You do it. You do it all the time. We know you do. Because all of us here at Mamamia do it. And so do all the women we know. We let our body image issues come to the surface – and we validate them by saying it out loud.
You walk past a glass shopfront and suck your stomach in. You go to grab a cupcake at the morning meeting and then put it back, saying “I better not, it’ll go straight to my hips“. You eat an extra row of chocolate and say to your girlfriend’s “I feel so fat”. You’re shopping with your mum and you mention that you “hate” your thighs.
Shaming our own bodies and reflecting negatively on how we look has become a part of our everyday lives. Culturally it’s accepted; so much so that it’s almost become unusual NOT to hate your own body.
But do you ever stop and think that the children around you are watching this behaviour? That they’re learning and remembering what you say and do; slowly coming to believe that hating your own appearance is expected, it’s part of being a woman.
And that? Is a tragedy. And as women, we’re the only ones who can stop it. As this amazing woman expresses in a beautifully eloquent way, here. Watch it. Remember it.
And next time you go to say something negative about your own body? The next time you physically demonstrate your body image issues in front of a child? Think again.
Top Comments
Also, when a normal, average sized person complains of their minor weight gain to an obese person like me, I wonder if they realise it is as infuriating as a person with a receding hairline complaining about their hair loss to someone is completely bald.
I decided long ago to not say anything negative about my body, or anyone else's arond my daughter. Sure, I might think it in my head, but no way am I saying it out loud!!
My little girl has a 'weight lifters' body, all muscle and chunk and strength and all her friends are dainty string bean body types. I make sure to talk about what her body can do, not what it looks like.