Ah, summer. A season brimming with the promise of sun, fun, and… subversive body shaming? While the wildly unrealistic beauty standards propagated by diet culture and photoshop have long been embedded into our country’s collective psyche, I still manage to be surprised and disgusted by the new ways in which it rears its ugly head. One in particular seems to be innocuous. It could even possibly be mistaken as step in the right direction, until you take a closer look at it.
The body positive movement is (FINALLY!) having quite the moment across various social media platforms. The millennial view of diversity is positive and it seems love for ourselves and each other is at an all-time high. But I keep seeing the same problematic comment plastered across bikini photos of all shapes and sizes. “She’s so Brave!” Brave. Not stunning, not beautiful, brave. As if somehow, this woman has committed an act of valor by daring to don a swimsuit if she possesses anything else but a model body type. How dare she love her body for what it is? Or even more unbelievably, show it to the world and not care if they love it back? At first glance, this commendation of her bravery seems genuinely complimentary, maybe even an act of “Fight the System!” solidarity, it isn’t. And here’s why.
Women are surrounded by a near constant barrage of toxicity surrounding not only their bodies, but their positions as equals in society. We are often patronized in our personal and professional lives. This sort of rhetoric is bound to leave its mark, and it manifests itself into an insidious form of internalized misogyny. The kind of misogyny that leads someone to reduce a woman’s bravery to her body. Whether it’s well intentioned or not, subscribing to the idea that a woman is brave for wearing a bikini reinforces that the greatest thing she has to offer is her body. Not only that, but that she is somehow exhibiting bravery by being at peace with her body as it is. Self-love should not be so rare that it’s radical. We have to change the conversation surrounding women to where their importance is not dependent on the subjective attractiveness of their bodies.
Don’t be mistaken, I am by no means against commending women for their bravery. I believe in the celebration of women and how intrepid they are. But to do their bravery justice, you need to see it in its full force. Tell a woman that she is brave for pursuing an education. Tell a woman that she is brave for mothering her children alone. Tell a woman that she is brave for realizing her worth and leaving an abusive relationship. Tell a woman that she is brave for recovering her peace of mind and body after a sexual assault. Tell a woman that she is brave, period. Don’t put a limit to her bravery by condensing it into the way her body looks in a bikini. We all deserve so much better than that.
