Wednesday, 21 July 2010
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Let's Start a Healthy Body Image Revolution!
Here's how I see it: Every single one of us is human. We are smart, we are strong, and we all have the power to help the world in one way or another. We should not have to feel that instead of being looked at and valued as human beings, that we are being looked at as "anorexics," "skeletons," "chubby," "fat," or "lazy slobs." We should not have our personal strengths as human beings degraded because of how our butts look in our jeans. We are worth more than this.There are so many stereotypes that we are all effected by; so many things that could be easily changed if we JUST STOPPED HATING! I believe we have a complex somewhat similar to the chicken and the egg: we are either unhappy with ourselves and projecting said unhappiness to other body types through discrimination; or have been discriminated against and have had unhappiness projected unto ourselves. The point here is that in order to fight this battle, we need to stop hating ourselves to stop hating each other, and we need to stop hating each other to stop hating ourselves.
We have countless epidemics and situations attributed to our poor body image: depression, binge eating, anorexia, bulimia, obesity, fast food commercials, diet commercials, and magazines. We have healthy, thin girls out there being called anorexics out of jealousy by curvy women. We have thin girls stealing the word “curvy” from average sized women because they believe to be bigger than a size 4 makes you fat. We have once healthy girls starving themselves because they know that where they see beautiful curves, society sees flab. We have obese people trying and failing to get healthy because food is their drug and society has made them feel that they’re too far gone to ever be worth more than their weight.
So here's what I'd like all of you to do: Find a full length mirror (or the closest mirror you have to full length), grab your favorite bra, undies, and heels (don't have heels? Go barefoot.), slip em on, and LOOK; not with the eyes that pick apart every lump and stretch mark, but with the innocent eyes we all once had, the eyes that find beauty in its purest form.
Look at only what you find to be beautiful about you. Think you're too skinny? Check out those boobs and give em a jiggle (or squeeze, while proudly yelling HONK HONK!). A little pudgy? Look at the legs you dislike so much, and realize that the "fat" you see is mostly muscle. Those beautiful legs are strong, and they have many more places to take you in life while you learn and grow.
Hate your arms, whether pudgy or scarred? Think about the comfy, strong bear hugs those arms give to the people you love, who love YOUR hugs that come from YOUR arms, and they wouldn't have it any other way! Think your butt's too big? Hey, it's a darn comfy place to sit when you're on un-padded chairs at school or on the bus, isn't it? Stretch marks and cellulite? It's NATURAL. It's REAL! Who the heck came up with the lame idea that natural beauty isn't beautiful anyway? (Ahem, a loser, that's who!)
Now take all that into consideration, and look again. You're a classified vixen yourself, now aren't you? Give it a twirl, a jiggle, and a squeeze. Pose like you're a supermodel because you no longer have the right to feel any less beautiful than one. SMILE, because YOU DO HAVE THE RIGHT TO LOVE YOURSELF! And anyone who tells you different is simply jealous, because they haven't found the peace of mind that's well within your reach.
So love yourselves more. Look in the mirror with no makeup and feel free to greet yourself as "Hello, sexy!" Try to stop looking at girls skinnier than you and thinking they're brainless stick-figures, or girls heavier than you and thinking they should get some self control and a gym membership, because all it is is jealousy or vanity. No one needs that; it causes stress and gives you pimples anyway!
Give more compliments to yourselves and to each other, because everyone you pass is fighting some sort of battle. Judgment will always be there; that's something none of us can ever change. But we can change ourselves.
We can choose to be more kind to the bodies that secure our existence as human beings, and to stop competing over which body type should be considered beautiful. We are all beautiful in one way or another, and we all deserve to be proud of it!
Being "fat" or "skinny" isn't what's going to make the world a better or worse place; making the most out of your life is about WHO you are, not what you look like!
No matter what size your jeans are, what your weight is, or what you wish you could be, YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL! It's about time you give yourself credit for it.
How do you handle weight discrimination? What can you do to improve the way you feel about yourself? How can you help encourage others to make healthy decisions regarding their bodies and how they feel about them?
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About the Author
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- From: vixen_with_a_cause@xanga
- Name: Holly
- About Me: In the end, life can be seen to be inconsequential, in the way that nothing matters on some vast evolutionary scale. But everything matters, and we know that most when life seems most horrific, when at each instant of time, all the space around us is everything there is -Luke Davies
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Comments (10)
healthy body images comes from the inside. nothing anyone says or does can convince you otherwise, when you have an image of what you look like in your head. it just comes with more time than anything.
good post :] very positive !!
great post!
duh, eating disorders are not caused by the media. i got my eating disorder after being sexually abused; it had nothing to do with the frickin media.
"Here's how I see it: Every single one of us is human."
Truly a ground-breaking post from start to finish.
@emwantsthin@xanga - I had an ED too. Mine came from multiple sources. Every person is different; every ED is different. ED's on the basis of sexual abuse are mostly caused by the wish to stop maturing so one's body will not be looked at as a sexual object. On the flipside, the media does cause ED's. Otherwise, many girls who have not been sexually abused would not think being thin is the only way to be beautiful. Thank you for reading :)
@ohletitbe@xanga - @colourmy_life@xanga - @NikBv@xanga - Thank you! <3
Amen! :) Awesome post!
I agree with the first poster. A healthy body image comes from inside. I like this post. My self esteem is better than it has been in years. I will never be able to look in the mirror and like what I see (because I have body dysmorphic disorder) but I have learned to accept the fact that what I see in the mirror is not real. Honking my breast might make me laugh instead of cringe when I see myself though.
@emwantsthin@xanga - I understand what you are saying. It used to be hard for me to imagine anyone developing an eating disorder just from the media. I was only able to understand an see things through other people's eyes when I worked through my own eating disorder. The way I see it is for some people, the media is like having an emotionally abusive person in your life constantly telling you that you are not good enough. My eating disorder had nothing to do with the media, but I do think for some people it does.
Awesome post! So true...otherwise healthy females [myself included] make ourselves crazy about how we look, and for what?!? It logically makes no sense. Thanks for this...made my day!