That Post on Body Image

bod·y im·age

noun

noun: body image; plural noun: body images

1.    the subjective picture or mental image of one's own body.

I think we can all agree that body image is a huge topic floating around the music industry, blogs, magazines, you name it. Everywhere we look we seem to be bombarded by someone’s opinion on what constitutes a beautiful female.

There seem to be two polarized views.

1) Thin is beautiful. This view stems largely from the media. From movie actresses to pop stars. From runway models to clothing advertisements.

The message: Size 0 is the normal. Size 0 is hot. Size 0 is the only beautiful size.

This message prompts girls to strive to obtain a size 0 figure by any means possible. It is a terrible message. It teaches women to be ashamed of their bodies because their thighs touch and their waists are not paper thin. I’ve known people who were personally driven to eating disorders and obsessive exercising in order to abide by this message that thin is the only beautiful body type. It glorifies bodies that are thin and mocks and shames bodies that are not.

The sad thing is, this message is most of the time indirectly preached and because of that, many girls are not aware that it is even affecting them. But every time they turn on the TV and see that the vast majority of actresses is underweight and that all the girls in commercials have stick figures, the message begins to creep into their minds. And many times it is too strong to combat.

This message must be put to an end, but it is not the only body image message being pushed onto girls in today’s world.

2) Thin is ugly, unattainable, and unattractive. This view praises the body that is NOT thin, and shames the bodies that are. It demands that women of different (larger) body shape and size should be glorified and thought of as beautiful. Which, in and of itself, is a not a bad thing. However, the people that hold this view don’t stop there. While demanding that larger women be respected and unashamed, they simultaneously shame women who have a body type thinner than their own. How is this view any better than the one mentioned above?

The “thin is ugly” view can most recently be seen in the hit song “All About That Bass” by Meghan Trainor. Some of the lyrics are as follows: “I'm bringing booty back/ Go ahead and tell them skinny b*****s that.” The song pleads with girls to embrace and love their bodies no matter what its shape or size unless they’re skinny.  Again, I ask you: how is skinny shaming ANY better than fat shaming?

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Here’s an idea. Let’s stop shaming. Let’s stop with the obsession with our looks. Let’s stop placing so much value on aesthetics.

Let’s turn our focus to the inside.

Let me be the first today that I am not in any way refuting the idea that outward beauty is a very real thing. I am simply sending out a plea. A plea to shift our gaze from what our bodies look like (their shape & size) and instead to start focusing on the HEALTH of our bodies.

How I wish that the media would stop sending out the “size 0 is beautiful” and the “size 0 is ugly” messages and would instead send a message that says “Be healthy. Strive to be the healthiest version of you that you can be.”

This message of health looks different for everyone. For me, it means that I lift weights, count my macros, and strive to build strength. It means that I will never be a size zero. I was born with the quad muscles of a body builder. And it took me a while, but guess what? I’ve embraced it. Instead of striving to have thin legs, I constantly work to build my strength, and I’m proud of that.

For my younger sister, it means that she will probably never be any larger than a size 0. It means that she runs, because she loves it. It means that she does 200 crunches a day, because she loves it. It means that she embraces her petite frame and is not envious of my strong one (and vice versa).

Think for a moment of someone you love. How do you treat them? Do you deprive them of the things they need or do you treat them with no respect? NO. You treat them with care and concern, and wish the best for them.

THAT is how we should treat our bodies. We should treat them as the temple that they are (1 Corinthians 6:19).

So the point is, stop shaming others. Love your body and treat it well.