By Gabes Torres for Yes! Media. Broadcast version by Kathryn Carley for Maine News Service, reporting for the YES! Media-Public News Service Collaboration

Conversations around body positivity and body acceptance have grown over the past few years. In a way, this is progress. We are bolder in exposing and undoing fat-phobia, ableism, and other systems of body oppression that overtly and covertly exist in media, institutions, and our behaviors. There are more advertisements, clothing lines, and mainstream and social media platforms that attempt to promote body diversity.

This is long overdue, as systemic discrimination against weight, age, and different kinds of bodies in general have not only severed our own relationships with our bodies, but also have infiltrated our health care systems, pathologizing and excluding bodies that are not thin, abled, young, and White, resulting in poor quality of care. Body oppression disproportionately alienates us, specifically the bodies that do not fit the so-called standard of beauty, wholeness, and health. Capitalism and White supremacy have given us many reasons to hate our bodies, because they teach us to be ashamed of them-and to shame others.

In an article titled "Body Shame and Transformation," Sonya Renee Taylor describes the spiraling experience of body shame: "We berated and abused ourselves because we were berated and abused by others. We thought the outside voice was our own, and we let it run roughshod over our lives. And then we judged ourselves for judging ourselves, trapped on a hamster wheel of self-flagellation. Oh, honey, that is no way to live."

Shame is a social emotion and experience. It is always linked to our relationships and people's perceptions-or, rather, our perceptions of people's perceptions. Shame makes us question whether or not we truly belong as we are. Shame makes us nervously wonder about the things that make us "bad" or "wrong." In the case of body image, shame provokes us to want to hide. We hide our curves, our fat, and our softness. We hide the marks and scars that prove we made it out alive. We hide by altering the areas of our skin where our hairs grow and darker pigments reside. Shame makes us want to put a mask on.

Recent trends on social media and society at large have widely suggested that to overcome body image issues, we must be more audacious and loud about our love of our bodies. For many of us, it does help. There was a time when it was beneficial for me to publicly share my growing love for my body. I wrote and performed songs about it. I posted and tweeted selfies and images where I felt good about how I looked. It felt meaningful to resist and undermine the prevalence of Western beauty standards that made me hate my Brown, curvy body. However, the process did not help me address an inner conflict. I know I should love my body as it is, but there are days when it seems more like an abstraction-an idea that my body itself finds hard to take in. So to post about how beautiful I think my body is online sometimes feels artificial, like I'm convincing myself to believe in something that is not authentic. I feel ashamed for not having the consistency to believe the message of body positivity. I feel ashamed for having this shame. And there it goes again: the cycle of shame.

When this happens, we tend to look for ways to get rid of the body shame. Sometimes, this means seeking out what we are all socialized to do in order to solve (or hide) something: to consume. Do I need to find more body positive material and products? Do I need to hire a coach who addresses self-image? Do I need to buy more clothes and accessories that make me feel free and beautiful? The cycle of body shame continues in the allures of consumerism. Bhavika Malik shares similar observations on Polyesterzine: "The absolute and unrealistic pressure on people to love themselves transformed the body positivity movement into a toxic, profit-driven business opportunity."

In her book Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion, Jia Tolentino writes, "Mainstream feminism has also driven the movement toward what's called 'body acceptance,' which is the practice of valuing women's beauty at every size and in every iteration, as well as to diversify the beauty ideal." Tolentino explains how the diversification of what it means to be beautiful and acceptable is great, but the complexity lies in the fact that "Beauty is still of paramount importance." My interpretation of this is that for as long as beauty bears utmost importance, there will always be those who dictate the standard of beauty, and those who strive to meet these standards for the purpose of social approval. But perhaps, more specifically, meeting these standards is to remove the shame that interferes with our sense of belonging. It probably isn't body positivity that the system capitalizes on per se. It capitalizes on the shame we feel any time we do not feel like we fit in or are worthy of belonging.

In her aforementioned article, Sonya Renee Taylor discusses the interruption of the cycles of shame: the practice of radical self-love and compassion. We disrupt these systemic cycles by identifying the antidote, which is also the antithesis of what the system doles out: "The only way to beat that system is by giving ourselves something the system never will: compassion."

When was the last time you experienced compassion? Similar to shame, compassion is also a social experience. It also does not aim to produce and earn as a capitalist tool. We give and receive compassion in the context of relationships, including our relationships with ourselves. Whenever we hide, we isolate ourselves, which decreases our chances of easing the shame and disrupting its cyclical nature. It's hard to seek compassion, especially when we've been judged and rejected countless times before in our vulnerability. Even then, I'd like to believe that life is not static. Without dismissing our painful experiences, life is expansive enough to have new ones. More often than not, we take this journey of undoing shame step by step-inch by inch, even.

In taking this inch by inch, we remember the value of our bodies that transcend beyond projected and imposed standards of beauty, health, and wholeness. Taking from my earliest work, I'd like to share with you the timeless truth: "Our bodies are naturally designed to root for us. They self-heal, detect danger, connect us with others and the natural world. Our bodies invite us to rest and play in its kind and creative way. And with that, I realized that my body is not just the home I've always wanted, but the home that always wanted me."

Gabes Torres wrote this article for YES! Magazine. Torres is a psychotherapist, organizer and artist. Her work focuses on anti-colonial approaches and practices within the mental-health field. She also focuses on abolitionist organizing on a global scale. You can find most of her work on her official website, gabestorres.com, and social media platforms including Instagram. Follow her on Twitter at @gabestorres.

Representatives from the building and design trades will gather this weekend to showcase their professions to Minnesota youth.

Organizers want to establish a pipeline of future industry leaders, including those from underserved communities.

Minnesota's job vacancy rate for construction is near 4%.

It's not as high as other sectors, but officials say they're still trying to overcome longstanding challenges in getting more young people to enter the field.

Brian Kelley is the founder and director of the Young Builders and Designers Program - and said as teens consider their futures, it's worthwhile to let them know more about in-demand jobs with steady incomes, such as plumbers and electricians.

"These are trades that are always needed," said Kelley. "There's work there, there's work in those environments."

Kelley said while these jobs might not seem glamorous, making these connections helps youth realize skills they might not know they possess.

His program hosts a convention this Saturday afternoon at Kenny Elementary School in South Minneapolis.

Partner organizations will sponsor up to 100 low-income youth to attend, so they can learn about opportunities that might help them overcome economic disparities.

For disadvantaged youth who might not be able to attend college, Kelley said a career in the trades could make a huge difference when entering the workforce.

"If a young person is 18- or 19-years-old and they're migrating themselves into a job where they may make $25 or $30 an hour," said Kelley, "that's the difference between renting an apartment and owning a home."

Through its outreach, the Young Builders and Designers Program emphasizes career exploration and entrepreneurship.

Kelley said it's not just learning about construction tools, noting the workshops also teach kids about design work, architecture, and engineering.

He added that they incorporate cultural and historical information to help shape the minds of kids considering these professions.




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A Hungarian-born girl who grew up in Terre Haute is reminding Hoosiers only they control their destiny - by sharing her inspirational story in celebration of International Women's Day.

Long before Cheyenne Stewart found her stride in school, she felt alone, bullied and shy.

She was not alone. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2021 found 57% of U.S. teen girls reported feeling persistently sad or hopeless.

However, Stewart found her place of belonging - and more importantly she found her voice, when she joined her high school's Key Club.

"I started getting used to feeling like a lone wolf who was just managing things on their own," said Stewart. "Key Club really was the first safe haven that I experienced getting me past day-to-day school experience to working for a much bigger cause."

Stewart found refuge in Key Club, a student-led, non-profit organization.

Her star quickly rose from being a new member to overseeing operations for more than 100 Key Clubs in Indiana, and embodying the spirit of International Women's Day.

Stewart learned firsthand the transformative power of community and resilience, when she was elected one of 13 students on the Key Club's international board of trustees.

"Twelve of us were women, selected by about 2,000 people, at the international convention," said Stewart. "It's a testimony to show how impactful women can be for an international perspective as well."

Stewart's impact extends far beyond her leadership roles. She helped start a program to underscore the importance of intergenerational connections by pairing Key Club students with elderly people in Terre Haute.

A program which continues today.

Stewart is currently a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame where she continues to emphasize the importance of finding similar people and embracing leadership potential.




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The newly released 2024 Kids Count Data Book finds the well-being of Indiana is better this year than last.

More than 1.5 million children live in Indiana, where research showed fewer of them live in poverty, face food insecurities and are involved in behaviors like underage drinking and illicit drug use.

Tami Silverman, president and CEO of the Indiana Youth Institute, said the findings shed light on the realities and experiences of Indiana's younger generation.

"We rank 13th for education, 16th for economic well-being, 29th for health and 31st for family and community," Silverman outlined. "When we're looking all around, we're at 24th, so we know that the 'state of the child' in Indiana is good. 24th is still in the middle."

Silverman pointed out there is more work to do as Hoosiers grow up in a rapidly changing world marked by disruptions, from the global pandemic to finding their way through a world where technology and social media can heavily weigh on them.

She noted while the state is moving the needle in the right direction in several categories, the indicators for youth mental health are alarming.

"The percentage of high school students who felt sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks was up to 36% in 2022," Silverman reported. "Indiana ranks 10th for children at risk of depression; we're 15th for youth at risk of suicidal ideations."

Indiana has seen a decline in teen birthrates but infant mortality is on the rise.

Silverman added the state is also working hard to improve literacy, especially for third graders.

"Fifty-nine percent of them can't read at a level that they're comfortable with," Silverman pointed out. "In fact, there's some pretty large initiatives focused on that. And right now, there's a goal the state has set that 95% of third graders will be able to read by 2027."


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