Here you can see my “LOVE YOUR BODY!” wristbands from the Love Your Body! Wristband Project, being modeled by the headstock of my Liberty ‘shooting stars’ resonator guitar out by the plum tree. These wristbands come in a dark purple, hot pink, and turquoise (even if my photo makes the latter look more surf green, it really is a solid teal/turquoise color), and in three different sizes — 8″, 8.5″, and 9.5″ — to fit almost all wrists. (And if Love Your Body! is out of your size, VoluptuArt also sells them.)
Although as shown above the Love Your Body! Wristband Project is specifically intended to address size diversity/activism, and although I strongly support this cause, at the same time loving our bodies/ourselves is a vital message and concept for all people. Pretty much all of us have had the experience of being told that our bodies are too big, too small, too young, too old, too dark, too queer, too poor, too disabled, too out of style — the list goes on and so. Some of this is bigotry, scapegoating, divide and conquer; some of it is advertisers trying to make us feel bad about ourselves so we’ll think we need to buy their products, but all of it needs to be resisted with a healthy dose of love for ourselves and working for a better future where all people’s bodies are valued.
In my SEE a Bully – STOP a Bully posting I had written a little about the devastating effects of bullying, well, this is a flip side of that — it’s also extremely important that you not bully yourself by internalizing the bullies’ and bullying culture’s messages of hatred and shame, but instead stick up for yourself and your right to be treated with respect and to pursue a full and happy life.
Whether you’re as curvy as a guitar body or as skinny as a guitar neck, or whether you favor a different instrument altogether, love your body and love yourself! Both people and guitars come in all shapes and sizes and ages and colors and places of origin and what have you, and all have their unique voices and contributions to make.
To continue with the musical theme, here’s a much-loved quote from Woody Guthrie:
“I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim too ugly or too this or too that. Songs that run you down or poke fun at you on account of your bad luck or hard traveling. … I am out to fight those songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood. I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built, I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work.”
I’m sure you can think of just no end of occasions when I find these wristbands just the thing to remind me to stick up for myself, as well as times when I just want to let my purple, hot pink, and/or teal/turquoise shine out!
This post is part of the 2011 Love Your Body Day Blog Carnival
updated August 4, 2013
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