People Come in All Shapes and Sizes

In the media, you only really see one body type. The one with so many abs that you can’t even count or the one with the smallest size. When young girls and young boys see this, they think that this is in fact the only body type that is acceptable. Anything different and you would not look like the “pretty girl in the magazine that gets all of the boys.” This picture is making a statement by saying that although you may only see one body type, there are so many more out there. Some of the other people will have the same body type, which you would never know by looking in the media. If there were more variety, there would not be so much comparison and low self-esteem. Most people do not look like the ones in the magazine, and you would not know otherwise because of how narrow-sited the media can be.

Growing up, a question (or, accusation is probably a more accurate word) that came up a lot was "are you anorexic?" I wasn't and I have never been. They used to point to my wrists, which have always been quite thin, as if they were evidence of an eating disorder. I used to reply "Sorry, when I eat, it doesn't go to my wrists." It hurt that people assumed there was something dangerous and wrong with my natural body. 

The point of this blog is and always will be about loving your body (as well as other things, like positive thoughts and encouraging words) no matter what body you have. I am getting tired of seeing things like "Bones are for dogs, meat is for men". Stop this. Yes, it's ok to have "meat" on your body. But women who are bonier or thinner should not be put down either. Accepting curvier women does not make it ok to bash the women without the curves. We have to stop comparing. We have to stop circulating these pictures of curvier women next to women without curves with captions implying that the curvier one is better.

We need to start promoting the idea that all body types are beautiful in their own ways. None is better than another. We need to start celebrating the things that make us different instead of trying to push everyone to be one way or another.

Things have seemed to shift from glorifying "skinny/slender" body types, implying that being any size bigger is less appealing, to glorifying "curvier" body types, implying that being any size smaller is less appealing. Stop! Doing this is what distorts the lenses we look out into the world with. Why does it have to be one way or another?

I want to see a revolution. I don't want the skinny people to feel ashamed for looking how they do. I don't want the curvy people to feel ashamed either. I want everyone to look in the mirror and smile because they are healthy and beautiful in their own ways.