A mix of personal essay and cultural criticism, The Waiting Room, a new column for The Butter, will look at the places where women’s body image, illness, and disability intersect. Oxygen is delicious. I’m not talking about fresh air—I’m talking about oxygen straight from the tank, pumped right into the nostrils through plastic tubing. I'm willing to overlook the piping’s new-shower-curtain smell; as soon as the gas starts flowing, my thoughts come into focus,…

First, stop eating. It’s easy because the flavors hurt: the shock of cinnamon atop pumpkin spice latte, the harsh curl of cilantro in an otherwise bland bowl of Vietnamese noodles. It’s easy because it feels like control, and your body will thank you with the amelioration of cramps, of crinkling pain in your stomach, to the left and right of your stomach like the less desirable regions surrounding a bull’s eye. Your body

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