Gonna try to be deep

I dislike being told that I don't understand, or worse yet that I can't understand. Sometimes it's justified and it's something I won't understand even if I really really try (the female hormone cycle, for example... It's one of those things you can't really understand until it's happened to you... thankfully for me it hasn't).

I had someone offload on me the otherday about the problems they have with they're own body image. I did my best to remain sympathetic and let her do most of the talking, but she ended it with "I dunno why I'm telling you this, you won;t understand". I interjected and asked what she could possibly mean, and what it boiled down to was - Neal is skinny, therefore Neal should be exempt from problems with body image.

This has bothered me, and since this is my blog, I'm gonna share a few things.

I am really REALLY skinny. With the exception of a few months (maybe closer to a year) in my entire life, I have been at a body weight that most people would consider unhealthy.

I can touch my middle fingers and thumbs around my upper thigh, and am within a few inches of being able to do it around my waist.

I am very skinny.

I also suffer from poor body image; Some days I look in the mirror and see myself as so skinny I feel natious. Some days I look in the mirror and see drooping and jiggling where I don't feel I should.

On days when I do feel good about myself, I am often bombarded by people like myself in the media. People my size are usually stock characters, and we're not usually the guy that gets the girl, or the guy that saves the day (with a few exceptions). We are nerdy. We are unsocialized. We are ridiculed. And we are instantly identified by our size.

Some days I wish I was the guy with the rock hard abs, walking around with no shirt on as all the ladies swoon while I pass.

I dont really know where I'm going with this... But I hope I made some sort of point... Western society bombards us all with unattainable goals of appearance, and then mock us when we can't get there. None of us are exempt. If you dont believe me, watch a show like "americas next top model" or "project runway" and listen to what the models say "my collar bone sticks out too much" "my torso is too long" "my knees are too fat" "my nose is too big"... These people, who are paid to be epitomy of perfection, are just as insecure as any of us... So please don't say I won;t understand...