A healthy body. Three simple words, yet no one can agree on what the definition of a “healthy body” is. Some say a healthy body is when you eat the right foods and exercise often. Others say a healthy body is when you feel comfortable in your body and feel good about the way you look.
You want to feel confident in the way you walk, talk, and look. Who doesn’t? There’s the saying that “all body types are beautiful” and this could not be more true. The problem? No matter how many times this message is shared and preached by, at the end of the day society always seems to be idolizing one body type: the skinny one.
As most of you know, Kendall Jenner is an American model who shot to fame through her family’s reality TV show Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Multiple pictures of her have gone viral in seconds, usually ones that include her in lingerie. The most recent one is Kendall in a very small, red bikini for a photoshoot. The reason why this photo went viral is not just because she is an incredibly stunning female, but more about the response by other women around the world. You see, women have somehow been tricked into thinking that Kendall’s body is the ideal body to have and is seen as the most attractive. There is literally nothing wrong with how Kendall Jenner looks, it’s just that she’s not what every girl needs to look like. Whenever I’ve been with friends and we’re discussing how our bodies look, the phrase “I’ll never be able to look like Kendall Jenner” seems to pop up a lot. This is because, yes, she has an incredible body, but society has put their ugly twist on it so that women will feel bad about their own bodies because they do not have the same shape as Kendall. This particular red bikini photo sent a ripple of insecurity throughout the female community with comments, an example being: “I got 99 problems and looking like Kendall Jenner would solve all of them.”
As a female who has struggled with body image, as most of us have, it is incredibly frustrating thinking that one image can cause such a wave of insecurity to others. It takes a lot to become comfortable in your own skin. Such natural aspects of our bodies we’ve been hypnotized to criticize and want to change. Comparing our appearances to others has been normalized. Something that I have personally struggled with has been my lower stomach area. It takes a lot to feel confident in wearing a crop top when I’m constantly worrying about whether or not my skin rolls will show if I sit down. I tried doing workouts directed at getting rid of this so-called muffin top so that I could have a body like Kendall Jenner, one that satisfies society’s expectations. The literal Google definition of muffin top is “…a person’s body fat that extends horizontally over the edges of the waistline of tightly fitting pants or skirts.” Pretty hard to normalize these parts of our bodies when it’s worded that way huh? We are fixated on that one definition and become determined to slim down, then feel frustrated when we’re unable to achieve this unrealistic body type. No one mentions the fact that our bodies are supposed to have belly fat, that our bodies created it to have a protective barrier for our organs that give us life every single day.
Maybe this article was to rant a bit about unrealistic body expectations that society and social media have created. Maybe I’m mad at the fact that this stunning picture of Kendall Jenner that caused such a stir among women was apparently photoshopped. Or maybe both. But really, the main reason I’m writing this article is that there need to be more healthy conversations about our bodies. That even when we find ourselves comparing our body to someone else’s, that we can lift each other up, complement one another, but also be able to look at ourselves in the mirror and turn every negative comment into a positive one.