As women, we have deal with the double-standards that society has imposed on us. It’s an issue that is upheld by both men and women, creating the need for change on both ends. Today, we see many brave women using social media in different ways to shatter these ideals of what a woman should be. In the age of internet revolutionaries and resistance, women are reclaiming their bodies and sexuality. Women all over the world have come to accept themselves through the power of the internet, thus joining the fight against the constant shaming that they have endured.
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The standards for women, how they should behave and portray themselves, are clear. Women aren’t allowed to express themselves in ways that might be seen as “sexy” or they will face criticism. Even women who are simply embracing their bodies deal with similar backlash due to perceptions of them as sexual beings instead of women just loving their bodies. Dressing a certain way, acting a certain way, saying certain things, is all carefully monitored by society to create a space that shames women if they act outside of the norms. Now, women doing away with the labels that once restricted them, turning labels into words that can’t be used against them.
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One of the women at the forefront of embracing herself in society is Amber Rose. She has established herself as an activist for all women. No matter their ethnicity or sexual orientation, she is actively fighting against the labels placed on them. She is also against the violence and abuse that comes with slut-shaming and rape culture.
Her start-up, the Amber Rose Slut Walk, brings women of all backgrounds together in order to uplift one another. They combat words like “hoe” and “slut’ and reclaim them as powerful. Rose is proving that women can be sexual beings if they want to be, and that no matter how they portray themselves, they aren’t just objects of desire for men.
By reclaiming these once hurtful words they cannot be used to harm women any longer. Women can dress as they please, look as they please, sleep with whoever, and with as many people as they please without it being degrading. Women are who they are unapologetically.
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Youtuber, Remi Cruz, has also recently dealt with her fair share of body-shaming and slut-shaming. After losing weight, she has experienced what it is like to be treated as both a thinner and plus-sized woman. In a recent video of hers, she talks about what it was like to go through this change in the public eye. As a former plus-sized woman, she has faced the criticism of embracing her body as it once was. She also endured the insults about her weight for years, often being called “fat” and “disgusting.” These comments were directed towards her for simply showing the world that she loved who she was.
As she embraced fitness and health, she faced backlash. As a fit woman, she is flooded with slut-shaming comments for showing off her thinner body. Although she is still the same person, her actions are now sexualized. Her recent video reassures her fans that despite these comments, she will continue to be the same girl she has always been. She will work with women to support women, and end the stigma, labels, and shaming. Cruz goes on to say, “I’m going to keep being my obnoxious, stupid, idiotic, stupid sense of humor self because I like it and it makes me happy, and I have fun.”
Women like Amber Rose and Remi Cruz are only a few of the many women who are using their platforms to reclaim their bodies and sexuality. This goes beyond celebrities and those in the public eye, but also to the everyday women who are dealing with these same issues. Women of all backgrounds are practicing self-love and erasing the stigmas that come with being women. The fight against body-shaming and slut-shaming is far from over, but the future is looking a lot brighter on these terms. Support all women.