Content Notes: Includes brief mentions of messed up relationships with food and lots of discussion of body dysphoria, particularly that which is based on gender. Please take care if this content would be triggering for you.
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I decided early that the social
messages we receive about our bodies are bullshit. At eleven, I was
furious at the world that sent my best friend on a series of diets
urged on by her mother. At thirteen, I was heartsick watching another
friend disappear, shrinking down between nibbling at the cracker she
insisted would be her entire lunch. At fourteen, I declared fiercely
that bodies- my body, my friends' bodies, the bodies of everyone,
everywhere- were sacred.