The time has never been as important as it is in today’s world where body positivity needs to be heard. The media is doing an amazing job of sharing vast amounts of articles and photos of different types of women from all cultures embracing their bodies and accepting their own skin. However, I have yet to see many body positivity movements where its women of all shapes, and all sizes.
Let me clarify. All women are beautiful, and we all deserve to be comfortable in our own skin and love our bodies for exactly what they are. Whether our bodies are curvy, athletic, or skinny we all have a right to be apart of the body positivity movement, as body positivity has no body.
So why is the media really only sharing photos and articles of curvier women as the letterhead to their body positivity movement? Where are the naturally tiny, the tall, and the medium-sized women?
I know a lot of women of all shapes and sizes that don’t feel comfortable in their own bodies because the media tells them not to. They’re either too skinny or too curvy, and, as of recently, a lot of skinny women are being shamed as “unhealthy” and “sick looking.” I suppose that the media has received a lot of backlash on using only skinny women as the poster child for beauty and fashion, and I am by no means disagreeing with the riot.
I, too, am one of the people who would like to see a change in the way media portrays women and beauty in the fashion industry, but, I want them to do it in the right way.
When I say the right way, I’m sure you’re thinking: “but they are! They’re now using curvy women in their photos!”, and you would be correct, however, that’s all they’re using. The media has once again managed to shame those who are different from their standards of “beautiful.” They have changed the meaning behind body positivity from loving your current body and accepting yourself, into shaming those who are skinnier and don’t have the curvy appeal they’re looking for.
If we don’t accept ALL body types, there will always be a need for the body positive movement.
The media used to be all about skinny is beautiful. Skinny was fashion. Skinny was what you want to look like. Now that we’re standing up and fighting for our right to love ourselves they have finally taken a step back and realized that they made a mistake, or have they? Unfortunately it seems they haven’t learned their lesson and are now going from skinny is beautiful to curvy is beautiful and missing everything in between. AGAIN.
I haven’t seen an article yet about body positivity and mental health, and how people of all shapes and sizes, even those in seemingly amazing shape, who struggle day in and day out to accept and love their bodies for what they are and are afraid to go and look in the mirror. I haven’t seen an article about body positivity and eating disorders and women who struggle with their self-confidence. Unfortunately we may never see those articles because to the media those types of people don’t exist. To the media body positivity is about your body and what shape they want to promote next.
Women today are way too hard on other women. Going into high school, for example, I honestly had no idea that the movie Mean Girls could be so true. It got no better when I went out into the real world as an adult and got a real full-time job.
It turns out that women of all ages will judge and talk about other women poorly and negatively. I even hear comments at the gym from some girls making comments on other women’s bodies that are there trying to get into shape.
It’s quite sad that instead of building each other up we tear each other down to make ourselves feel better. I suppose it’s because the media has told us for so long that difference in the world is bad.
I’d like to see a change in the way we fight back on media standards and perfection. I’d like to see body positivity go back to being positive. We need to stop shaming other people for being different and looking different.
Did you know that girl who’s so skinny you may think she “needs to eat a sandwich” probably did? She probably eats candy, cake, fast food, and healthy food just like everyone else, but her body metabolizes her food faster so she can’t put on weight. Did you also know she could potentially be jealous of the curvy body and actually is actively trying to put on weight? But instead of the world telling her she’s beautiful as she is, they shame her and her fast metabolism forcing her to try to add weight to her body.
The opposite is true for curvy women. Did you know that the curvy girl you’re shaming as “fat,” “overweight,” and “needs to eat a salad” probably eats salads. She might also work out and eat right but her body metabolizes her food more slowly, and yet again, because of media standards and body shamers, she feels the need to lose weight instead of loving herself and being confident about her own body.
We need to stop with constantly tearing other women down and stop criticizing what’s not our right to criticize. Who are we to tell other women how to look, dress, and feel about themselves?
I’d like to see us spreading empowerment, love and positivity. Ashley Graham looks as fantastic now as she did in her Sports Illustrated Cover, and if she had lost weight, so what?
Why do we care so much about what other people are doing and not focus enough on our own lives? They may not of read your comment specifically, but they get publicly ridiculed for every little thing they do. Honestly they are stronger than me because I’d of lost my sanity a while ago.
Spread love, spread positivity.
We are all women in search of a little compassion and encouragement.
Body Positivity has No Body. We need to put the positive back into body positivity and love each other. Let’s make each other feel beautiful, and confident and then maybe, just maybe, we will start to believe it in ourselves too.
Featured image via Anna Shvets on Pexels
