Columns Sep 1, 2005 at 4:00 am

Restrain Yourself

Comments

1
A damned good way to get over insecurities about your body is to compare it to the bodies of other people--REAL people, not those airbrushed covermodels who spend three hours in Hair and Makeup before they ever confront a photographer.

Make it a habit to compare your own body to all those fat, pasty, acne-riddled, greasy-haired, dirty-clothed, stinky-pitted bodies you see around town. Go to Walmart, Kmart or a truck stop if you have to. Do this regularly, and it's a lot easier to not to hate your own body.

I'm 5' 6", 130 lbs, and an uninteresting B-cup: But I'm pretty damned fine compared to the average, obese, out of shape, apathetic American.
2
If you are a woman out there that wants to appreciate her body naked, try watching How To Look Good Naked (the UK version, because the US one is terrible). Every episode has women from all around England in their underwear. Most of them aren't the prettyyoungthings from magazines either, they are real women of all shapes and sizes that appreciate themselves. You might find some of the advice useful as well. They get the woman to compare her least favourite body part to a range of women and place themselves by size. Usually they find that they are mentally carrying around an extra few dress sizes.
One woman hated the sight of her legs so much that her husband had never seen her naked and she wore tights during sex. The info and advice they gave her might help you too.
3
It seems to me like wrapped up has a severe case of body dysmorphia -- and at 5' 6" and 103 pounds, she is definitely underweight. I don't think her "hang-ups" about being seen naked are the whole of it. Unless she has some medical condition that prevents her from gaining much weight or she is genetically REALLY skinny, she's probably anorexic, and that is another reason she needs to get some help.
4
Many, many years too late, but WU's revulsion towards her body and her very low weight band together to scream eating disorder. I hope she got the help that she clearly so desperately needed.

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