Day 10: Can Someone Tell Society We're All Beautiful?

In reality, we are society. Though, the shape of bodies and every little detail about our outer appearance has been nit picked, I'm assuming since the beginning of time. Before the males turn away from this post, it's about you too. Women aren't the only ones who suffer from the beauty game. Because that's what it is right? A game.

Since birth we are looked at and judged. "It's hard to tell if they will be cute or not yet, too soon to tell." Even when we look like aliens, or potato's, people play the guessing game on what we will end up looking like. They look down at us while we do our baby duties, looking at the shape of our noses, the colour of our eyes and hair, the size of our ears, fingers, and toes.

https://youtu.be/SY9BxTuYtcY < Here is a YouTube video which takes you through the history of female body types. Something that is really cringey to think about is that the "perfect" body type constantly changes through the years as if the way our bodies look are "trends", barf.

Then there's the men body types through the years. https://youtu.be/LnYHWUTkFMU As much hate as I have been through and seen other women go through for the size and shape of our bodies, I often wonder if men go through worse. If men are born with that amazingly fast metabolism, and don't really have to work to keep thin then they may have it easier. However, I know from speaking to and watching male friends, they feel the need in today's society to be thin, but very muscular. I remember a time when abs were all the rage for men. I personally don't care if a guy has abs, or flabs, it's all welcome here. But I remember when most girls wouldn't date a guy unless they had pronounced ab muscles.

It's crazy to think that back in the survival days, the best body type would have as much fat as possible. As, the more fat you had on your body, the easier it would be to survive. Without having food for a little while your body would be better off than someone that didn't have any meat on their bones. Also, body fat helps keep you warm in the winter! Shout out to my belly rolls, keeping me warm all year long!

Then there's also that whole gym rat look that is also often desired, which is a lot of work. When we were able to go into the school, I used to go to the gym often because it was free, and I love free things. I had also previously suffered from a few concussions prior, leaving damages that still live with me, but not quite as bad. So, I had never really stepped foot in a gym between the ages of 17-20. Those were the bad years of on and off dizzy spells, and just the most awful feelings. When I was 20, in my second year of college, I decided to give the gym a chance again. I still had symptoms, still do, but I felt so disgusting within my body, I was the heaviest I had ever been, and my face was full of acne. As much as I was a happy person, and was confidant, I still had my insecurities. I knew I was an image of a girl which was far from the "beauty standards", and at the time I wanted to change that.

And so I did, I lost around 50 pounds (and definitely gained some back), and when I became vegan (not for health reasons) my acne started to clear up, and I always got comments that I looked so much brighter and healthier. ANYWAY, off topic. I remember seeing all the gym rats in the school gym bulking up, and they would be there Monday to Saturday probably 3 hours a day. That was just incomprehensible to me. Like, that's not keeping up your health and fitness, that's a dang lifestyle.

I remember my friends, and girls I spoke to in the gym, they picked the guys apart like they were a piece of meat. Sure, they were nice to look at, but do men also feel like they have to be in the gym so often, working on their bodies for women, or do they like it and do it for themselves? The important thing is we need to feel comfortable in our bodies, but we must not hate our bodies. We live in these bodies, and must keep them healthy and treat them with care, but we must not judge them.

As a little girl, I started looking at fashion magazines, looking at the sections where they say "hot or not", and compare how an outfit looks on one or the other. This made me look at myself different. It made me say, "I wish I had her body type", and "I wish my eyes were that colour". All of this is extremely unhealthy. I wish someone had the duty of constantly reassuring us as long as we need, that we are beautiful creatures, every single one of us.

Nowadays there is the whole body positivity movement, where people are starting to accept bodies for the way they are and not always looking to that "perfect body". Though, we cannot say that there is no societal standards for the way we look yet. The whole "body goals" thing is just another step in the wrong direction. It's good to celebrate others bodies, but saying that another persons body is #goals, is like saying that that's the body you wish you had.

https://www.trendhunter.com/slideshow/full-figured-ads

This is the "Dear Kate Ad". It stirred up a lot of noise, bringing attention to the the idea of "the ideal woman". The top ad features the Victoria's Secret Ad, where they were aiming to show that any body can wear their garments, when all the bodies are basically the same size! They really missed the mark with that one. However, then "Dear Kate", recreated it the way it should have been made and It's simply amazing. Later, this lead to a huge loss for VS, when their yearly lingerie show that always aired on TV was cancelled. It was cancelled due to the lack of diversity within their model selection, and sizing. They thought that they were doing right by diversity means by bringing in models that may be two inches bigger than the standard, or hiring more than just white women, but in the end that's not enough. Diversity must be represented across the board. People want to see themselves represented in ads, or they will be less likely to purchase from that particular brand. We are slowly starting to see women and men of different sizes in fashion shows, and photos, which is a start, but there is still a long way to go.

Most days I do see the beauty in myself, other days it's harder to find. But the point is, we must try. We must love ourselves, for if we don't, how can anyone else? However, I can say that I always see the beauty in others. Which is ironic, everyone else we can view as beautiful, but sometimes we don't see ourselves in the same light.

I wanted to get a GIF of Ru Paul saying "If you don't love yourself, how the hell are you gonna love someone else?" but that's not in the library. So this will do. BE THE STAR OF YOUR OWN STORY!

"Come as you are by Nirvana." https://youtu.be/vabnZ9-ex7o

beYOUtiful, every single one of ya.

Thanks for reading humans.

x

Kailee