Body Image Issues

Rant rant rant. It’s that time again!

I am so sick and tired of people telling women how to look. Body image is a massive issue for women, and this has been documented to death.

I just noticed this morning that my newsfeed was full of ads for diets and quick fixes to fat “problems”. I don’t know if this is because it’s summer or because it’s simply because I’m a female. Regardless of the reasons, it’s starting to piss me off! I, personally, am quite happy with how I look. There are, of course, some aspects that I am not such a fan of and wish I could do something about but I have never hated them so much that I would be willing to go on some sort of extreme diet or rub some weird oatmeal paste stuff on my ass or thighs in hopes of shrinking them. It is what it is.

It is true that I have probably not been conditioned to hate my body as much as some other women and I think this is mainly due to the number of strong women I have in my life. My mother and my sister have especially been supportive of me and have drilled into my brain since I was about 12 that the body I have is the body I have and I should only make it healthy, not bone thin or curvy.

I think that to say that a real woman has curves or is bone thin is entirely wrong, as a real woman can be either of those things or anything else. Who really gives a crap?

I will admit that I have a tendency to stress eat and this lead to me putting on a fair bit of weight at the end of my first year of uni. I didn’t like my body at that time and I would be lying if I said that the extra weight didn’t bother me. The worst thing about it, however, was how unhealthy I felt. I therefore started eating healthier and excercising. I went back to my usual size and I’m happy.

I think that my point, is that women shouldn’t hate their bodies, but they are always going to have some sort of insecurities. The only thing I really want to get across is that if someone wants to change something about themselves (men also), it should be through excercising and eating healthier foods because that is an improvement on your quality of life, not just your dress size.

I have been so blessed to have suffered through so few body image issues but the insecurities are still there. I am looking forward to the time where is becomes beautiful for a woman to have flaws, instead of ads being shoved in their faces on how to change it.

Rant over.