I Was Taught To Hate My Body

Untangling my conditioning

Photo by Hanna Postova on Unsplash

I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania where I was taught ‘modesty.’ I was trained to measure the length of my skirt with my fingertips and cover my shoulders in church.

In a household of primarily women, I was never allowed to talk about my period. Words like ‘bra’ and ‘tampon’ were taboo in my home. When I began developing ovarian cysts (not uncommon for…