Was thinking last night about how what is now called ‘body shaming’ can affect your life not just your opinion of your appearance. As a tall, muscular and big built woman who took after my 6’4” enormous father I have received a lot of criticism about how I

look from my earliest years. I was also born with my legs twisted inwards somewhat and the loose ligaments that now cause so much trouble even though you look cool in yoga 😉. The early abuse from my mother - literally that I was

‘born in the wrong body’ - sound familiar? - was devastating. As a child to be told you’re ‘wrong’ in a way you cannot do anything about except by surgery and constantly dieting - I was starved from age 10 and my brown hair dyed to ‘copper’ - is terrible.

I can say that now. Before I simply accepted I was unattractive and that it was my lot. In the 70s cosmetic surgery was unattainable though my mother offered me a rhinoplasty for my 18th birthday. I refused. I then spent 40 years with a person who found me

as unattractive as my mother had (guess why, duh) and whilst not as blunt as my mother could only manage to say he thought I’d done the best I could with what I’d been given. Now, you may think this all vanity. But the constant erosion