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A fellow Feministing is writing a book on self-esteem for girls and she’s asked the community for some help. Her goal, as she describes, “is to write a book that will encourage girls to be brave, smart, enthusiastic and conscientious people in this world.” That’s certainly something I and I’m sure many readers here can get behind, so I wanted to repost the request here as well. Here are some of the questions posed to readers:

WEIGHT

1. When was the first time you remember someone made a comment about your weight? What was the comment? How did you feel about it afterwards? Did you do something about it?
2. What were the comments you most remember? Do think they affected your life in any way and how so? Did these comments prevent you from doing things like going to school, going out with friends and so forth?
3. Have you ever been on a diet? Or have you ever exercises heavily? If so how old were you when you started? What kind of weight loss plan was it? How do you feel about loosing weight?
4. Do you still continue to diet or exercise heavily?

REPRODUCTION

1. How did you learn about menstruation?
2. How did you learn about sex and reproduction?
3. How did you feel after you learned about it? Did you feel more positive about your body or negative?
4. Is it something you openly discuss with other people?
5. Did anyone ever make comments about your body parts such as body hair, breasts, and so forth? Did these comments affect your daily life?

BODY LOVE AND HATE

1. What do you love about your body today?
2. What do you dislike about your body today?

THE REAL YOU

1. What do you like about your personality, your mind, your talent etc?
2. What do you dislike about your personality, your mind, your talent etc?

ADVICE

1. If you could give a self-conscious girl who is 10 years old a piece of advice what would it be?
2. If you could give a self-conscious girl who is 15 years old a piece of advice what would it be?
3. If you could give a self-conscious woman who is 20 years old a piece of advice what would it be?

Send your answers to rootedwillow (at) yahoo.com