All in feminism
Ah, your bikini body.
Didn’t show up again this year?
…
YES IT DID.
PUT A BIKINI ON YOUR BODY (nod to my friend and mentor, Neghar Fonooni). AND BYEEEE.
You don’t have to shape it, shrink it, tan it, or pose it. And you MOST CERTAINLY don’t have to hide it.
Your body is worthy of whatever display you desire, no apologies necessary.
These stories spin any number of ways, but – most often – we’re the damsel in distress, at the mercy of others, awaiting our rescue.
We're sold ideals - often ones we didn't choose for ourselves. We're enmeshed in an overculture holding that the primary purpose of a woman is to be decoration: we are to be looked at first, and we experience no shortage of tips and tricks to help improve our appearances. Comments on our bodies are often the loudest of all, proclaiming that if we aren't up to the standard, nothing else matters.
We look for respite in creams, in exercise programs, in diets...only to discover that these often provide little relief. Perhaps because these are attempts to solve an issue we never agreed was a problem in the first place.
While I find nothing inherently wrong with the pursuit of physique goals (and I'm not interested in telling you what to choose for yourself), I would like to look back on my life someday and say I was striving for more than just an ideal body.
