Dear universe,
This lovely letter is to let you know that my body is just that: mine. I am not now, nor was I ever a piece of your image, or a piece of meat. Each day you bombard not only my mind, but the minds of millions around the world, with pictures and ideals of how we should all look. It needs to stop. It should not be a giant show when they put someone who is “plus size” on the cover of a magazine. It is not a giant wonderful thing that is happening when that is done, it is the only inkling of reality. Those who the media consider “plus size” are rarely of the sort and are only referred to as such because they are not being portrayed as the width of my pinky finger.
Recently, there have been pictures going around of people comparing themselves to the length of a piece of printer paper. For those of you who are unaware, a piece of printer paper is eight-and-a-half inches by 11 inches. This “challenge” is saying that if these people are not under eight-and-a-half inches wide, then they are not attractive. Are you kidding me? I am not saying that those who naturally fit that standard have anything wrong with them, but to say that those who are not naturally that size are thereby unattractive, is appalling. What are we doing to the minds of young girls who are suddenly going to think that being small enough to fit between the constraints of those mere eight-and-a-half inches is the only way that others will love them. Where are we leading the world if it is going to be like this, with these constant images taking over?
I am done. I am done being flooded with the emotions that come with not being someone who is looked at as the “ideal size.” I am done being excited about these “plus-size” models because being excited about that is like being excited about someone stopping their car at a crosswalk; because although these models are less common, they are not any less a part of reality. The loss of reality that comes from eating disorders is brought about by the constant portrayal of “perfect,” because we are essentially being told that if we do not match that image then we are not enough.
I’m just going to repeat this one more time for the ones in the back refusing to get their stubborn minds out of the gutter: humans are not meant to be, not were they ever meant to be, what the media tells them they should be. The bodies of individuals are theirs, and theirs alone to look like, and live in as they please, and to appear to the outside world as they feel comfortable, not how they feel they must. I feel like I am talking to a constant brick wall in the universe about this. Seriously, come on, what are we doing? We are meant to be a million and one different sizes, and every one is beautiful.
My body is only mine, and I will not conform to the standards set forth by society. I am the picture that is worth a thousand words, except I am worth 10,000 more that will not be masked by a loss of worth. Stop trying to take this away from me. You will lose.
Yours truly,
The girl behind the mask
