On practically every social media site now, somewhere you are going to find a photo of a girl with the caption “body goals” attached. And I am here to tell you how okay that is. It is alright to love yourself. It is also alright to want to work on yourself, but what isn’t alright is telling someone else that there is something wrong with the way they see beautiful.
Whether you are completely happy and accepting of your own body or not, you should never feel obligated to change yourself because someone else doesn’t see your worth based on the number on your jeans.
There is a war on women and their bodies; whether you choose to be oblivious to it or not, it is happening. Though it’s very apparent that a lot of times girls bigger than a size 8 are made to feel that their body isn’t beautiful, there are also a lot of “skinny shamming” posts that you see going around. I feel like it’s too overlooked, and this is an issue for me.
I recently saw a video shared on Facebook about not allowing models in France to have a BMI of under 18. That is absolutely ridiculous to me. I know several girls who eat like a grown man and do not gain a pound. There is nothing wrong with that. Whether you choose to be skinny or not, you shouldn’t have to feel like there is something wrong with the way you look just because you aren’t someone else’s perception of beautiful. People tend to overlook the fact that smaller girls face just as much hate for their bodies as some bigger girls do.
Whether it is something as stupid as a meme, like the one above, words hurt. Just because a girl doesn't have "curves" or thick thighs doesn't mean she shouldn't be entitled to be happy with herself. The sooner we start realizing that skinny shaming is just as terrible as fat shaming, the better. We as women need to take it upon ourselves to empower other women, rather than talking down on each other.
Loving your body is so important. I realize that sometimes it’s easier said than done, but we have to try. The sooner we all begin loving ourselves, we can love each other. Don’t ever feel like you need to give into what someone else perceives as perfect or beautiful. Whether you are a size 0 or a size 12, you are gorgeous and you should go out of your way to make yourself, as well as other girls feel that way.
