Pssst! Your insecurities are showing...

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I'm by no means lacking in insecurities, but I sometimes wonder if growing up in China and with a Chinese family had something to do with the fact that I'm a little more easy-going about my body than most women I know. To clarify, when I was in China (20 years ago), a naked female body was no big deal since many people could only bathe in public bath houses. I would venture to say that I probably saw more naked women in my first 4 years of life than most men I know haha. When I came to America, I tried to get a little more puritan due to peer pressure and tried to do things like change in bathroom stalls for modesty, but my mom was always getting impatient with all the fuss and she'd always say, "What's the big deal? We're all women here so hurry up and get dressed!" Similarly, many Asian families at the time didn't see an issue if the girls swam in just their panties if they hadn't gotten around to buying swimsuits yet. Of course, this is all different now. I don't think China is as liberal about nudity as it once was and my much younger sister is definitely more obsessed about 'covering up' all the time (now I'M the one yelling about how it's not a big deal since we're both women!).

But I'm definitely glad that I got the chance to grow up in an environment that wasn't too touchy about nudity. Even when I was 20 pounds heavier, I never had a problem with being seen naked. In fact, I was surprised when my current boyfriend told me that he'd never met a woman as comfortable with being seen naked as I was (he had only been with American women before). Interestingly, I was reading a book about French women that said something very similar--French women tend to be comfortable with being naked (and being seen naked) than American women. Of course, these are just generalizations (I've lived with a few American girls who were okay with being seen naked--once even roomed with one who showed up in just her panties the day after I moved in), but I think there's certainly a trend of being more self-conscious about the naked appearance in America than in, say, Europe or Japan (lots of nudity there...the communal bathhouses continue to exist there). All in all, I wonder if there's something about American culture that promotes a fear of physical scrutiny?

drog2323

it's kinda like when us men get a cold....and we think we act like we are on our death bed....being huge babies. women have a cold, you don't hear much complaining.

some things just cannot be explained.

:laugh:
It's funny b/c its true

have you seen the Nyquil commercial?....classic!

Ephena

People keep telling me to stop losing weight or I will disappear. It's really annoying to hear especially when I know I'm not that small.

I get that too, or when I get dirty looks for saying that I'm still fat. I didn't say it looking for compliments and I'm not putting myself down. I am still overweight, therefore I am fat. And I don't want to lose my mindset that has allowed to get this far. It's amazing what head games we put ourselves through, maybe I should make that my new goal: get my head screwed on straight.....