I read an article recently about the staggering percentage of women who hate their bodies, and the amount of time they spend talking about just that – hating their bodies. As staggering as the percentage was, it was not the least big surprising to me, which, I suppose, made the whole article even more depressing to read. It seems to be the expected behavior, and topic of conversation, that exchange of self-deprecating/hating comments about our own bodies, to one another. It never seems to stop, and that kind of discourse starts at such a young age, too, with girls.

I’m not trying to be gender-biased here. It’s not as though I’ve never heard a guy complain about their bodies before. I have. But not with the level of self-loathing and frequency as I have with and around most of the women I know, and come in contact with. This disheartens me beyond words.

“Candy says,
I’ve come to hate my body, 
and all that it requires in this world.”

There are so many millions of things in this world to experience and discuss. There are so many positives to be seen outside of ourselves, about ourselves, and inside of ourselves. And, there is so much amazing music out there to listen to, and talk about.

Why waste time hating ourselves, and our bodies, when there is so much else to do, feel, experience, and listen to?

How about taking a day to not say, or think, anything ugly about ourselves and instead find something we love to experience, or talk about, instead?

“Candy Says” by The Velvet Underground
from the album, The Velvet Underground (1969)
Song Of The Day – February 7, 2011

I’ve collected up quite a few cover versions of The Velvet Underground. Here are two versions of “Candy Says” that I like a lot.

First up, a gorgeous live version by Beth Gibbons (of Portishead):

And the second one is an equally gorgeous live version by Antony (of Antony And The Johnsons) with Lou Reed: