My own experiences have contributed to my passion for these issues, which ultimately led to the birth of this organization...
The first time I remember truly fretting over my appearances was in middle school when some wretched little girl told me that she’d overheard my "boyfriend" say that he liked the popular girl’s legs. I remember crying myself to sleep that night. I never even found out whether or not he had really said it, but had taken it to mean that my legs were somehow unacceptable. It was then that my obsession with thinking that my legs were fat began.
Since then, I’ve gone up and down and through the many stages of a struggling body image and eating disorders. I had an obsession with exercise, abused diet pills terribly, went days when all I ate was 300 - 500 calories and would then run 7 miles. I once sat with a pair of open scissors to my thighs sobbing and wishing I could slice through the skin to take out all the "extra" fat I thought I had. With collages of ad cutouts from dozens of magazines all over my bedroom walls, I binged and purged as many as 10 times a day, even contemplated suicide, and built up a secret life so well that I carried these secrets with me for over 5 years.
I used to stand naked in front of my mirror crying, looking down at my reflection in shame and grabbing at the skin on my arms, tummy, legs and face wishing that the "flaws" only I saw would just go away.
Many of my memories of hating myself and my body are dark and extremely painful, but the more that I am able to share my stories with other women of all ages who can relate with their own experiences of low self-esteem, the more I am inspired to continue down my path of recovery. I have been in recovery since August of 2004, and I started REVOLUTION OF REAL WOMEN™ shortly thereafter, in 2005.
Though my history may seem extreme to some, there are cases out there much worse than my own. No two stories are exactly alike and each one holds its own importance in the history this war on women’s bodies.
There are severe consequences to the damaging messages and lies we hear from other girls and women, from peers and role models, the TV, magazines, music and movies. It is clear that we need a strong group of allies such as REVOLUTION OF REAL WOMEN™ to speak up for us WHEN THE ONLY VOICES WE HEAR ARE LYING.
REVOLUTION OF REAL WOMEN™… How have you been affected?
~BRIE~
President & Founder
REVOLUTION OF REAL WOMEN™, LLC
www.RevolutionOfRealWomen.com
