So, for a part of my homebound school lesson I had to write a personal narrative about body image. I got pretty caught up in it and just went on a big rant, and since I wanted to do a rant about this topic anyway, I thought I'd post it here.
Media is nothing but fantasy, it's all nothing but a bunch of photoshopped girls and unobtainable standards. But, what about those girls you see in real life with a flat stomach, thigh gap, not a bit of fat on her? It's very, very likely that she either has a naturally skinny body type, starves herself as to not gain weight, limits what foods she can eat, exercises overbearingly, takes nearly every second of her time comparing her weight to others and finding out ways to become even skinner, and is so skinny it greatly damages her health, or possibly all of the above.
Sure, being skinny may be what's fashionable and trendy, but is living up to a ridiculously unachievable and unhealthy standard worth malnutrition, anorexia, eating disorders, psychological disorders, and many other health complications?
I was, and even still am often not content and ashamed of my body, and I do compare it to other people's, but when you look from a logical standpoint, it's just not worth it and does tons more damage than good. I used to restrict what I eat, if I ate at all. I went days without eating anything, I'm not even exaggerating. The only thing I would allow myself to do is drink soda. Most of the time, I just wasn't hungry, I wasn't the least bit interested in food, it actually disgusted me to think about it, but that could've been mainly caused by many elements of things I had going on in my life, but body image was a contributing factor.
Even when my doctor said I was underweight and that I needed to add on weight, I tried everything to refuse to do it, because I've always thought I was fat and ugly no matter how skinny I actually was, and I still don't want to gain weight.
I had to start drinking protein shakes (Which are disgusting) and making myself eat even more than usual. Eating made me sick and absolutely repulsed me, but to gain weight I ate anyway.
The main reason I stopped eating almost entirely is because of my depression. I just gave up, I stopped functioning. A part of my depression was formed by always being expected to be this specific thing, and being allegedly worth nothing if you weren't.
I'm actually glad my parents didn't grant me any access to social media. Who knows how bad things would've gotten if I had even more media influences weighing down on me? It is the main problem involving body image as I see it. We are all expecting to be like the media standard of a girl, otherwise if we have a bit of weight on us, which is completely normal, we are labeled as ugly.
Bullying is a huge part of it too. Even if someone is overweight, they shouldn't be tormented because of it, if it interferes with their health and you're worried about them, find a polite and caring way, do not just blurt out "You're fat." It's even more useless when people tell people who have a normal weight, or even under normal weight, that they're fat. It's a lie and it creates a very distressing and real problem. If you constantly tell people they're fat and ugly, they're gonna feel fat and ugly.
In summary, there's a difference between normal weight: Having a bit of fat, not super skinny nor really overweight to the point where it could be a risk to your health. Overweight: Any point in which a person's weight could affect their health and seriously put the person in danger. And media standards: They don't exist! They're photoshopped, and when you do see super skinny girls in real life, they most likely starve themselves, constantly worry about their weight, or are naturally skinny. Trying to achieve an unrealistic and harmful image can be fatal.
You are more than your weight, you are a soul, a mind, a heart, an entire person, not just a walking scale that determines your worth by the numbers on it. You have so much more to offer and more purpose than looking pretty and meeting media standards."
