Here is an extract from the poem, ‘ What are big girls made of’ by Marge Piercy.
“How superior we are now: see the modern woman
thin as a blade of scissors.
She runs on a treadmill every morning,
fits herself into machines of weights
and pulleys to heave and grunt,
an image in her mind she can never
approximate, a body of rosy
glass that never wrinkles,
never grows, never fades. She
sits at the table closing her eyes to food
hungry, always hungry:
a woman made of pain. “
A woman made of pain- how much this line strikes.
This line strikes and pinches and leaves a scar when we think about today.
There are women who are satisfied and happy with the way they look, with the scars on their bodies, with that fat on their skin. There are women who want to look slim and work hard for it. Both are equally correct and justified.
But the fat, the body which never troubled the woman living inside that skin became a constant irritation to the eyes of people who never left the chance of shaming. These people are not justified.
To all women out there, you are free to feel as you wish for your body. It’s you who decides how you will feel happy. These ‘other people’, they never matter.
Also, for those who talk of beauty. It is a feeling. And it depends upon the people you are with.
Some people make you feel ugly while some make you feel beautiful, so you have to decide here who want to stay with.
How many of you have met these ‘other people’ who always have a problem with the way others look?
What are your ideas on feeling beautiful?
Do share with me and every one else by commenting below.
Read the whole poem – ‘What are big girls made of’ here.
You (yes you) are beautiful!
Love,
Pramegha
A box of thoughts 
I love the line “some people make you feel ugly, whilst some make you feel beautiful”
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It feels very true..
Thank you 🌸
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Very wise words. It makes me sad when women judge each other, but I think we are pushed to do so. Men use the word ugly as a weapon to knock a woman down, but it’s women who police one another and make demands. I think we are trained to do so, and it’s recognition of how wrong that is in poems like that and blogs like yours, that can make us aware of that training and break it.
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Our ego and vanity makes us judge others just so we can push ourselves up.
But if anyone lay their opinions on us, we must know that we just have to shed them off.
Thank you for such an appreciation☺
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My pleasure 🙂
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I think when you like yourself for who you are, there’s a sense of freedom that comes with it.
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Your words say a true thing.
Self respect always gives way to a freedom.
🌸
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