To the girl who looks in the mirror every morning and hates what she sees. To the girl who does not dress the way she would like too because she hates the way she looks. She only dislikes herself because today's society, has thought of what a 'perfect woman' should look like. Even though it seems no matter what the number on the scale says, you're never good enough for the world. Even if you are a size two or a size twenty-two, it seems us women will never be up there with the rest of the world's expectations.
Body shaming has been a culture ruin for years, but it seems it's becoming a lot more frequent in the past couple of years. According to Do-Something.org, "approximately 91% of women are unhappy with their bodies and resort to dieting to achieve their ideal body. Unfortunately, only 5% of women naturally posses the body type often portrayed by Americans and the media." I find it sad that most women are unhappy with the skin they're in. "More than 1/3 of people who admit to 'normal dieting', will merge into pathological dieting. Roughly 1/4 of those will suffer from partial or full-on eating disorders" (Do-Something.org). The media has got to stop shoving what they think is a perfect body into the female population's face.
On another note, the media isn't all to blame for women hating their bodies. Sadly, some of the men in this world have a habit of doing it also. Some guys want a girl with curves, or they want them thing, or big breasts. If a girl's qualities doesn't fit their needs, then it's like we do not exist or we are not worthy enough. Some girls say they wish they were my size (about a size 5). However, what some do not understand is that even girls my size are criticized. I cannot tell you how many times in my life I've been called anorexic. Years ago, I actually had a boy tell me that he couldn't date me because I was "too skinny for him to be seen with" (unnamed source).
Every where we look, there is always something on how a woman can look 'better. Why must we keep looking better? Why can't we just be ourselves and be happy with that? Why must the media make us feel like we will never be good enough? I say that enough is enough. Every single woman in this world should be happy when they look into the mirror. Every day, every girl should be able to say to herself, "I am beautiful." I believe that if us girls can start building each other up instead of tearing each other down, then maybe this body shaming will finally disperse. I believe that we should live by this quote from Kahlil Gibran; "Beauty is not in the face or body; beauty is a light in the heart."
