The body and the emotional state

Good Day All:

Welcome to the Tuesday April 9 edition of The Outlet, where the talk is open and honest.  I've been using this forum to discuss sex and body image.  I've noticed that it's become a self-confessional space to relate my embrace of a more positive body image.  A positive body image is directly tied to a healthier self.  A healthier image of the human body in all its glory and foibles is something that gets projected out into the universe.  People respond to it.  I also believe that a healthier self-image is part of honoring the human body.  The images in the media seemed to have reduced the body to chunks of meat.  For women, we are reduced to two things, our breasts and our vagina.  This is wrong in so many ways.  When we reduce people to the sum of their body parts, we are sending out the message that "Your worth is equivalent to your primary and secondary sexual organs."  Thus the media has successfully degraded the human body and what's worse, is that young girls and women have internalized this message.  The results are the choices women make when it comes to how we project ourselves into the world.  This sometimes manifests itself in the choices of clothing we make.  While I believe that our exterior self (appearance) is a manifestation of the interior self (emotional state), I often wonder when I see women walking around in short tight clothing and high heels what's going on their lives.  Are they feeling that insecure about themselves that they have to dress like prostitutes in order to feel good about themselves?  Apparently, the message of dressing sexy in order to feel attractive has been so completely internalized.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, fully covering up projects another type of message.  Some fully cover up for religious reasons others do so because of some internal turmoil.  I've also engaged in a form of sartorial hiding myself.  I find that when I do that, I'm telling the world I am experiencing some emotional turmoil.  Thus my recent embrace of my nudity is part of a process to feel better about who I am.  I've taken to sleeping in the nude and leaving my bath robe open when I dress.  I don't feel any shame about it, just a new way of honestly looking at myself.