Third Wave is a student-run undergraduate feminist

organization at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. Our goal

is to create a safe space to discuss women’s rights and gender

related issues with an intersectional perspective. We work to

raise awareness, promote activism and sponsor feminist related

events on campus.

This zine is dedicated to all those who struggle

with maintaining a positive body image. You are not alone.

Be kind to yourself.

Editor’s Note:

I’m so glad we were able to create a second issue! Our first zine

was titled “Why are you a feminist?” For this collection, we

wanted to focus on something more specific: body positivity.

Body positivity can mean a lot of different things to different

people, and I hope our content reflects that diversity of

perspectives.

I want to thank everyone who submitted content for this zine, it

is only because of the community that we could create this

anthology. I also want to thank the other officers of Third

Wave; Kimm Topping, Patrick Bradley and Lindsay Theirl

(now an alumni).

Please enjoy!

Karen Briggs

If you struggled with any of the issues presented in this zine,

know that the Lesley University Women’s Center provides

resources for anyone faced with body image issues and is open

to people of all genders.

The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) also

provides free online resources for dealing with poor body image

at www.nationaleatingdisorders.com.

Thank you to all contributors:

Sarah Robinson

Tracy Huerta

Taylor Dean

Masada Jones

Emma Benard

Shanece Edwards

Caroline Keeler

Elyse Gilbert

Rebecca Meyers

Monica Pereira

Jenna Desmond

Claudia Smith

Check out Third Wave online!

www.facebook.com/lesley.thirdwave

www.lesleythirdwave.tumblr.com

Or email us at thirdwave@lesley.edu

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Sarah Robinson Sarah Robinson

15 2

Tracy Huerta

3 14

“Jump”

by Emma Benard

I made this portrait my freshman year at Lesley. We had to convey a

certain emotion in our portrait. I chose to convey insecurity and self-

consciousness. In the portrait I'm covering my face. I've always been

very self conscious of my appearance. Behind me, however, are zippers.

In these zippers are pearls and gems, which symbolize the beauty that I

have not just on the outside, but the inside as well. I really love this

piece because it really reminds me that I need to love myself and my

body and that I shouldn't need to hide it!

Jenna Desmond

My Worth

by Masada Jones

So I’ve finally discovered that I am worth more

Now I smile more often that is

I give birth to poetry

Write words to define me

Who I really am

Mind set is so much more different from if he wants to be with me

Than that means I must be pretty

Now I know I am beautiful

A wise woman once told I was beautiful

I quickly made it into a joke not knowing how to take a compliment…

Since all my dudes had told me I was cute with a big but

Didn’t know my worth

So I thought I was cute with a big butt

Always wanted show my butt

But now I show my mind

I walk head to the sky lips to microphone and hands on hips

I’ve had way too many people look and judge me please dare to be different

from them

I want to share with you the most precious possession I own…

My mind

I now own me

Not easily influenced by those that want to keep me down

Now two-step on clouds kiss the sun in the morning and at night sing the

moon a lullaby

Before I leave for school I smother God with hugs

I am a goddess

At one time you used strings to tame me

Was naïve so I let you play me

You were not prepared for me to break free

I am not your zombie

I am very much alive

Nefertiti the beautiful queen of Egypt gave me cpr

With each compression she whispered fight it sister

You’ve got to fight it I refuse to lose another one

So I did

Awoke and snipped each string that was once pulled by them

You no longer own me

Threw away my magazines and no longer watch TV

You cannot make me kill myself in my own mind because I don’t look like

them

13 4

Taylor Dean

Sick of hearing you’d be beautiful if you were skinny

You have a pretty face

If only you were a few shades lighter

I am beautiful

Media who do you think you are

Hypnotizing these men to the point where they don’t even know what they

want anymore

Wanting girls that look like video vixens

The way you talk to us it’s now so condescending

You were never like that in grade school

I know your mother she was my babysitter

She definitely taught you better

Guess the way misogynist use their words are more clever

You want to be just like them

We seem to forget that we both came from Adam

Adam now comes from me

Needed you to be

You need me to leave your legacy

But I digress

I once screamed inside my skin

Was dying inside

Can’t say I haven’t contemplated it

Not suicide

But using bleach peroxides, dyes, and lye

Broke through

Fell in love with the freedom of my afro and the uncontrolled sway of my

hips

I am Me

Media do something else to jeopardize my image

I dare you

I will scream as if it is the last words my voice will ever utter

I AM BEAUTIFUL

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“Beautiful Feet”

by Emma Benard

To my stomach,

I’m sorry for despising you every single day.

I’m sorry I blame you for my loneliness. I blame you when I’m

upset and feel rejected.

I’m sorry for thinking that you don’t deserve love or praise. I know

that isn’t fair.

It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong. You are not

wrong or bad.

When I criticize you, it’s really because I feel lonely or unloved.

When things aren’t going well or I feel upset, I take it out on you.

I’m so sorry.

I’m so sorry for hating you. I don’t want to anymore.

To my body,

I’m sorry for all the harmful things I have said and done to you.

I’m sorry for the negativity I throw at you in the mirror every day.

I’m sorry for blaming you and hiding you and hurting you for so

long.

I’ve been hurting for so long.

I’ve hated you for too long.

I don’t want to anymore.

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Here's to no longer pinching the soft spots of your torso and wishing your

very own flesh away. Here's to no longer folding yourself in half so that no

one notices how much space your body takes up. Here's to letting your body

exist.

Here's to thanking your body, for every place it has brought you to, every

hand it has let you hold, every object it has let you carry, every other body it

has let you embrace. Here's to thanking your body for the viruses it has

fought off for you, the sore throats and nauseous stomachs it has cured.

Here's to thanking your body for the grace in which it has let you live.

It asks you for nutrients. For food, for exercise, for clean air. But it needs

love, and to be loved well: the kind of love that is bigger than just

appreciating yourself on good hair days. It needs deeply-rooted, fire-hot,

laugh-at-your-own-jokes love.

That can be life saving.

You have a grand and beating heart that gives you your days, strength and

muscles that help you to live your life fully, and a mouth and nose and ears

that help you to grasp the essence of this world entirely thanks to the body

you live in. You have a body that is capable. A body that is powerful. A

body that gives so much to you and requires little but love from you in

return.

Numbers on the scale, vocabulary like "fat" and "too much", avoiding the

dressing room, having a cheese stick for lunch, negative self-talk: rid it all.

Body positivity is rejecting that hate. It is rejecting the passing of judgment

of strangers' bodies. It is rejecting the passing of judgment of the health and

lifestyle of another body. It is rejecting the passing of judgment of bodies

that cannot walk, bodies that cannot talk, bodies that cannot function in the

same way yours can. It is celebrating the way that all bodies function.

It is embracing love and care and proper treatment of the self.

Claudia Smith

An Apology Letter to My Body

by Rebecca Meyers

To my skin,

I’m sorry for being embarrassed by you.

I’m sorry for cursing your zits and pimples and complexion.

When I treat you this way, what I really mean is that I’m insecure,

and afraid of people seeing my flaws so clearly.

I’m sorry for hating you. I don’t want to anymore.

To my hair,

I’m sorry I get angry with you.

I’m sorry for being so frustrated and disappointed by you.

It’s not about you. I’m really just scared of being scrutinized and

disliked, and so I blame you.

I’m sorry for hating you. I don’t want to anymore.

To my thighs,

I’m sorry for being ashamed of you.

I’m sorry for putting so much pressure on you, and for staring at

you with disapproval.

I’m sorry I haven’t been kind to you. You don’t deserve that.

When I judge you, it’s really a reflection of my vulnerabilities and

fears.

When I want to hide you and shrink you, it’s because I feel

vulnerable and fear judgment from others.

I haven’t been fair to you.

I’m sorry for hating you. I don’t want to anymore.

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Lineage

by Caroline Keeler

I'll never achieve a figure

of bones and angles.

I come from people of flesh,

mothers of meat and marrow--

guardians of the kitchen,

pushers of sustenance.

My people were resourceful,

never hungry-- always proud

of the stock, the butter and bread

that would expand bellies and

inspire a season of gratitude.

Images of my ancestors lend belonging

to me, now, in a new world;

rounded shoulders, soft bodies.

A composed intensity

behind their knitted brows--

I know where I come from in this way;

the story of my nose, sharp chin,

skin-- loose and stretched

from their generosity.

They fed me long before

my arrival into body--

form that I would end up

resenting for its history,

its life-giving life.

Imagine me starving

long after their bounty,

as if I come from nothing!

See, pride has been redefined--

so I watch, helpless,

as the fruits of their labor

hang uneaten-- begging me

to take a bite, to feast

on what they've prepared

in spite of famine.

I wish to conceal the growth,

hide the rotting remnants

of their legacy, for I--

I have let it waste away.

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Elyse Gilbert

Body positivity to me is being comfortable in the temple that is your body and knowing that there will be moments where we do not feel at our best, but that too should be embraced. We compare ourselves to others and are too consumed in observing what we lack in, so much so that we miss out on what we excel in. When we stop comparing ourselves to others and start realizing how unique each of us is we will know that there is no comparison.

Shanece Edwards