Part II of the Beyond Beauty Series

I fell into a trap set for all women: believing that fulfilment was only a perfect body away.

My pursuit of thinness was about being perceived to have the many positive attributes that we ascribe to thin women in our society. But the feat of conforming my body to earn the social value associated with thinness was so exacting that it left me with no other identity.

This is not a bi-product, but a sign of our standard of beauty working effectively in a patriarchal society. Making thinness just beyond reach but making that standard the key to unlocking social power and personal fulfilment keeps women spending their time, money, and energy on attaining it.

Thinness is not just about making women’s bodies small. It is about making women themselves small and compliant.

I used to want the identity that I believed was only available beyond the fat. Now I want to claim the self-determined identity that I believe is only accessible to us beyond thinness.