When's the first time you remember thinking of your body? Do you remember if it was positive or negative? I clearly remember when mine was: I was 5 years old, walking out of the pediatrician's office with my mom when I exclaimed, "I'm so fat!" At 5 years old! Looking back that's crazy, and I never want my daughter to feel that way.
At 5 years old, girls should be thinking about playdates, recess and sleepovers. Not dieting. I can remember being in second grade and hearing a classmate next to me at lunch talk about how she was on a diet. At 7 years old.
I think a big part of this falls on our mothers. How many little girls have stood in bathrooms across the country and watched as their mothers picked themselves apart? "Ugh, I hate this fat." "Dang I just wish I could fit into that size." "I just hate my legs." I think this is where girls first pick this up. It's the subliminal things we pick up over the years in our own homes about dieting that I think plant the seeds of self-consciousness in girls. Too often do we focus on the media, rather than the homes of young girls.
For girls in middle school and high school, it's almost a topic of conversation to pick apart our bodies. "Have you tried the new diet pill?" "I just hate how much I eat everyday, I'm not eating for two days." "I threw up this morning." We egg each other on in these conversations, it's almost like our cliques go, "say something you don't like about yourself, you'll fit in that way." So many girls normalize eating disorders, we don't think twice when our friends mention them anymore.
As women our bodies aren't made to please people, and I know it's hard to see as millennials in 2016. We give birth, create life, run marathons, climb mountains, swim for miles, jump off cliffs and hold precious babies in our arms. We're made to do so much more than compare ourselves to girls on magazine covers.
However, the narrative of body positivity too often gets confused with encouraging unhealthy eating habits. By this I mean, many things you see on the internet might lean completely on either side of this conversation. Yes, you should love your body and be proud of the things it is capable of, but know when to eat healthily and know when to indulge. Workout and go to to the gym, but do it because you love the endorphins and because you know it makes you live longer. We have a tendency of sending a narrative that overeating equals self-love. Be an athlete, eat good, listen to what your body tells you.
I'm tired of seeing young elementary aged girls complain about their bodies. We can fix this by changing the way we talk about ourselves. Instead of saying, "Ugh, I hate my stomach so I'm not eating all day," let's say "I think my stomach is just fine, but I think I'll hit the gym after I eat a good lunch."
Let's give our younger girls a more positive narrative than we had. Let's encourage healthy eating and occasional exercise, rather than starving ourselves and fad dieting. You were made for so much more than that.
Go Rebs and God bless,
MJS
