So the other day my friend introduced me to the Laci Green channel on YouTube. She has a series called Sex+ where she talks about anything and everything related to women. She talks about having sex, masturbating, body image, etc. I've spent most of my time watching her videos since then. I came across one this morning called "Thispiration" (watch it here) where she addressed this mentality that has appeared on the internet. Curious, I decided to look into it. I'd never heard the term before and her attitude towards it made me want to see what was up. What I saw disturbed me so much I spent the next few hours in a type of self-induced torture unable to look away from the images at the same time that I was freaking out to my friends and planning what I wanted to say in this blog post. For those who don't know thinspiration, or thinspo, is a tag where girls post images, mainly on Tumblr, of severely skinny girls and use it as a weight loss inspiration. There are even whole blogs dedicated to thinspo. What concerns me most is how ambiguous these posts and blogs dedicated to thinspo are. You can have a fit girl who obviously works out a lot next to a girl who looks like she will break if you push her into a wall. Having these two images next to each other is extremely confusing. On one side you have a girl who is in a healthy state and has muscle. On the other you have a girl who looks like she never eats. There is a huge difference between a skinny girl and a physically fit girl. A physically fit girl will gain muscle and lose fat. Even if she gets skinnier, she will still have a lot of meat on her from the work that she is doing. I feel like a lot of people have this misconception that if you workout you will just become skinny. They forget the part that you will gain muscle and get stronger. If you work out a lot that does not mean you will become super skinny.
This is super skinny This is fit
I don't know about you guys but I know which one I find more sexy and attractive. (It's the second one!)
I have no problem with girls who want to get fit and lose weight by exercising. Hell, I just wrote a blog about exercising (read it here). However, it concerns me that so many people are using 'exercise' and 'healthy eating' to achieve unhealthy and unrealistic ideals. Which brings me to my next point. The thigh gap. I've been hearing about the thigh gap for a while now and at first I didn't know how I felt about it. I mean sure, it would be nice if I didn't wear the thigh part out on every single pair of jeans I own due to the fact that when I walk my thighs rub together. But when I thought about how much weight I would have to lose in order to have a thigh gap my first thought was "that is way too much work" and my second was "is that even healthy?" For most girls getting a thigh gap isn't physically possible unless they reach an unhealthy weight. Why is something that isn't physically possible for most people our new standard of beauty?
The final thing that concerns me about thinspiration is the amount of images of sex that crop up. This illustrates that these women are only trying to look good for a guy. That the only way you can get a boyfriend is if you are incredibly skinny. This is bullshit. First of all, if you want to be skinnier or get into better shape don't do it for anyone but yourself. You are the owner of your body and you are the one who lives in it every day. So love yourself and if you want to exercise to feel good, just make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. Second, guys don't just want a girl who is incredibly skinny. I am by no means the skinniest person ever. My thighs rub together, when I sit down I get rolls, parts of me jiggle when I move. And you know what? I love it. I love my body and I have gotten plenty of guy attention the way I am. I have never once had a guy critique my body. Because if a guy is into you, truly interested in you, he's not going to insult you. I know girls of all different body shapes and they get attention from guys, girls, and whatever other gender identity you may like.
So, that turned a bit long towards the end but what I want to get across is this. Everyone has a different body shape. I am 5'11", a B cup, with no ass, and I weigh about 155 pounds. I have friends who have the flattest stomachs I have ever seen and A cup boobs. I have friends who have DD cup or bigger boobs and killer curves that I am so jealous of. So why should we all try to look the same? I love all those girls bodies just the way they are because it is part of who they are. How boring would it be if we all had the same body shape? So, if you read this whole post and take anything away from it it's this: LOVE YOUR BODY. You are the one who has to live in it. Don't hate it. Take care of it and love it!
P.S. I feel like I should explain the title of this post. I had a minor freak out looking at thinspo (obviously) so I decided to forgo the tea while writing this post and instead ate 3 ice cream bars. It might become a thing if I write more body image posts. Because, ice cream makes everything better, you know?
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