Wana Udobang has published a new essay with CNN Style, titled “My body went viral twice. This is how it felt,” in which she talked about her journey to self love, body positive, and the challenges she has face.
She wrote::
The first time my body went viral, it was a photograph I posted on my Instagram. I’m wearing a blue swimsuit and I’m standing with one hand on my hip striking a pose on the beach in Havana, Cuba. I certainly didn’t expect the number of reposts and neither did I expect people commenting in my inbox with words like “Brave,” “Inspiring,” and “Confident.”As far as I was concerned, I was just wearing beach-appropriate clothing while on holiday. Why is it that me documenting these seemingly normal activities conjure such loaded words?
But, in fact, my body has always been one of the major narratives in my life. For example, many of the nicknames I was given as a child were related to my fatness, like “fatty bum bum” — said in endearment. My body seems to precede everything else about me — at least in other people’s minds.
As a result, I have always been aware of its ranking on the beauty and desirability front. In fact, whenever my body is the subject of conversation, someone usually says something about my “pretty face,” leading me to believe that I might have had the chance to be beautiful, but because of my body, I did not make the cut.
And while self-love has been a necessary part of shaping my own self-perception into something positive, it is not the panacea it is often touted to be. It hasn’t quite insulated me from the impact of other people’s thoughts about my physical form.
You can read the rest of the article on CNNStyle.
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