Taking Out My Breast Implants Made Me Feel More Feminine

The first time I learned to be self-conscious about my chest, I was a schoolgirl in a PE changing room. It was not cruel, and I was not a victim. I was a popular girl, the girls teasing me were my friends, and the joke was light: someone landed on ice cream cones, everyone giggled, I giggled too, and we got on with the lesson. That is the part nobody warns you about. It does not take cruelty to plant an insecurity that outlives school. A little light, salted teasing found a soft spot and lodged there, and settled something about me that I would spend years trying to undo. My body was a problem to be solved.