Prom Promise

Going to Prom, Chaperoning Prom

Rachel Sutherland is the Style Editor for the Charlotte Observer– a section that has a history of making style and fashion accessible to all.  It is also a section that has a history of championing girls and women– something I really appreciate about the way Rachel approaches her work and the way her predecessor, Crystal Dempsey, did, too.  Rachel’s weekly column this week centered on coming across a photo of her in high school, preparing to leave the house for prom.  While she doesn’t recall much of the details from college, she does recall the feeling she had the whole time she was in high school.  Here is an excerpt from her column: 

But the one memory that came screaming back the moment I picked up that photo was how during my four years at Grosse Pointe South, I was overwhelmed by a constant feeling that I wasn’t enough: I wasn’t thin enough. I wasn’t smart enough. I wasn’t pretty enough.

What a waste of energy, I later lamented to my husband. Imagine what an impact a healthier self-image would have had on my teen years. Maybe I would have fulfilled that mythical untapped academic potential my teachers always talked about.

He pointed out that my teen body angst wasn’t unique to me – most everyone has a similar story.

Why is that the norm? Why is body image still an issue? Enough already.

I hope you’ll check out her whole column by clicking on the link above.  And I also hope you’ll take Rachel’s words to heart- whether or not you are 16 or 46.  Enough already, indeed.  Give yourself a break.  Give everyone else a break. 

I start teaching my body image seminar again this week at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and that is one of the things I most try to convince my students to believe– the body image bullying is passe, cliche, trite, overdone, over.  Basta!  For real, already.  Promise?