Is your body image super healthy or utterly out of whack?

You've likely seen footage of women asked to draw a life-sized outline of their bodies on a piece of butcher paper taped up against the wall. Inevitably, the outlines are wonky and out-of-whack: the thighs are humongous, the bellies bulge. Our images of ourselves can be practically grotesque compared to the reality.

So where's this coming from? I will admit that usually when watching movies, it's practically impossible to not notice all the ways in which a svelte actresses' body is unlike my own. Perhaps her triceps bulge or she looks really, really good in short shorts. But last night, when watching the old 1960's movie The Misfits, I couldn't take my eyes off Marilyn Monroe. Yes, she has "It," that unmistakable star power that expands to fill the entire screen. But she also had a butt that jiggled and soft upper arms. In fact, it was her very humanness --- that visceral, fleshy appeal --- that contributed to her sexiness. It was enough to make me see my own fleshy bits in a new, more flattering light.

This is one reason why women have gone crazy over Mad Men's Christina Hendricks. For anyone with womanly curves, it's like someone has held up a mirror for us to look in and the view is shocking. Used to seeing images of bodies so unlike our own in magazines, advertisements, television, and movies, we can still barely believe how hot curves can be.

So what about your body image? Let's take the pulse of how we're all feeling about our bods this Monday morning.