tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2007302601627741320.post3714019018555463390..comments2023-08-02T07:57:01.366-04:00Comments on Exploring Women's Bodies: The Intolerance of Intolerance - Judging others for Judging?Susan Singerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15671344932984846207noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2007302601627741320.post-90447144709587033182011-04-30T11:05:06.850-04:002011-04-30T11:05:06.850-04:00Susan, I laughed when I read your grandmother'...Susan, I laughed when I read your grandmother's comment to your father, because I wondered if she might also have been thinking, "You wouldn't worry what people thought about you if you realized how little they do...think." So many of the judgments that I can be afraid of just aren't grounded in rational thought at all. <br /><br />I have a neurological illness which wasn't diagnosed till I was 40. It has been progressing, with increasing effects, since I was a small child. Beginning in my late 20's, the effects of the brain disease on appetite and metabolism caused me to gain weight, till I'd finally doubled my original healthy weight by the time I was diagnosed. During all of those difficult years, I struggled with hatred of my body, and with my constant irrational somatic sense of starvation. Since diagnosis and treatment, I've lost the constant sense of starvation without any effort - and lost much of the extra pounds without much effort at all. <br /><br />And I've lost the self-hatred. I blamed myself all those years for weakness of character, when the reality was that I was developing remarkable strength in coping with particular difficulties that the people joining me in judging my "poor character" will never experience. As I now survey the stretch marks and sagging skin on my body, I am proud. I use the open shower at the swimming pool and smile at myself in the mirror. I enjoy drying off in the locker room while talking to my also-naked neighbor, who has had a double mastectomy, and who takes her time putting her shirt back on. We talk about our joy in what our bodies can feel and do. We each revel in the caress of water on skin. Our younger bodies - which were supposedly more perfect - had no idea of what we each now know.<br /><br />Susan, I'm delighted to stumble across your blog after attending your session at a Quaker women's retreat several years ago. Thank you for the work that you do!<br /><br />- Stephanie W., MarylandAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2007302601627741320.post-84370873749121336632011-04-08T19:13:50.091-04:002011-04-08T19:13:50.091-04:00I read you.
I don't always comment.
Never i...I read you. <br />I don't always comment. <br /><br />Never in anything I have read, have I found one ounce of judgement. I find what you do empowering for women, I think you are creating a space for women to be as they are. Because you see all bodies as beautiful, you help change the perception of perfection. And that's a good thing. <br /><br />Thank you Susan for your contributions to this world, to women of all shapes, color and sizes.Kathleen Badehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09511937166340041010noreply@blogger.com