What am I hiding?

Even after 38 years with psoriasis and 15 years with swollen arthritic knees, if someone asked me if try to hide the physical traces of my disease, I would deny it outright. In my idealized view of the world we should be judged on who we are, not on how we look. For the sake of my daughter, I'd like to think that I live this ideal.

But truthfully, I do hide.

I didn't recognize how much until I read this article from WebMD on how to camouflage your psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis. I was truly surprised to realize that I do use many of the tricks recommended in this article. My wardrobe is the offspring of embarrassment and years of trial and error. I don't wear dark colors often. I won't wear shorts - haven't in years, because my knees are so huge. I wore long gloves at my wedding to cover my scabby elbows. As for cosmetics - well, that secret will stay with me.

I'll resist the urge to write a pedantic paragraph about women's obsessions with our body images, the powers of marketing, modern feminism, and "Our Bodies Ourselves". You have all heard it before, and I'm sure you'll just agree with me.

Instead, I'll just end with a question - why do we feel better physically when we look better?

More power to Tim Gunn.