Your body, believe it or not, remembers everything. Sounds, smells, touches, tastes. But the memory is not held in your mind, locked somewhere in the recesses of your brain. Instead, it’s held in your body, all the way down at the cellular level. Ever notice how, on a stage full of professional dancers, everyone still moves in their own way? That’s because our cells store … [Read more...]
I Was My Own Body Terrorist and My Transition Saved My Life
I was distracted. Because I was designated female at birth, I had a lot to worry about when it came to my body. Was I thin enough? Was I beautiful enough? Was I alluring, desirable, fuckable? Would anybody want me? I was a teenager immersed in beauty ideals, expectations, and ultimately, body terrorism. The sheer amount of time I spent ruminating on my weight, on my … [Read more...]
10 Tips for Radically Loving Your Body (Disabled or Otherwise)
Having written, spoken, and taught about loving my disabled body for most of my life, a common first question is always “How did you do it? How did you learn to love your body?” I’ll tell you a secret: I’m still working on it. I don’t have all the answers. I don’t even have most of them, and you shouldn’t trust anyone who says they do. However, here are ten things I’ve … [Read more...]
Why We Should Say “Female Genital Cutting” and Not “Mutilation”
Having worked on campaigns like the Olympics and the Paralympics, London-born Jay Kamara Frederick believes the key to her award winning marketing is that she always tries to understand her audience’s mind-set. But that’s something, she says, that Austrian-born feminist Fran Hosken failed to do in her 1976 manifesto ‘The Hosken Report: Genital/Sexual Mutilation.’ Despite her … [Read more...]
Keyboard Cowardice: How Internet Anonymity Is Fuel for Body Terrorism
The intention behind keeping our internet lives private was so we could protect ourselves. Online communication largely takes place with people we don’t personally know and so it makes sense to keep some information private. We don’t want strangers being able to find out intimate details of our personal lives. However, this common sense approach to internet discourse has led to … [Read more...]
Kidnapping, Jailing, and Abusing Immigrant Children Is Body Terrorism
I live in a country where millions of people avert their gaze from or even celebrate the jailing of children, torn from their parents and often trafficked across state lines. Apparently it’s acceptable to commit human rights abuses against a population if you’ve already dehumanized them to your supporters, made an exception because as “illegal aliens”, they’re not quite the … [Read more...]
Why Must Plus-Size Fashion Be “Flattering”?
"Flattering." One quick search through the unread promotional e-mails in my inbox found hundreds of results for this word. “The Most Flattering Swimsuit Ever,” subject lines teased in order to entice me to open them. The word "flattering" is so deeply ingrained in fashion, and particularly in plus-size fashion. But while some still see this word as a guideline, I see it more … [Read more...]
13 Realities As An Undocumented Immigrant During Trump
As an undocumented transgender Colombiana, I am concerned by the level of misunderstanding of immigrants’ push factors of migration and realities. Migration is a symptom of inhumane, imperialistic, and colonialist U.S. foreign policy and the militaristic, unilateral, and hawkish way the U.S. has and continues to interact with the world. In order to champion immigrant rights, we … [Read more...]
Don’t Tell Me to #KeepKissing: I Am Afraid, But Not Ashamed & That’s Okay
I want to tell you all a story. The year was 2005 and I was a high school freshmen at North Syracuse Junior High school. I was female, and known to be by most, but androgynous in appearance. I was under regular threat of assault, with varying degrees of ability to escape. Those who knew me called me a dyke. Strangers called me a fag. I don’t mean this as a metaphor. It … [Read more...]
7 Ways the Body Positive Community Can Do Better
Body positivity is a word that only entered into the mainstream lexicon within the past year or so. While some media outlets would like you to believe this concept starts and ends with white cis models and celebrities size 14 and under, there are advocates who have been working and fighting for the fair and equal treatment of fat sizes since the 1960s. The amount of times … [Read more...]
You Don’t Owe Disrespectful People Your Respect: George Carlin, Islam and the Freedom of Choice
One of my favorite old George Carlin bits was his close-reading/rewriting of the Ten Commandments. The whole routine is widely available as both text and video online but in particular, he says something about the instruction to “Honor thy Father and Mother” which I’ve always appreciated as simply a truth of life that is rarely taught: Obedience, respect for authority. Just … [Read more...]
The Danger of Low Expectations: Why I Am Done Accepting Public Body Shaming and You Should Too
I do not always know what I am going to write about until a few weeks before the article is due. There are a couple of topics I could talk about at any time, but I have found that topics that warrant writing about will usually appear as I go about my daily life as a fighter for body positivity. Normally I will see something, then a couple of days later I will think ‘hey, that … [Read more...]
Get Mad, Set Boundaries: 10 Ways To Channel Anger Into Self Acceptance & Safe Spaces
By: TBINAA Team You know what makes me mad? Hearing about little kids in elementary school feeling pressure to diet even before they can spell the words wrong and unfair. You know what else I can’t stand? Those freaky pop-up ads on the internet for "One Secret to Lose Belly Fat Fast." Really? F**k you very much, body-hating scammers. And the thing I hate most of … [Read more...]
What is Body Terrorism?
The historical and contemporary violence associated with body hatred is widespread and horrific. Terror is defined as intense, sharp, overmastering fear. Terrorism is the inflicting of such fear on an individual or group. The Body Is Not An Apology is a movement focused on countering the devastating impacts of hating our bodies and having others hate our bodies. From racist … [Read more...]
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