Fotos: Selbstliebe ohne Kompromisse

“As a child who was abused by his mother (due to postpartum depression) I’ve always had issues with body shame. One of my earliest memories is that of being whipped and crying as my mother threatened to push me out of the open door of our house naked.

When puberty struck, my shame grew so acute, I grew to hate my body. And the more I hated my body the more I hated my mother. After all, this thing came from her. All I could do was ignore it. I was a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, two faces of the same monster, mutually exclusive. But in my case, the good doctor was better at repressing his monster and the monster fought back the only way it could: by self-destruction. I developed a host of infirmities. I was in a dead-end situation until I met Anastasia who is the most annoyingly positive body ‘booster’ I’ve ever met. She’s made me feel a lot more comfortable with this slab of flesh my mind drags around and, lately, I’ve hated my mother less.”

-Jim