I think you are absolutely spot on about the societal pressure to be “perfect”, perfection varying a bit here and there but usually centered around things like symmetry and proportion and, for women, tininess (at least, relative to the mens.)

It annoys me that I spent so many years bemoaning actual working parts, but I suppose it’s given me an understanding of some universal pains.

I’m thinking a lot of our angst about different body parts comes from our society–lots of pressure on women to be perfectly proportioned. Although I hear you loud and clear how unexpected gifts can come from the very things we’re insecure about, I think we also need to liberate ourselves from feeling like we need to look like the women on tv, women in magazines, women in movies, movie in advertisement, etc.

I did an interview yesterday for a magazine article, where I heard about a woman (let’s call her Carol) who went to a massage therapist for the first time. The therapist started out their session by asking, “Have you always been this overweight?” (Carol had just lost 40 lbs.) Unfortunate slip, but perhaps it wasn’t so much a judgment on Carol (never to come back to her again!) but more an indication of being less than secure with her own so-called “flaws.”

Like you, I tend to think my ample-sized head, smallish ears, HUGE ribs (when I lay down you can see the outline of them) and jiggly tummy are all gifts. And my big head comes in handy as a writer, to contains the loads of information I am constantly taking in!

Thanks for the vulnerable take on something all women feel!