"My sister and I went on a joint diet. She stopped and I didn't. I'm 18. And I'm dragged from school to the hospital. And I'm made to look at myself. [MUSIC PLAYING] I weigh 56 pounds. Do you find you're too skinny? Yes, I am too skinny. But what does it matter? I had turned my body into a project, a revolt against nature Mother nature, my mother. A revolt against womanhood, adulthood. My biggest enemy? Time."
"I was a chubby Punjabi raised in Trois-Rivieres, Canada, my home. This is the place where the rebel was made and the project began. One, two, three. My sisters Can you laugh? Can you laugh into it? Well, only if you tell me a good joke. Amita, my big sister, the goddess, the queen, my idol. My little sister, Seema, practically my twin, my mate, playmate, my rival."
An 18-year-old Punjabi woman from Trois-Rivieres reaches extreme thinness, weighing 56 pounds and being taken from school to a hospital to confront her body. She turned her body into a deliberate project as a revolt against nature, womanhood, adulthood, and the passage of time. Family dynamics include an idolized older sister, a twin-like rival sister, a heroic father, and a homesick mother whose sadness affected her. Menstruation provoked shock and shame in the household and intensified her refusal to mature. Fashion magazines became an escape and dieting became a means of controlling bodily change.
Read at www.nytimes.com
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