Joni Edelman

Silly me, I thought the darn thing took care of itself. Little did I know I was sorely mistaken and had a vagina complex.

Our relationship has been a little complicated. I've loved you a lot, and I've loathed you at least that much, but mostly you've just gone unnoticed. Except for those 5 to 7 days every four weeks when you made your presence quite evident, what with the river of life blood and the random excruciating, and from what I can tell, unnecessary, contractions.

When it comes to your physique, your mind can actually work against you.

It doesn’t get any more difficult to insult ourselves, regardless of how old we are. It would be ideal if it got easier to respect ourselves, but it generally doesn’t do that either. Every year you age, and every year the aging you looks at the you of the years before and thinks, I can’t believe I thought I was fat/ugly/etc.

You should know that she is a really awesome human.

As long as I can remember having paid attention to the media, I can remember a woman's weight—or body in general—being a news story.

Here’s something that isn’t rocket science either, Stephen Hawking: Diets don’t work.

You do not have to hate your body — but you don’t have to love it either. While I'm happy with my fat body, I miss being thin.

Compassion for myself is not a thing I do. It is not a thing I have ever done. It is not a thing I feel comfortable doing. It's time I stop for compassion.

Don’t most kids feel afraid to come home?