How to feel badass in your bikini.

Hello!

Last week

at the veeeeeeery end of my email

I included a little pic of myself in a bikini.

It was this one:

I had a couple others, actually,

that were taken the same day.

I had this one,

with my belly all stretched out

and the light doing a sculpty effect:

And I had this one, 

with the more "flattering"

(please note scare quotes)

angle:

I asked myself,

which pic is most inspiring?

Which lady seems the strongest?

Which is clearly a grown-ass woman?

Which bitch do I most want to be?

Answer:

The real one.

The one who is fully herself.

The one who is done sucking it up

and sucking it in.

*

You noticed.

Dozens of you wrote to me

with thanks and compliments

for that Real Belly photo.

(I loved hearing from you - thank you!!)

To be clear, tho,

I didn't get here alone.

Very much on purpose

I surround myself with women

who are committed to loving their bodies.

I read tons of feminist work on body issues.

I follow body- and fat-positive folx on social media.

I reveled in watching the pool party episode

of Shrill on Netflix

as much as I reveled in reading that amazing book.

(If you haven't read & watched Shrill yet,

go do it right now RIGHT NOW).

In a world committed

to controlling women's bodies -

with everything from anti-choice legislation

to Spanx - 

freeing ourselves requires both

community and courage.

Community fortifies courage.

Courage inspires community.

LET'S GO, LADIES.

Ain't no woman got time

for body loathing.

We have a world to change.