Nudes are powerful. Shown or unshown, they are liberation, taking them, celebrating yourself, is freedom. This is an ongoing project of people sharing their nudes and their stories with our community.
If you'd like to send in a photo and share your body image story, get in touch either via twitter or my contact page.
"I developed a very unhealthy and hateful relationship with my body during a toxic relationship. After we broke up, I found out that he had shared a lot of private content with his friends and posted it online. I’ve spent almost 4 years rebuilding love for myself and taking back my power by showing my body when and how I want — these curves of mine are powerful"
My journey with my body and learning to love myself has not been an easy one. I grew up with self image issues for as long as I could remember. I was bullied at school, at home, by the girls on my soccer team, anywhere I went. Being picked on from such an early age led to body dysmorphia and eating disorders, I always thought I was obese even when I was tiny and it didn’t help that my boobs started growing at such an early age. For years and years I struggled with trying to hide myself, trying to hide my face, my boobs, my stomach, my arms, everything. I didn’t want to be seen until I deemed myself pretty enough and skinny enough. Then one day I was fresh out of high school, not living with either of my parents, and I was hanging out with supportive friends. I began to slowly stop hiding myself. I grew more confident with my face, more confident with my body, and even if I wasn’t confident I started acting like I was and slowly I really did start to become more confident. Even as I got heavier and stretch marks started coming in, I’ve slowly become more and more in love with my body. Every roll, every stretch mark, every inch. I love the way I look and I’m confident in who I am now and a huge part of it came from telling myself I was gorgeous and sexy even if I didn’t really believe it at the time and having good friends that hyped me up.
My journey with my body image has been a rough one. I was bullied about my weight from a very young age which caused me to have low self esteem, develop a terrible relationship with food, and hyper fixate on losing weight. A couple of years ago, I made the decision to get a tummy tuck because my stomach was my biggest insecurity. While some may argue that surgery wasn’t necessary, it has greatly improved my mental health because it’s something I no longer fixate on. I also started weightlifting a few years ago and feeling and being physically strong has been so empowering! Additionally, I recently got out of a weird situationship with a close friend and while it didn’t end the way I wanted, they made me feel incredibly sexy and self-confident, something which I have never experienced before. With this new found confidence and body positive community on Twitter, I have been taking and posting images of myself that I would have never dared to do years or even months ago. While I’m still not 100% in love with myself, and probably never will be, finding the right communities and people have really helped with loving myself
I feel proud of my body. I struggled for a long time loving myself in my own skin. After lots of growth, I could not imagine a different image of myself. I love the many ways we can express ourselves with our bodies. It could be a tattoo or piercing, the way you move or an inspiring piece of artwork to remind you that your own canvas is beautiful.
I grew up in a family that was constantly talking about looks and weight. My mom was always on a diet, taking stackers and shakes. I would weigh myself compulsively from about the age of 7. No matter my weight, it was never good enough, especially with criticism from my family. The constant criticism from my family and being bullied for being ugly in school made me hate myself. I hated myself so much I got into relationships with people who made me feel ugly and worthless and I felt I deserved it. After having children, getting stretch marks and seeing my body change, I realized my body is powerful. My imperfections are the story of my challenges and they mark me. After a long time of letting other people let me feel ugly and worthless, I’m beginning to accept myself as I am.
Comments