Body Image

Beyond challenging societal notions about how sex, pleasure, and orgasms are “bad” or unimportant, and providing the rebellious reclamation many folks with body image challenges need, orgasms can help with body image in a few different ways.

Embracing and accepting ourselves can be a healing journey, one that honors our unique experiences and the inherent value of our bodies.

Just like riding a bike, self-compassion is a skill that must be practiced.

Trust for our bodies is a two-way street just like trust is between people. Our bodies learn to trust us as we learn to trust them, and we often need to make some important changes to achieve this.

A key first step towards self-compassion is feeling safe from harm. We can achieve this by identifying what we need and believing we deserve it. No one is better suited to support ourselves than ourselves.

Actively listening to our bodies and what they’re trying to tell us often seems impossible, especially in 2025 when transgender and nonbinary people and our bodies are under attack. But it is still possible.

My self-harm scars are part of my history and who I am. Body neutrality helped me rethink my relationship to this part of my past.

All bodies are worthy of love exactly as they are! We only ever get to have one body in this life and having a peaceful relationship with it is quality of life. If humans could learn to honor the wisdom coming through our bodies as children and understand every body is unique I think we could transform our society.

With her book Curvy Girl Sex: 101 Body-Positive Positions to Empower Your Sex Life (Fair Winds Press, 2017) Elle Chase gave us a guide for methods, positions and sex hacks for fat lovers with a range of different body types, centering all kinds of people who have long had their sexuality marginalized, denied or erased. In a conversation with Scarleteen, Chase talks about the book, how the media is changing its portrayal of fat people, the relevance of the word “plus size,” and her personal experiences with her own body acceptance and sexual journey.

When you gain weight and want to talk about it – whatever your feelings about it are – with partners or others you’re in intimate relationships with, how can you do that, especially in a world where so few people are equipped with the skills to talk about weight in healthy, sensitive, supportive ways?