The reason I posted this on my blog is the overwhelmingly positive response it got among my peer group when it went online at a discussion board type site. Here

The reason I posted this on my blog is the overwhelmingly positive response it got among my peer group when it went online at a discussion board type site. Here are some of the PMs I've gotten (and one PM of two friends that one friend sent to me): (1) [name redacted] (1:25pm): Good heavens. This is like reading my own thoughts on someone else's plan. :) My father never said anything about anorexia, but there were some comments in that vein. I still don't care enough. Frankly, I hope I never have to. (2) [name redacted] (6:01pm): I love that Paul Graham essay. It's the first essay of his that I read, and still his best work, I think. Your substituted version makes me think of "Adam's Curse," by W. B. Yeats: "To be born woman is to know -- Although they do not talk of it at school -- That we must labour to be beautiful." I think some girls decide that labor isn't worth the hassle. (3) [name redacted] (4:05pm): I was really heavy in high school- now I'm about the same size as you said you are. I'm so done feeling bad about my figure, because I'm perfectly normal and I happen to like food. [me] (4:29pm): Yay! (4) [name redacted] (1:23pm): Go post that on news.ycombinator.com. It's surprisingly insightful, and I bet everyone there (including Paul Graham) would get a big kick out of it. [me] (2:28pm): :) I just might (5) [redacted a]: the most fascinating thing, to me, is using the words of Paul Graham to talk about feminism. [redacted a]: (from that plan) [redacted b]: I don't know anythign about him except the nerds essay [redacted a]: He's someone that a lot of nerd guys look up to for things like the nerds essay. A lot of nerd guys having no patience for feminism.