ch-ch-changes, part 2

Or, more on accepting your own body type, with celeb pictures.

Yesterday on gofugyourself.com, one of my favorite websites, they posted the following picture of JLo Hewitt.



They posted it to illustrate that the woman is always photographed in bandage dresses, and that she needs to switch up her wardrobe choices. They asked that readers weigh in on what they would like to see her wearing instead. To my particular chagrin, seemingly half the comments focused instead on the fact that she had "fat" legs or "ugly" legs or "cankles." Someone opined that she should stick to wearing pants at all times.



Cankles? She has tiny little ankles in that picture. She's also a short little woman with some calf muscle, much like, oh, I dunno, me? My immediate thought in reading those comments was, OMG, people are looking at my legs every time I wear a skirt and thinking I should put those things away. Which is not a thought I have ever much had before. In fact, I have always considered my lower legs to be one of my better physical features. IN FACT, one of my exes, the first time we were, um, intimate, actually told me my calf muscles were beautiful, which only reinforced my prior lurve for them. It's only in very recent days, since I've been doing calf raises that I really probably don't need to be doing, that I've even questioned whether my calves might be becoming *too* muscular. But even so, I would never consider them fat or canklish.

But compare this picture of Amanda Seyfried, also on gofugyourself yesterday.



That is, presumably, the socially acceptable lower leg? I mean, to me, they look like you could snap them like twigs, but I suppose if that is the beauty ideal, JLo Hewitt and I do have hideous "cankles" and should hide them under full length jeans at all times so as not to frighten the populace. Sigh.

The thing is, I could never look like Ms Seyfried. My calves were more muscular than that when I was 12 years old. If I were a drumstick, you'd be getting a full meal, is all I'm sayin'. So I'm better off believing what I think when I look in the mirror: that short muscular legs are just fine. Or even what my suitor said: that they're beautiful. Because I ain't ever gonna make them into what they genetically are not, and I don't intend to wear long pants every day of the rest of my natural life.

xoxo