Ali’s Reviews > Taboo: Conversations We Never Had About Sex, Body Image, Work and Relationships > Status Update

‘I’m just trying to help you.’ No, you are not. By commenting on my appearance, you shackle me to the system you abide by. I am trying to escape it, and I’m failing. I am trying to help you escape it: we are both failing.

The language of the beauty industry monetises a fight we will never win. No matter how thin, pretty or close to the beauty standard we are: we feel it is always out of reach.

I had ripped off the boundaries of a taboo like a bandaid, and when I came to, the discomfort tripled.