23-year-old Lady Gaga got her start playing in NYC clubs while simultaneously writing songs for artists such as Britney Spears, Akon and the Pussycat Dolls. You can barely drive 15 yards in your car without turning the radio on and hearing, “I love this record baby, but I can't see straight anymore…Keep it cool, what's the name of this club?...I can't remember but it's alright, alright…Just dance!”
So…have you seen this chick? She dressed like the lovechild of Gwen Stefani and Judy Jetson. Crazy outfits like black leather monokinis, plastic bubble dresses, scarlet hooded one-piece bathing suits, and getups that shoot fire from their bra cups.
Mind you, LG (my initials, too!) is not stick thin (look – she wears control top panty hose!). She is not even conventionally pretty. But she owns her look and she makes zero apologies for it.
This got me thinking about body image heroes and the women we look up to, for whatever reason we may have. Maybe your body image hero makes you feel better about being tall, like Bea Arthur. Maybe she quietly encourages you to work out harder, like First Lady Michelle Obama. Maybe she makes you feel less self-conscious about having a bit o’ belly, like model Lizzi Miller. Maybe she inspires you with her wit and sass and perpetually tousled hair, like Miss Piggy does for a certain quirky girlfriend of mine. I guess it doesn’t matter if your body image hero is universally recognized as being beautiful or hot or slim or whatever – as long as she makes a positive difference FOR YOU, that’s all that matters.
So, taking a cue from Gaga and all the other fabulous women I just named, tell me: Who is your body image hero?
