I am sick and tired of seeing pictures like this floating around on the internet, as a form of affirmation to the "curvy" community.
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I was under the impression that we are not to make ourselves feel better by tearing others down. Leave the childish comparison out of it. Society is parading itself as "anti bullying" when in reality, it picks and chooses who it wants to protect and who doesn't need it. I remember thinking in Jr. and Sr. High that there is all this 'support' and 'affirmation' for the girls who don't have the figure that you see in a magazine, but for those of us that do, life ain't any easier. Kids would come up behind me and pull my shirt tight against my body and say, "oh no... Gina disappeared!" and laugh. Compete strangers would ask me if I was aneorexic. People are constantly telling me that they want to "feed" me. One of these days, I'm gonna respond with, "why don't you feed me your food and eventually we'll balance out." I've been called bony, skinny, twig, anorexic, sickly, and many more hurtful things. The people that say that they only wish they had a figure like mine don't fully understand what they're wishing for. I learned that regardless of how pretty you are, skinny you are, smart you are, witty you are or kind you are, it will never offer you acceptance. Acceptance is something only you can offer yourself, through a healthy identity in Christ. My maker accepts me and loves me. Any I'll only find true acceptance through people who look at me through the eyes of Jesus. People who see WHO I am rather than WHAT I am. So I propose that if we truly wanna see positive change in the beauty industry and in the self image of our teens, we stop focusing on hilighting the "average" woman and start focusing on the "individual" woman. I am not average. My body type is in the minority. But I'm just as much of an individual as the curvy girl. Stop making this point. You are only adding to the poor body image problem. You are not fixing it.
I created my very own meme.
Now go be nice to eachother.
~From my couch to your home~
1 comment:
I can see how that first comparison could be very frustrating and I completely agree that we must teach our girls that whatever individual body type they have is beautiful. From what I can tell thus far it looks like one of my girls will be more petite than the other. I never want one to look at the other and wish they were skinnier or more “curvey” or had more cleavage or less or were taller, shorter, - you get the idea. This is not going to be an easy task as their mama.
One good thing about that comparison is that, though it seems to be saying that the “old” more “full-figured” (so-called) models are preferred – I would see it as a great tool to show my girls how fleeting what body type is “in” is, you know? It was more “in” back then to have the “hour glass” figure, larger breasts, etc… (but man their waists were still quite little!) and it does seem that for so long since I can remember it’s been more “in” to be smaller framed. It changes. What our culture deems as “beautiful” one moment is just NOT reliable and we’ve GOT to get that into our girl’s heads! Because what if you think you are the “queen” of beauty one moment and then it changes? What about getting older, having health issues that cause you to gain or lose weight?
I understand the “campaign” type things going around trying to get girls who are not petite to view themselves as beautiful despite that beauty seems to mostly be projected onto magazines in the form of super (skinny) models (only), which sends them the silent message that they are not “beautiful”. BUT - I think one of my favorite “campaigns” has to be Dove’s. They’d put so many different body types next to each other and proclaim they are ALL beautiful (and they all WERE very lovely ladies!). NONE of this “this type is better (or more beautiful) than that type” stuff! Nonsense! I also enjoy on occasion TLC’s “What Not To Wear” because I’ve actually learned quite a bit about clothes that flatter EVERY body type! I hope I can put that “knowledge” to good use as I teach my girls to dress in clothes that flatter their own individual style and body type. I remember trying to fit into my more petite friend’s clothes as a teen and I’d look like what they’d refer to as a “hussy” because the clothes just didn’t cover me as well as they covered my beautiful friends. I envied my friends because they could “get away” with wearing these beautiful “fashionable” clothes and I couldn’t (especially in a Christian circle) and nobody took me aside and showed me how to FIND clothes that FIT **ME** and made feel comfortable and beautiful as I thought my friends were in their clothes. I pray that God will help me as I endeavor to teach my girls how to dress their beautiful selves to be modest, cute, cozy, comfy and… themselves
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