In her essay
"How Body Modification Ended the War Against My Body," Sharon Haywood discusses her
choice to pierce her bellybutton as an act of self-love. She says that she struggled with eating
disorders for years and considered her belly the most hated part of herself, making it the part
that was the most symbolic of the struggle she faced to love the body she lived in. She says
that her choice to pierce her belly button was as a peace offering: a way of beautifying the
part of her she felt was the least beautiful.
Eventually, Haywood decided to
take the piercing out, which is a body modification in itself. This action is meant to be
symbolic of the author having come fully to peace with her belly. She no longer needs the the
symbolic representation to remind her to see the beauty inherent in her own
form.
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