PROFITING ON THE SHAME OF WOMEN
It was a group of women
So supportive
So uplifting
Cheering each other on in our lives and our work
And then she stood to introduce her amazing self
And the shame attack started
It started subtly with a friendly announcement of a new supplement she was selling
And then it got more specific
Weight loss
Her product was weight loss
On the surface it might not seem that her esthetically packaged pills held such pain
But they did
Because every time she stood up in her slim body steeped in thin-privilege and said weight loss
She was saying to more than half the room…
You are not OK as you are
You are flawed
There is an answer to all your woes
Life will be all better when you get thinner
In her cheerful demeanor she was saying
YOU NEED FIXING
YOU, as the size you are
In the BODY you are in
is UNACCEPTABLE
And I have the ultimate answer
Be thin
I have the magic pill
I watched her shame brilliant, beautiful women who don’t need any fixing.
I watched women wilt and look at their bellies in disgust and shame.
Here’s what I wished I had said to her…
You are making money on the back of women’s shame
Your diet pills and quick fixes feed the sickness that we aren’t good enough as we are.
Please open your eyes to your own thin-privilege.
Your collusion is diminishing women’s power.
Please stop selling the concept that we don’t have the answer inside.
I wish I had told her that she was ENOUGH as she is and to please stop telling other women that they are less than.
Nina Manolson, MA, is the founder of Body-Peace®.She helps women end the war with food and body and finally feel truly at home in their body—as it is.
She is known for her deeply feminist, anti-diet, body-peace® approach. She brings her 30 years of experience as a therapist, Body-Trust® Guide and Psychology of Eating Teacher to helping women create a respectful and trusting relationship with their food and body.
Nina’s Body-Peace® work is all in service of helping people get off the diet roller-coaster, and into a compassionate and powerful way of eating & living which creates a positive long-lasting change in and with their bodies. Her courses, coaching, poems and Body-Peace APP positively change the conversation that women are having with their body.
Start your Body-Peace® journey with this free masterclass that will help you understand and shift your relationship with your body.
