No pain, no gain

Rather than tormenting ourselves with “new year, new you” flannel, let’s take a horrified, judgmental look at some “new year, bad old them” pictures. Because things could definitely be worse.

 Historically, “pain is beauty” was taken literally, giving rise to centuries of wild claims, dangerous hacks and impossible-to-attain standards.

 By Emma Beddington, pictures selected by Sarah Gilbert

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