Women can be incredibly cruel to each other. We judge each others outfits, criticize each others life choices and make fun of those who can’t seem to keep up. Even with fearless leaders like Beyonce and Miranda Lambert guiding us on a journey to female empowerment, we still have a long way to go. This journey’s greatest obstacle is how women’s bodies are often pitted against each other. Thin? Curvy? Somewhere in the middle? For some reason, society has dictated that one body type must reign superior, and women have been fighting ever since.
The picture above is from a Reddit user who combined campaign images from Victoria’s Secret and Dove. This image has spurred many arguments from both sides, each claiming to be better than the other. You know what we should all challenge ourselves to see when we look at this image? Nineteen beautiful women, each with a different story.
“Real women have curves.” This phrase, which was created in support of fuller figured women, is perhaps one of the most degrading phrases in terms of female empowerment. This phrase suggests that women without curves are somehow not truly women. This logic would have us believe that Adele is a woman, but Kate Moss is not. Let’s go ahead and state the obvious: both are real women (assuming they aren’t robots). Curves don’t define womanhood, biology does. The point is that we shouldn’t empower one type of woman by putting the other types down. Women come in all different shapes and sizes, and none are more real than the others.
Now that we’re all real women again, let’s stop perpetuating these stereotypes. Whether you’ve picked on a woman who is overweight or called models anorexic, we’re enabling the problem. Instead of having women duel each other based on the size of the jeans, let’s support each other and the bodies that we have.
It’s time to embrace the healthiest version of ourselves. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle allows our bodies to become what they are naturally meant to be. This may not be the body you have pinned on your “Fitness” Pinterest board, but it’s the one that you’re supposed to have. I am comfortable with the fact that my hips will never allow me to be a size 0. I am also comfortable with the fact that my sister’s hips do allow her to be a size 0. Our body types may differ, but we’re both healthy, and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.
We all have insecurities, and instead of calling each other out on them, let’s help each other fight them. Be a part of the movement, and encourage those around you to be the healthiest and happiest version of themselves. Who knows, we just might fight society’s standard of beauty along the way.