Nickey Robo

fixedwhilefeminist:

Please stop body shaming. ALL of these bodies are beautiful.

Shaming someone because they are thin does not make it better than shaming someone because they are fat or curvy.

Everyone should be allowed the right to love exactly how they were created unless they want to change it themselves and for themselves.

Firstly, I agree with the above sentiment that let’s not body shame anyone, thin or, uh, less thin. Hating is never a good way to make yourself feel better about yourself. Secondly, let’s remember that the women on the bottom certainly don’t have bodies that are significantly more attainable for the average woman. (Sidenote: People love to mention that Marilyn Monroe was a size 14. Back in the 50’s a 14 was actually the bottom of the size range for most adult women’s clothing, it’s close to a modern 4 or 6.)

However, I do think it’s a valid question- how did the above become our beauty ideal? I know it’s meant as rhetorical, but I think it’s worth pondering. What changed in American culture? I blame capitalism.

It is financially beneficial to present less and less attainable bodies. While most of us probably won’t ever look like Marilyn or Elizabeth, it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility. But, as I mentioned in a previous post, Jennifer Aniston (who might not even be as thin as the women on the top) has a body so thin that less than 3.7% of American women are that thin. The less attainable the bodies we idolize, the more we buy. We buy diet pills, we buy expensive low calorie food, we buy plastic surgery, we buy personal trainers, we buy clothes we can’t fit in hopes we one day will, we buy magazines and books full of diet tips, we buy trips to weight loss centers, we buy exercise videos, we buy cleanses, we buy and buy and buy and we make thinness very, very profitable. We buy into an idea, and then we buy with our dollars, even though there has never been a single diet proven to make you lose weight and keep it off over the long term.

Additionally, every single one of these women made being hot her job. If your income depended on being as beautiful as possible, and you could work out with a personal trainer every day and have a personal chef cook you each meal, I bet you’d look unbelievably good, too. Just like Marilyn, I’m pretty good at the things I am paid to do, too.

So that’s why I think being size positive is so radical, and it’s heart, an anti-capitalist act. True health is not particularly profitable. You can exercise quite well for free. Eating whole foods that are good for you are cheaper than processed crap. There are so many less things to spend money on when you just decide to love yourself!