I was bullied for a long time – throughout my teens – because I had acne. I used to just hope and pray that I would wake up and become a beautiful person, and it took a really long time to get out of that mentality and start accepting myself. If I could tell my younger self anything, it would be to stop scrutinizing your face and counting your flaws.
The more I learnt about feminism the more it resonated with me. It’s given me so much confidence to be me and to stop being scared of this notion that I might not be beautiful ‘enough’. I dress how I want as a mini-form of activism; it’s my contribution to the spectrum of what it means to be a beautiful woman. So yes, now I love myself and why shouldn’t I! - Sarah, 24
The more I learnt about feminism the more it resonated with me. It’s given me so much confidence to be me and to stop being scared of this notion that I might not be beautiful ‘enough’. I dress how I want as a mini-form of activism; it’s my contribution to the spectrum of what it means to be a beautiful woman. So yes, now I love myself and why shouldn’t I! - Sarah, 24
Learning about feminism gave me loads of confidence to know who I am, and what I like. I started watching Ru Paul’s Drag Race when I was 19, and became obsessed with make-up and the concept of gender. It made me question what was beautiful. Ru said: ‘If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?’ and I realised I really need to get out of the spiral I was in – it was time to start practicing self-love!
I stopped being scared about being beautiful enough – I didn’t want to live my life thinking that the way I looked was important to anybody else but me.
Now I empower myself. Yeah, I love myself and why shouldn’t I?
