NEWS: Beautiful with Margaret Cho

CULTURE: Beautiful with Margaret Cho

I went on a radio show recently and the DJ asked me,

"What if you woke up tomorrow and you were beautiful?"



What do you mean, "What if?"



He continued, "What if you woke up tomorrow and you

were blonde, you had blue eyes, you were 5'11, you

were 100 lbs and you were beautiful? What would you

do?"



"Well, I probably wouldn't get up because I would be

too weak to stand."



Immediately I felt sorry for him, because if that

is the only kind of person you think is beautiful, you

must not see very much beauty in the world. I think

everyone is beautiful, and if you don't think that I

am beautiful you are missing out because I am so

beautiful.



It has taken me a long way to get to feeling

beautiful. It certainly wasn't easy. I never felt

beautiful growing up. I was a really awkward kid; very

overweight, totally shy and scared of everything and

everyone. When you are big people ignore you. You

become totally invisible which is weird because there

is so much of you to see.



When I grew up I still felt like I was ugly. A lot

of my life was lived under this notion. I had sex with

lots of guys because I thought I was so ugly... who was

I to turn them down?



That is really terrible, when you feel so ugly that

you don't have a right to choose anything. I mean

there isn't anything wrong with being slutty. Slutty

can be awesome and fun. I respect and love sluts and

enjoy being one now and again. But slutty should be a

choice!



Having sex without valuing yourself and respecting

yourself is a sad thing, and I did way too much of

that.



I look back on it all now and I want to cry for

the beautiful young girl I once was because I wasn't

as kind to her as I should have been. That is why I am

so good to myself now.



I have tattoos because I am so beautiful the only

thing I can do is make myself more beautiful. My

tattoos are gorgeous because they also remind me that

my body is mine, that it is a work of art, that even

though I may not be a size 2 and am old enough to be

the mom of some of the tattoo artists who have worked

on me, I am still stunningly beautiful. Tattoos are a

way to share some of the beauty you have on the inside

to everyone who is outside. When I see anyone's

tattoos I say, "Ah - beautiful!"



I hope everyone comes to my brand new show

"Beautiful". I hope everyone feels beautiful all the

time.



Margaret Cho







***Editor's Note: SuicideGirls is proud to welcome Margaret Cho as a contributor. Show the lady some love! Her new stand-up comedy tour "Beautiful" hits the road on February 27. Go check out her official site for more info and don't forget to read the awesome interview she and I did for SG!

Wonderful and welcome .

welcome, margaret!
this is awesome.

Great first piece! Much-welcomed words of wisdom.