
Instagram vs reality posts are those two side-by-side images we see all over our feeds.
One image is the perfectly curated and posed version of ourselves that we share on Instagram, and the other (usually taken 30 seconds later) shows a less posed, less glamorised version.
Often the point is to show off micro-flaws such as fat rolls, skin pigmentation, stretchmarks, or cellulite. These posts are naively intended to remind us that influencers and celebrities are real people and that they have ‘flaws’ too.
I hate these posts.
Watch: How to improve your daughter's body image. Post continues below.
I hate these posts because the majority of people posting them are thin, white, able-bodied women who pose to accentuate their rolls or ‘flaws’ or, sometimes, to create new rolls entirely.
The vibe is “here are all my flaws, and I love myself anyway”. The thing is that I live with all of those so-called flaws every day and nobody calls me brave.
My body and my rolls are there 100 per cent of the time. There is no photo angle or position where I can pose where I don't have rolls. I can’t use filters or poses to shrink myself so that I fit within societally enforced unattainable standards of beauty (ie. thin and white).
It’s just something to keep in mind the next time you're receiving comments from your followers about how brave you are for deliberately posing to show off what is essentially ‘fake fat’ or skin, while I'm here with a deep layer of adipose tissue 24/7 deleting DM's and dodging YouTube videos about how disgusting and irresponsible I am for loving my body.
I have a layer of fat that society is constantly telling me makes me ‘less-than’ and unworthy of so many things, a layer of fat that when smaller bodied people pose to create they receive praise for. Double standard much?
"I love my body even when it looks like this!" read so many captions below photos of thin women hunched over with the slightest rolls covering their six pack abs. Yes, your body is beautiful just the way it is, but so is mine. The difference is, my body isn't societally acceptable, yours is.
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