For Sam, the topic of body image is a really complicated one; she talks about what it was like growing up in a Hmong family that valued thinness and pale skin—features which Sam did not have. She recalls how her father was ashamed of her and her “chunky” siblings, who were not considered beautiful or desirable. At the same time that Sam received messages about what a Hmong woman looks like, she was taught about how she should behave and there was an emphasis placed on being quiet, meek, and deferential to male authority. Sam’s political views are also very left-leaning, which is different from those of the men who imposed standards of Hmong beauty and behavior on her, and she talks about what it’s like to be constantly shut down by her community when it comes to ideas of racial and gender equality. For Sam, a conversation about her body is linked to the many ways in which her community has taught her to not only police her appearance, but control the way she feels, acts, and stands up for her certain social causes.