Let me tell you a story.
A few months back, I posted a selfie on my personal Instagram, as 18 year old college girls like myself tend to do. It is widely known that I am a selfie fanatic. I love taking selfies, and I love when others post selfies, too. Of course, I thought this particular selfie was worth sharing. The selfie happened to take place in a Victoria's Secret dressing room, because we all know their selfie lighting is bomb. Anyhow, some time after the selfie was posted, my older sister commented something along the lines of "put on some clothes" or "put away your boobs". Feeling upset and slightly embarrassed, I immediately deleted her comment. I proceeded to text her, because if she had a problem with my post, I preferred to handle it one on one, not over Instagram. She replied with something along the lines of "It's skanky, you would look just as pretty with more clothes on."
I was devastated. My very own sister, someone who I have looked up to my entire life, thought I looked like a skank. She believed that, somehow, the clothes I was wearing determined my beauty. I thought I looked pretty, I felt confident in my post, which is something, despite all of my selfies, I do not always feel.
I know that I am not a skank, or a whore, or a slut, or a you name it, but this event made me question, so what if someone is? It is not my business. It does not affect my life directly. It also made me question why does the way one dress determine if they are any of the above? Just because someone posts something you believe to be "racy" or "sexy", does not make anyone any of those slurs. Even if someone is a "skank", who cares? I, for one, do not. Why would anyone care what someone else does when it does not concern them?
Women should be able to wear, post, look, however and do whatever they damn well please and still be respected, and I am sick and tired of that being hindered by others ideas of how women should present themselves. If a girl wants to post a selfie in a bra, let her. If a woman wants to wear booty shorts, let her. If a woman wants to do anything that does not immediately affect your life and your well being, let her. The female body is amazing, why not show it off?
It is all about decisions. Feeling free to make your own decisions about how you present you body and what you do with your body should not be considered a privilege, but an unalienable human right. So should respect. Women should be respected, no matter the clothes they have on their body. Respect and how one prefers to show their body should not be interrelated. Women should feel free to make their own decisions about anything without judgment, but more often than not, that does not happen.
That is why I am here to tell you this: You, not only as a woman but as a human being, deserve to be respected no matter the clothes on your body. Post whatever selfie you want, dress however you want, make whatever decision concerning your body that you want. If you feel confident, do it. That is all that matters. It is no one else's business what you do with your body, or how you present it. It's yours, and yours only, and you are worthy of respect.
