granted. Thanks for the opportunity to participate, what a fab exercise!

I've only been a BlogHer

niqua416 — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:03:51 -0500

I've only been a BlogHer member for a few hours, and ironically I noticed this as I was about to log out. I really needed to write a letter to my body and I had no idea until I finished it!

Thank you!! :)

-Monique
http://www.balancinginsanity.com

The variety

norarachel — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:58:42 -0500

http://nonlineargirl.com

I am amazed and thrilled by the variety of posts on this subject. To that end, I posted something about trying to get my body to cooperate with my desire to get pregnant.

thanks for such a great idea

h.e.eigler — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:46:50 -0500

I really needed to do that, thanks!

A Letter to My Body

Suzanne Reisman — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 06:00:37 -0600

It is with great pleasure that I have the honor of announcing that BlogHer upgraded "Body Image" to its own topic rather than a sub-topic of the very important category of Health & Wellness. Even more exciting, BlogHer is launching a brand new Letters to My Body initiative. Today I'm calling for members to blog a “letter to my body” and link to the post using Mr Linky. (I know, "Mr. Linky" cracks me up, too, but it's very easy to use – see the box below.) You can also blog your letter on BlogHer (select the Letter to My Body topic) and it will feed directly into the BlogHer Letter To My Body widget we're creating.

In two weeks, I’ll choose one of the linked letters to feature on BlogHer. Another Contributing Editor will post snippets from that letter and link back to that woman’s blog, and she’ll encourage members to again write a letter to my body and post a link. That CE will choose her favorite letter and another CE will be tasked to feature it in her post with a call for more letters to my body. Every two weeks, BlogHer’ll feature a new blogger and her letter and do a call out for more letters. Very exciting stuff.

Of course, it's only fair that if I ask you to put yourself out there, I do so as well. What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than to send a love letter to my body? Here goes:

Dear Body,

I know we've had our differences in the past, but I am very happy to say that I'm learning to appreciate everything you do for me more and more each year. Since we live in a world which foists unattainable beauty standards on women, destroying our ability to appreciate our own figures and dashing our self-esteem on the hard rocks of media saturation, I have been unfairly harsh in judging you for years. (However, I felt vindicated for you when I read that a study in Spain of 1,000 women "concluded that Spanish women were not the very skinny tall types that designers idealize, but rather fell into three main body types: hourglass, pear shape and cylinder. It also found that 4 of 10 women had trouble finding clothes to fit, mainly because sizes varied from store to store and because what was on the racks was too small." I also thought, No shit, Sherlock.)

Thanks to all the societal dysfunction about what women should look like, I developed a nasty case of body dysmorphic disorder. No matter what you, body, looked like, I was certain that you were too fat and not good enough. I was not very nice to you. I forgot that while I may at various times have carried as much 167 lbs. or as little as 117 lbs. (when I had a violent digestive disorder) on my 5'1" frame, you were there for me, still functioning. No matter what size you were, you let me enjoy a lot of things in life, from the yumminess of a chocolate covered strawberry to the tingle of the touch of a lover. Did I ever thank you for these gifts? Barely.

Instead, I blamed you for things that were not going so well in my life. And yet the funny thing is, there is not one thing that you prevented me from doing that I really wanted to. Have I ever not gone to school, had a job, or been denied friends because I was not physically perfect? No. Did you stop me from finding a perfect partner for life? Certainly not, and although I may have blamed you for love spurned in the past, it actually was for the best that any guy who rejected me based on my body did so. Who needs affection that is based on looks, not personality?

Over the last few years, as I've gotten older, I started seeing how cruel I was to you. It turns out that when I stop being so nasty to you, constantly criticizing you for what you are not instead of loving you for what you are, I'm a much happier person. I appreciate that I can do all sorts of activities through you. I thank you for taking the abuse of daily life – from a jog in Central Park to obsessive typing on my tiny laptop keyboard - without complaining (for the most part). I'm damn lucky to have a body like you. You do an excellent job, and I am proud to inhabit you.

So, body, will you be my Valentine?

Love,
Suzanne

Suzanne also blogs about life and beauty at Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants.

Please don't forget to fill in Mr. Linky (heh heh) below and write a letter to your body, too.