One way to begin to chip away at the roots of body image is to begin to ask yourself questions as you dress and adorn your body: Who is this for? Am I wearing this for me? For you? To fit into the dominant culture? Am I wearing this because I’m supposed to? Because it’s what is expected of me? Or, because it’s what I actually want to be wearing?

‘Body image’ – as it exists in Western Industrial Culture – is not an innate human concern. It is one that is implanted in us. One culturally produced image at a time, we are taught and told what a body of merit and value looks, sounds and behaves like. We are even told what a body of value and merit prioritizes…

As a little girl, I loved having a body. I could run, roll down hills, jump, cartwheel, spin until I got so dizzy I fell over, swing, climb, and after some instruction, tumble and flip, too. Sure, sometimes I got hurt, skinned a knee, rolled an ankle. But my body, miraculously, healed itself.