I had gone through the regular cycle of a growth spurt, marked by big changes in my height and weight; but nothing could’ve prepared me for how much my bust would grow. In Primary 5, a classmate looked at me and said, “Dude, I can see your boobs. They’re so obvious, did you wear a bra?” I had, of course, worn a bra — but the embarrassing call-out opened my eyes to notice, for the first time, that my bust was larger than everyone else’s.
I also noticed that my thighs had become thicker; the skinny, pre-puberty body I had was gone. It clicked in my head that the way I looked could be an uncomfortable sight in the eyes of those around me because it went against the grain of Southeast Asian beauty standards. I had always been encouraged by my mum to embrace how I looked and be comfortable in my own ski