A few months back I was sitting in my dorm room with a few of my friends. One of my friends was on Tumblr and she came across one of those zodiac sign posts. The one she was looking at was, "The signs as models." I have to say most of these posts are ridiculous, but I can't help but click on them every once and a while. She clicked on Gemini (my sign) and the model that appeared had wide-set hips. After I saw the image I audibly said, "She has big hips like me." I am 19 years old and I still have insecurities about my body, so seeing a beautiful model pose confidently in a bikini gave me a little confidence boost. I was a little shocked by what I said because it was almost adolescent-like. It goes to show that insecurities stick with us throughout life.
I believe we are not to blame for this; society is. We worship flat stomachs, thigh gaps, flawless skin, perfect hair, and toned bodies. We value "skinny" and shame "fat." Both are just adjectives, but we have turned them into characteristics that reflect an individual's worth.
I have been called "skinny" multiple times, and the people that have told me expect a "thank you" in return. When I don't respond in a grateful way I receive hateful looks. When you call someone "fat" it is almost always presented as an insult, and it can be detrimental to the individual's mental and emotional well-being. I believe it should be our goal as a society to have these words be equivalent to telling someone they have brown hair or blue eyes. We need to take the negative charge out of those words.
Back to the societal impact on this dilemma. Society presents us with the belief that if your body doesn't align with the "perfect body" image you should be ashamed and aspire to achieve the "perfect body." There are companies that say they promote different body types, but if you look at their ad campaigns they have physically impeccable people sporting/using their product. In addition "plus-size" models are becoming more mainstream which is awesome, but the models aren't even plus-sized they are just curvy! In order for ALL body types to be celebrated we have to start with showcasing ALL body types. As a disclaimer, I am not suggesting we should celebrate "unhealthy skinny" or "unhealthy fat," but we need to diversify the representation of body types in all platforms of media.
Not having the "perfect" body can be destructive to an individual's confidence and potentially their lifestyle. When we look in the mirror we see an image that our brains associate with a negative or positive emotion. This emotion places a label on our own body, and that is what we believe others view us as too. If there is a negative emotion attached to how we view ourselves it carries into our everyday life. Some people have extremely low self-esteem levels, develop harmful relationships with food/eating disorders, and/or go to extremes to achieve the body they want. The first step in erasing the insults behind body types is presenting the idea that you don't have to have rail thin arms, a space between your thighs, a flat stomach, or huge biceps to be worth something.
