TEN STEPS TO LOVING YOUR BODY
by the Council on Size & Weight Discrimination, Inc.
1. Be around people who accept themselves as they are. Join a support group--or start one if necessary--and talk
and listen to others who are on the same path.
2. Read books, pamphlets, and articles on self-acceptance; look at art; and watch films and videos with strong,
beautiful characters of different sizes and shapes.
3. Buy full-length mirrors and appreciate yourself from all directions. Look at yourself standing, sitting, from
the back, naked, clothed, every way.
4. Buy and wear great clothes you like and feel good in. Get rid of uncomfortable and ill-fitting clothing, and
anything you've been saving "until it fits".
5. Take pictures of yourself. Let others take pictures of you. Don't avoid being in group pictures--in fact, insist
on standing in the front.
6. Stop being so hard on yourself.
7. Start acting as if you love and have always loved your body.
8. Learn to recognize size discrimination, diet obsession, fatphobia, and body hatred in the world around you--in
advertising, in telelvision and movies, in public accommodations, on the street, and among your family and friends.
9. Start the process of "coming out" as a self-accepting person by telling your family, friends, co-workers,
etc. of your decisions:
• to stop obsessing about your weight and appearance
• to give up dieting and the goal of losing weight, and
• to accept yourself and your looks as you are
10. Become an advocate for the rights of people of any size, shape, color, ability, or physical appearance. Interrupt
sizism, racism, looksism, ableism, sexism, and other prejudiced attitudes wherever you encounter them.
©2000, Council on Size & Weight Discrimination, Inc. 845-679-1209
www.cswd.org
|
