This cycle will be broken only when the feelings are accepted as real and manageable part of the human experience. I ask them to imagine their bodies as the adorable child-self part of them and to experience the feelings generated from that premise. Often the women describe the joy, hope, and energy generated by the former in contrast to the grief, pain, and sadness generated by the latter. From this awareness can come the realization that body acceptance, representative of self-acceptance, is essential to healing and change. However, it is not simple to internalize this awareness, given the powerful forces encountering it.
Women internalize critical, rejecting messages about their bodies involuntarily.
This adaptation serves to connect the individual to others by identifying with the groups beliefs. This process is based on the powerful biological striving for connection with others, to belong, to be accepted, to be loved. The magical rescue fantasy cannot coexist with self-acceptance and loving valuation of self or with rejection of the cultural devaluation of women. To deal with these losses and fears, alternative support systems must be in place. Women need the support of other women and men who join them in recognizing and rejecting society's devaluation of women.