Christine Schoenwald

One of the reasons that narcissists are so troubling is their lack of compassion and awareness regarding how their behavior affects other people.

The truth is, we want our cats fat and our women skinny.

My brother, Frederick, was eight when I was born. I don't know if he was happy to have a sister or resented me being born, as it was difficult to get any kind of reading on what he was thinking or feeling. I never felt any love or affection from him — unless his way of showing it was through emotional and physical abuse.

I’m riding my bike around a local community center on a Sunday morning.

I still went to the painful place of being fat-shamed and decided that was why he had refused to kiss me. The pain never fully went away.

I grew up in a fatphobic household — one that was created by my mother’s fear of getting and staying fat.

I’m in an ongoing threesome with fear and anxiety.

I know there are far worse injustices happening in the world, but getting weighed in front of people smacks of fat-shaming, and feels incredibly invasive.

We all want someone who will appreciate our curves, voluptuousness, strength, and beauty without fetishizing us. I’m fat, I’m fabulous, but I’m not your fetish.

As if parenting wasn't challenging enough, sometimes you actually have to talk to your children. Not only do you have to speak with them, but you want to do it in a way that will have positive and lasting results.