In the social media sphere and on television recently, the shift towards viewing bodies as positive regardless or shape, size and height is noticeable. And I love it.
The most common complaint I hear is I'm too fat. First of all, you are not. I am not saying I don't complain either, but we complain too much about how our bodies look. When honestly, the only person paying attention to how your body looks is yourself. I don't normally look at others and point out their size, shape, or height unless the person mentions it to me.
If you are confident in yourself and your personality, your body type does not impact my opinion of you as a person. I support your decision to eat the cake or your decision not to eat the cake. I want you to be happy and confident in your body even if it does not look like the super fit supermodels displayed all over the media which is really not reality.
I was watching an E-News show one night with my mom and they announced they were doing a segment on what bathing suit best fits your body type. Here I was sitting on my couch expecting the show to have runway models walk out in swimsuits that flatter them even if they were the ugliest swimsuit I have ever seen. But no.
To my surprise, the models were not runway models, but people who depicted the average American women who looked like me. I was so happy to see how the media is starting to represent women's bodies, especially in bathing suits as the normal and average height and weight of an American woman. This displays to the younger generation that the average American women's body is normal. The unreal body expectations of having a model's body, which is on average 5'8" to 5'11" and between 100 to 150 pounds, are starting to disappear. The media is finally starting to get it right.
On Twitter, there has been a movement about the "Dad bod" which is basically supporting men having bodies that are not extremely muscular like all the magazines depict men as. Women tweeted that they wanted men with "dad bods." There was some controversy though about "dad bods" as women and men alike tweeted that we should not be supporting the "dad bod" campaign as they think it supports not taking care of your body by eating badly and not going to the gym.
This backlash should not have occurred. Yes, we should support taking care of our bodies by eating well and working out, but who are we to say anything about anyone's life choices? As long as you feel happy and confident in your own body, no one should be deciding for you whether or not you should work out and eat healthily. I am happy to see that support for every type of male's body is starting to occur because, from my first-hand experience, my own brothers feel the need to work out a lot because they think they are fat when they are not. The media of men's bodies is starting to change as well as women's, which is needed. Men need body positivity too.
As a human, female or male or whatever you label your gender as, you deserve to be happy and confident in your own skin.
You do not need to follow the media's depiction of super skinny supermodels or super muscular men. We should support everyone in their efforts to be confident in their body, whether it is going to the gym or eating that piece of cake. It is super enlightening to see the shift in media towards supporting all body types and spreading body positivity.
Supporting humanity rather than judging humanity is what will make the world a much better place to live in. By supporting one another by not focusing on how your body looks, but focusing on the real problems, we grow and achieve more as a whole.
Be body positive and eat that cake. Or don't. Your choice.
