Every single day there is a new ad, commercial, photo shoot, or piece of art that is thrust into the world. With these various forms of media comes the impossibility of not seeing at least one. As time has changed, the ideal body, face, and hair for women has changed. These changes range from small or large, to good and bad. Sometimes, it was a change in the way jeans were worn. Sometimes it was how much eye makeup was used or how much volume you needed with your hairstyle.
As time goes by, the changes in the ideal body shape, face shape, hair length, and skin have become increasingly more dramatic and damaging to young women. Not only have problems like eating disorders increased; with over 8 million Americans suffering, of which 90% are young women, but these harmful changes in the way body types are viewed can also change the way people dress, act, and even walk.
I played volleyball for too many years to count and can still always remember how I felt wearing spandex. I was never comfortable in my body and it started to affect my performance when I got to high school. I didn't want anyone to see me and even though I loved playing, I didn't like being on the court. Every time I stepped onto the court I felt like everyone was looking at me, looking at my almost entirely exposed legs and butt.
Mind you, this was something I had been used to for a while. As I got older, however, I felt more and more self-conscious and started to hate the way I looked. The funny thing is, I wasn't obese. In fact, when I look back at pictures of myself and remember how horrible I thought I looked, I laugh.
Beauty standards and this idea I had in my mind of what I thought I should look like completely destroyed my self-esteem, even when I didn't look nearly as bad as I remember myself looking. This still affects me today. I haven't worn a bathing suit for more than five years, I don't wear anything sleeveless, and I don't even own a pair of shorts. To help you understand me, let me show you a picture of myself when I was embarrassed by my body, and why it was ridiculous.
This picture is from 2011, the first year that I became consciously aware of how big my thighs were. Along with my change in mindset came a change in the way I dressed, how I sat, and how I felt when I was playing a sport that I loved. It also made me start to not love volleyball as much as I had before.
There are a couple images that I am going to show you that demonstrates how society values an unhealthy body just because it is petite, not because it is healthy.
The fact that the world we live in applauds women who look like this,
and labels women who look like this, plus-sized.This shows how damaging these views can be to young women. The body of the model in the first image is unattainable to the majority of women, causing them to destroy their bodies just to attempt to achieve that level of slimness when in the end, they will only end up looking starved... because they are.
The bottom model's name is Laura Wells. She is a size 14 Aussie model who was labeled "plus size" in a sportswear campaign for "The Upside." You can read an article about that issue, here.
Next, I'm going to show to two before and after images from two very different photo shoots.
Jennifer Lawrence, I think we can all agree, has an amazing body. The image on the left is the before, the image on the right, the after. Now the changes may be hard to spot but they are important. I chose this image because the aspects of her body that were changed could not be physically changed by a woman, no matter how much dieting or exercise is done.In the before image, you can see Jennifer's hip bones right below the gold belt. In the after image, you can see that they cut the bones off so that her body made a smooth transition to the belt. I don't know about you but I'm pretty sure there are no exercises to get rid of bones. They also changed her jawline, slimmed her already small arms and torso, straightened her collarbones, and gave her a breast lift.The next picture is from a Dove Campaign,
Now this picture is edited, which is clear. The big reason I'm showing you this one, however, is because her body is not retouched at all. They left her size the same, her face shape the same, and her hair the same. The only thing changed is the brightness of the picture. Here is a video showing this little experiment done by Dove.
Now the fashion industry can't be changed overnight. The editing, photoshop, body requirements for models bodies', and lack of diversity will probably be around forever. These current models are what's aesthetically pleasing to people now and that may never be different.
I think the big takeaway from this is that you shouldn't worry about what your body looks like, especially if it's your bones that are making your body look a way you don't want it to look. Remember, healthy=skinny, not the other way around. Don't let society tell you that you aren't beautiful just because you aren't a size 00.
Also, Dove is definitely a brand to look up to when it comes to real beauty.
Dove portrays real women with real bodies. These women should be the ones to look up to. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against models whose bodies are naturally petite. I don't, however, support models that starve themselves to get a body that a fashion company deems worthy. Women need to stand up for themselves and their bodies because no one else will.You are beautiful no matter what you look like, don't let society make you see yourself differently and don't let it change the way you take care of yourself.