Body shaming has been an ongoing battle between the sexes, and often targets one sex in particular — women. Not only is body shaming a jab at personal self-esteem, but it’s a jab at every other person with that body type. It causes eating disorders, self-hatred...the list can go on and on. Then came body positivity, encouraging everyone to celebrate all bodies. Every body is for everybody! Sounds great, right?
In some cases, body positivity has been a spark of appreciating all different body types. In other cases, it has been a battle between women putting down other women by uplifting themselves. “Bigger is better,” chants one side. “No, less is more,” chants the other side.
It’s not about what’s better or what’s more, though; It’s about feeling comfortable with who you are and the way you look. Of course there will always be naysayers and negative Nellies, but if most of us can tackle each problem with positivity, we may find overall happiness in people in general.
It starts with the modeling industry. Curvier women feel underrepresented (rightfully so) on magazines and in high fashion. Models have been size zeros since the modeling industry started to explode, but even when companies claimed to be incorporating “curvier women” they were quite average.
Not only are they just representing what the average woman looks like, which is better, but they still photoshop their stomaches so they have no rolls and their thighs to have no cellulite. How are people expected to love their bodies when the bodies they see everywhere are flawless?
So the modeling industry took a shot at incorporating more body types, but then you go shopping and find that, wait a second— your size isn’t there! You’re so excited to try out the new store that everyone loves just to find that their clothes only go up to a size twelve or their size twelve is actually the same as a size six.
Nothing feels better than being a size four, and then going somewhere else and all of a sudden you're a size eight. Yes, they are just numbers and indicate nothing about you, but is it not harmful to our self-esteem? How sad is it that plus-sized stores had to be created because not enough stores had clothes that fit voluminous bodies? While it is great that there are stores where bigger sizes are being sold, it’s not fair that some people only have limited options when shopping.
Where else do we have room for improvement? Social media. It does not matter what social media platform you choose to go on, you will find some negative comment about some body type. Whether it be on your favorite Instagram famous person or just a random person on your timeline, you can probably find a negative comment somewhere.
It’s time to accept bodies just as they are, and they are just bodies at that. A little flab everywhere is just as okay as being toned, and bigger thighs are just as beautiful as tiny ones. There are way worse things going on in the world right now than someone not meeting your standards, so talk about something that is worthwhile and keep the nasty comments away.
A little more positivity everywhere will not hurt anyone. So if you jiggle when you run, if you have abs like a Greek God, or you’re somewhere in-between — it’s okay. Every body is beautiful, and your size or the numbers on the scale have no determination of who you are. Let’s be more body positive.
