October 15th is Love Your Body Day, as declared by NOW. I’m not much of a rah-rah-rah, go sister, out-loud kind of feminist, though I do appreciate that those kinds of feminists exist. I’m much more of a leave-me-alone-so-I-can-live-my-life kind of person in general, and that’s the kind of feminism I attempt to embody as well. I do a little letter writing thing when something major comes up. I keep informed, etc. But rarely am I ever preachy-preachy. (Hmm, I just noticed that you can substitute the word “vegan” for “feminist” above, and that pretty much says volumes about how I think of myself. Anyway…)

This, however, is a particularly important issue in my mind. I think “love your body” is a bit of a frou-frou type phrase that makes the cynical, easily annoyed part of my, well, annoyed. But, the message is a good one. Too many times every day do I hear people, mostly women, go on and on about diets, the need to lose a certain number of pounds, how they hate how their pants look, etc. Yes, I’ve done that before, too, so no free pass for me on this one. But the way these kinds of things dominate conversation between women is disturbing. I think it sort of congealed in my mind when someone close to me said, “I’d rather be thin than healthy.” She’s much healthier now, but it was a tough time for a while.

To celebrate the love your body theme, here are some links:

Enjoy!