Skin-Firming as Self-Flagellation
Using a remedial lotion—that may not even work—only worsened my body image.
Slathering on lotion doesn’t seem quite as punishing as other steps in a beauty regimen. Nothing’s yanked out or burned off; no blood is shed or pain inflicted in the name of self-improvement. But the hours I’ve spent in the last decade rubbing “skin-firming” products onto my thighs, breasts, upper arms, and ass might just as well have been spent furiously pinching the fat on my body in the desperate hope it would disappear.
And my God, my neck. Or rather, this fatty little double chin hovering above it. Much as I’ve brooded over the appearance of my arms and middle, no other body part has weathered such internal
