Society's standards are stupid. Let's stop criticizing ourselves and others and learn to accept our healthy selves.
Society has set a lot of standards for women, here's a little quote from Tiny Fey's book, Bossypants...
Every girl is expected to have:
- Caucasian blue eyes
- Full Spanish lips
- A classic button nose
- Hairless Asian skin with a California tan
- A Jamaican dance hall butt
- Long Swedish legs
- Small Japanese feet
- The abs of a lesbian gym owner
- The hips of a nine-year-old boy
- The arms of Michelle Obama
- And doll [breasts]
Everyone seems to have something wrong with their body like the below scene from Mean Girls suggests. As satirical as the movie is, it's right. There are too many unrealistic expectations for teenage girls, and this only fosters an environment for something called "body-bashing."
Overweight? Stop going to the drive-thru.
Are you skinny? You must bulimic, anorexic or both.
You got bad skin? Ever heard of Proactiv?
No curves? No guy will like you now.
The sad thing is, comments like this are prevalent on social media. You can't be curvy, slim, overweight or normal-sized without receiving criticism from someone on the Internet. No body type is superior to another, as much as the media is trying to say otherwise.
I think it is ridiculous that Crystal Renn is receiving criticism for her weight dropping. For someone who has been every size on the clothing scale (double zero to plus sized), her "normal" weight of size 6-8 has been causing a stir. She is no longer plus size or runway model sized: she is her healthy size, which is in between the two extremes. Her healthy size is a byproduct of her working out, what's wrong with that?
Size doesn't matter, as long as you are healthy. If you are a size two it doesn't mean you are starving yourself, and if you are overweight it doesn't mean you are entitled to body-bashing.
Media, society even our friends and family make it hard to accept ourselves. In an effort to be more body positive (to yourself and everyone else!) I'm asking you to do three things:
1. Stop body-bashing: Criticizing others just makes it harder to accept yourself, plus it feels better to compliment than to criticize. Stop others from body-bashing, too.
2. Find your ideal: I'm not asking you to hit the gym and get ripped, but go for a walk, cook something at home and strive for being healthy -- but not for being any particular body type.
3. Accept yourself: Yes, it's cliché, but "be yourself"! You might not fit any one of the body molds the media presents, but who cares? As long as you are healthy and confident it's all that matters!
I'm slowly learning to accept myself ("What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction helps!). I mean, I have cellulite already, but I have some seriously long legs that I love. I don't think I'll ever have "doll [breasts]" or "small Japanese feet," but so what? I'm happy and healthy, and that is all that matters.