There’s a dangerous power in surfaces . . .
Well here we are — it’s 2021. To borrow from the guys at Pod Save America, I feel nauseously optimistic. There are so many daunting challenges to solve, and I believe we can face them.
In 2018, at the United State of Women Summit, Tarana Burke said, “I believe we are entering a period of answers. . . . We’re trying to build something that has never existed. It is going to take every single one of us doing all the things we can at capacity in order to make that happen.”
All of us, doing all the things, at capacity. That’s quite a call to action!
When I think about what dims my capacity, it’s my weakened self-esteem, uncertain health and poisonous beliefs about my appearance. As humiliating as it is to admit, my feelings about the way I look and the way I’ve treated my body as a result underlie almost all of these things that lessen me.
Despite professional and creative success, a good mind and luxurious independence, navigating the pain, confusion and conflict around my appearance has been one of the profound struggles of my life. We point to foot-binding as a dangerous example of beauty standards devolving into physical torture. But how many of us carry the brutal, invisible wounds of willfully mutilated self-esteem?
