{The Body Liberation Guide} Every day I’m strugglin’
Hi friend,
Today’s letter is the third in a four-part series (here are parts one and two).
Bodies as business cards
When our bodies are our business cards, the more those bodies are outside our cultural aspirations, the fewer people will want to buy.
(And of course no business is going to appeal to everyone; how on earth would we handle the sales volume if it did?)
But running a business is about more than just putting out a product or service and seeing who shows up, and so much of the bias and discrimination that affect our success (or lack thereof) is behind the scenes.
Every business has to function on multiple levels, or layers, to be able to operate, to be stable and to be financially viable. These layers include:
- The product or service itself (quality, availability)
- Customer service
- Marketing, advertising and publicity
- Industry connections and networking
- Owner health and stability
- Availability of resources (funding, support, investment)
The more marginalized you are, the more sustaining any given layer will be a challenge. Take away too many layers, or make them too challenging for the owner, and the business will fail — either because its owner will burn out, or run out of resources.
Business failure can also happen because one layer becomes too difficult, or too damaged, to function. And every single layer depends on layer 5, because without an owner, a small business vanishes.
Appearances are deceiving, in both Photoshop and business
There’s another wrinkle here, too:
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.
![[Image: A fat white woman with pink hair stands on the shore of a wooded lake in a purple sleeveless dress, with a wing-print scarf blowing in the wing behind her outstretched arms.]](https://bodyliberationphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2016-09-10_1015_x1200-768x512.jpg)