I have struggled with body image issues most of my life.  I grew through puberty faster than most girls at my school and quickly grew hair all over my body.  I was appalled and scared.  I felt like I was abnormal and freakish as I looked around and saw full grown women far past puberty with no body hair.  When my mom allowed me to start shaving, I shaved EVERYTHING.  I shaved my stomach, legs, arms, chest... I wanted all of it to be gone so that I could pass as being normal.  I never saw women who had hair on their legs and I thought that something was wrong with me.

Beauty issues ran deeply through my childhood.  With puberty came pimples and I turned to heavy makeup to cover myself but soon became depended behind my mask.  My mom always referred to our family as "the fatsos" and I learned early that weight was a sign of not only beauty but worth.  I would see someone gain weight and assume that that meant that they were depressed, run down, or out on their luck.  Our family went on group JennyCraig diets and I spent over a year eating planned out packaged meals.  I dedicated myself to 'passing' as normal and struggled to keep up.  

In college I took my first Women's Studies course and the instructor created an assignment for us to go home and look at our daily beautification routines and add up how much time and money goes into our rituals.  I found that the shaving alone took me one hour every day.  This was one hour that I could instead spend in contributing to the planet instead of centering on myself.  I gave it up.  I gave up shaving and stopped caking my face with makeup.  I stopped trying to be beautiful and declared that I was more than something to look at.  I gave up makeup, shaving, and worrying about my weight and I felt free.