You can assign points to food
and you can talk about calories in calories out
and you can talk about willpower
and you can talk about diets
and you can talk about fat
and you can talk about loss
but until you start talking about the way human bodies actually work in the real world
you’re not going to be talking about reality
and I’m not here for misstatements
or insinuations
or shaming
or lies.
I don’t care if when your doctor told you you were going to get diabetes because of your weight
they thought they were telling you the truth
it’s
not
true.
I don’t care if your mother told you you needed to lose weight to find love.
It’s not true.
I don’t care if your friends thought they were genuinely trying to help when they pushed you into dieting.
It’s not true.
I am so angry on my own behalf and on your behalf
for the lies that we were told
and the shame we were given
that was placed on our bodies for no other reason than to net some companies a whole lot of money.
We have built up this culture and told these lies to ourselves and to each other and to our children for generations and “everyone knows” they’re true, except
they’re not.
None of it is true.
None of the anguish and pain and shame and hunger and health problems and trying to erase our bodies was worth anything except to generate money for the diet industry.
And it makes me so angry for all the time lost
for our wasted years
trying to meet a standard that everybody knew was just right
and true
and good
and none of it meant anything at all.
Except profit. Profit. Are you not angry too?
Or are you still lying to yourself? Are you still telling yourself the stories? Because otherwise you’ll have to face that they’re just stories and you wasted so much time?
Let’s dig deep. Every Monday, I send out my Body Liberation Guide, a thoughtful email jam-packed with resources for changing the way you see your own body and the bodies you see around you. And it’s free. Let’s change the world together.
Hi there! I'm Lindley. I create artwork that celebrates the unique beauty of bodies that fall outside conventional "beauty" standards at Body Liberation Photography. I'm also the creator of Body Liberation Stock and the Body Love Shop, a curated central resource for body-friendly artwork and products. Find all my work here at bodyliberationphotos.com.