How My Body Deformity Made Me Confident Despite Beauty Standards
“Your hips are uneven because you’re growing into a woman! It happens to everyone,” said my mother reassuringly around my 15th birthday as I looked into the long-length mirror of our family home. It must have been horrible for her daughter, who once toddled and leered at this mirror, noticing herself in the reflection with joy, to now tug at her top self-consciously and run her fingers bitterly over the reflection of her curves.
But I knew something wasn’t right. My ribs stuck out wide on my small frame, one shoulder hung like it was resisting its socket, so I never quite stood straight, and my right hip bulged out of its skin in an angry jut. One trip to the general practitioner and a quick referral to the spinal doctor, and the consultant confirmed that I had idiopathic scoliosis and a 46-degree curve in my spine. At the sight of my X-Ray, my mother and I both took a sharp intake of breath. My spine was sinuous like a snake, curving aimlessly around my body, flicking organs out of the way with a snarl.