Joni Edelman

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.

I guess the point of a spiritual awakening is just that; if you were already awake, you wouldn’t need a moment that was self-defining. You’d already be defined.

You know what’s an epidemic? Making people feel second rate and ashamed, criminalizing them for something like having an obese pregnancy.

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.

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

I am tired of taking medication. I am tired of relying on the manufactured versions of the chemicals and hormones my body could — should? — make for itself.

You should know that she is a really awesome human.

photo credit: Lindy West (instagram), by

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