Recently, while mindlessly scrolling through Facebook, I came across an article that caught my attention. It was an article written by a woman replying to the costume "Anna Rexia" with her anorexia nervosa survival story. But it took me a while to actually get to the article because when I saw the picture of this costume, I was completely horrified. The costume is a tight black dress with a printed bone structure on it, along with a yellow ribbon to tie around the waist. That costume glorifies and sexualizes an eating disorder, one of the many that affect “30 million people of all ages and genders” (anad.org). Body image, especially for women, is such an important topic that is continually brought up, but is swept under the rug. From the time we are in grade school, we are taught to think of their bodies as the source of our worth. We are told that being this “ideal weight” is the only way we will ever be deemed acceptable in society’s eyes. In no way should anyone’s value be based upon a number on a scale or measuring tape.

Society weighs everyone’s self-worth on what we look like. The world we are living in right now defines everyone by their looks, then ranks them depending on how ideal their bodies are according to the "ideal body image." From the early 2000s to today, the “ideal woman’s body” is thin with a flat stomach, large breasts, toned legs and butt, with a thigh gap, usually achieved through plastic surgery. Let me reiterate: Our society decided your worth as a human being depends on how close you can get to this “perfect” image which usually requires surgical modification. That’s ridiculous, right? Now, I am not saying that getting plastic surgery or going to the gym is in support of unrealistic body standards necessarily. It’s when these resources are being used as a way to try to give ourselves worth that it becomes part of the problem. Your worth does not come from how you look. You are worthy of love just the way you are.

So why is it that society shames women by their body type? Who even is “society”? Well, we all make up society and this happens because we actively participate in body shaming by judging each other’s outward appearance. We’re all guilty of it. We’ve all said or thought the comment “why does she look like that? She needs to eat more (insert either healthy food or junk food depending on how we are perceiving this woman).” Calling someone too skinny is just as wrong as calling someone too fat. Skinny girls do not necessarily need to go eat three cheeseburgers and fat girls do not necessarily need to go eat three stocks of celery. Judging someone’s lifestyle solely on their looks is wrong. Let’s stop shaming each other for the way we look because we are all uniquely beautiful. I am not advocating people to be unhealthy, I am promoting acceptance of each other’s body types and appreciation of individual beauty. Making a change to live a healthier lifestyle is one thing, but remember that you are still beautiful even before you started change your habits to become more healthy. Your worth as a human being does not change due to your appearance.

I know it’s hard to believe that you are worthy when you have grown up thinking that what you look like is what gives you meaning. We stand in front of a mirror for hours, looking at ourselves, wondering why we can’t just snip off the fat in certain places so that we can be seen as beautiful. We inspect our skin to find every flaw we have and hate ourselves a little more with every new imperfection we find. I’m going to give you some advice: You are beautiful just the way you are. Your imperfections, your cellulite, your legs, your arms, your neck, your midsection, every part of you is beautiful. I promise, you are absolutely beautiful. Society has this twisted image of what we should look like and just because you may not be exactly what is claimed as “perfect and ideal,” it does not mean that you are any less important than anyone else.

A friend of mine introduced to me a campaign called "No BS," started by Whitney Thore. No BS is trying to help stop this body shaming nonsense from continuing and show people that their bodies do not limit them, regardless of what others say. It starts with us. We have the power to change society, so why aren’t we? Let’s advocate health and uniqueness, regardless of looks because we are all different and beautiful from the start. We are all worthy of love. We all have different bodies and we should embrace them for how they are. You are still beautiful and worth it no matter what a stupid scale says.

It does not matter what your body looks like, whether it be fuller figured, thin, athletic, or any combination, you are beautiful. Do not define yourself by a number on a scale. That number is going to change from time to time, but your worth will not. Your curves, your thigh gap, your toned arms, every piece of you is perfect already. I want you to believe in yourself and know that despite what anyone tells you, you are beautiful. It breaks my heart knowing that there are women out there who wake up every morning and base their day off of what a scale tells them. I have friends who constantly judge their body proportions and pinch their stomach, who try to gain weight so that they won’t be “too bony,” who are all around not confident in themselves and do not think they are worth anything, all because of a scale. Our worth is not subject to our appearance. I have been in that same boat for as long as I can remember. Even this time last year did I was not confident in myself. I used to wonder how I could change myself to have that “ideal” body. It wasn’t until about the middle of May 2015 when I started to gain my confidence back. I still have my bad days, but let me tell you, a little bit of self-confidence can go a long way. I have finally accepted the fact that I am beautiful and it doesn’t matter what I scale tells me. I am beautiful and you are, too. So I urge you to be kind to yourself and give yourself more credit because you are beautiful, loved, appreciated and worthy just the way you are.