It’s summer and people are milling about in their skimpy outfits trying to find relief from the perspiration and the harm of the ever-increasing sunrays. If you’re slightly overweight or out of shape, then you’re likely to feel unwelcome in the silent body beautiful competitions where people judge you and judge you harshly.
They may laugh at the man that sports a paunch, but the criticism women’s bodies are subjected to should be outlawed. Thoughts though can’t be controlled so we look at the shape of a woman’s body and it is often found lacking.
If women do not look like supermodels or the dream like goddess that is in a man’s head, then women fail. Women fail when they have stretch marks covering their tummies like a road map. And men do not see the beauty that those stretch marks are often evidence that a human was born from that body. That life was safely tucked away behind the silver and red criss-cross marks adorning the stomach.
Women are meant to have flawless skin, perfectly shaped hourglass figures, healthy hair, and teeth. They will be unconsciously paraded as if they are thoroughbred horses and if there is a flaw, then the horse, in this instance the woman will be deemed unsuitable, not good enough.
The judgment often stems from a pool of men with less than stellar bodies and it’s ironic because that is much like a sweet factory judging teeth at a dentistry academy.
Now next to this judgment sits the silent but equally judgemental women who elbow these men and whisper in their ears about how imperfect a woman’s body is. Is it any wonder that some women feel the need to cover all their beauty in wraps and kaftans, so they do not become the latest contestants of this body beautiful world we live in.
Unfortunately for women, it’s not good enough to be slim either. You must be slim and shapely. It matters not that you are confident if there are eyes watching your every move as you walk down to the beach. It matters not that you have a wonderful partner who loves you and isn’t concerned about the extra pounds or dimples displayed on your body.
Personally, I don’t like summertime. I don’t like it because in the heat women can’t simply undress but must contend with predators and judges of their bodies, while men walk with the confidence of a bodybuilder while looking like anything but.
Let’s love the dimples, the stretch marks, the extra pounds, the skinniness, the sagging breasts, and all the other imperfections society has placed upon women. Let’s lose words such as “kankles” to indicate her ankles aren’t slim enough, “muffins” to indicate the extra pounds women carry around their waist and “wings” to indicate the underside of the upper arm.
How do we raise girls confident enough to accept themselves and their bodies when society doesn’t? We must change the images society has of perfect bodies that are mostly unattainable and striving for that leave women with a lack of confidence and or anxiety and depression.
Let us leave the body talk to doctors who have every right to judge us and let’s start body talk conversations with; “I love the way she…” and say something positive.
