I would say that I’ve always been self conscious about my body, since i’ve never really “fit in” anywhere. I guess this would be specifically on a racial perspective. Like, you would always have to have a really big butt if you’re black (black girl booty). But then you still have to have that perfect nose, that european nose that’s upturned and cute. You can’t have stretch marks, and my stretch marks look different than a white girls stretch marks, so I’ve always been a bit “where do I stand? Why can’t I have a flat stomach? Why can’t I have a perfect nose and the perfect butt?”. I feel like growing up, i’ve compared myself to my cousins who are white, and then my schoolmates, and people in the media. I think it started when I was probably 8-ish. I’ve always been a little thicker, that’s just how my body’s built. In elementary school we would have “swim parties”, and my mom would ask if I wanted a one-piece or a two-piece, and I always chose the one piece. It was always super covering and had ruffles in the middle.

    I think society is showing more plus size white people, but they’re showing the “ideal” plus size. She’s perfectly curvy, her waist still cinches in and she still has perfect boobs and a nice butt. I feel like advertising needs to dive more into “disabled” bodies, so people that don’t necessarily fit into the “abled” bodies category. They also need to include more women of color and men of color, I feel like they’re not including a lot of men in advertising, especially underwear ads. Men need to see themselves portrayed in different lights.

    Compared to how I used to think, even in High School, I’ve grown to love my body a lot more. One thing that helped was sports; I worked out a lot, and it was really rigorous and I changed my diet and everything. I got to a really healthy weight, but I didn’t think my body looked super skinny and I didn’t have a six pack and I wasn’t a model or anything and I still had my curves, but I was like “I actually like how I look, and even if I gain a little weight I’ll still be happy”. I like how my clothes look on me, and I like poking my little belly sometimes, I’ve just grown to realize that even though I don’t look like the women in the magazines, I still like how I look.

    Do you hate how your body looks to you or do you hate how it looks in comparison to other people? I think Eleanor Roosevelt said “comparison is the thief of joy”, and I just want them to know that they need to look at themselves in the mirror and honestly look at the things they can do with their body. You may have the potential to skip through the flowers or swim in all the lakes and oceans and pig out on the couch or play your sports, dance your dance, study your heart out, express you passions both big and small. You truly have the ability to wear WHATEVER makes you happy no matter what anyone says.  If you feel empowered and excited with what you can do with your body, then that should be body positivity in and of itself, not how you feel you stack up to the next person.”