Warning...this blog post may offend...actually if it does then good!
In the midst of the battle that womankind (and man) are fighting against media and body shape/size it makes me really cross and extremely sad to see the 'Walmart shopper' type pictures that are trending around facebook. There was one in particular yesterday - and I did debate about putting the image on this blog but then I thought "hey, this woman was minding her own business and some complete stranger took a photo of her without her knowledge and then plastered it all over social media" so I didn't want to add to the invasion of her privacy. It was a photo of a very curvaceous lady wearing a skimpy lycra outfit, it did cover all the appropriate body parts but the skirt was short and the top was low cut...the strapline on the photo said something along the lines of "describe in one word"...the comments that followed can only be described as VILE, one of them suggested that "it should be killed"... Why do we as a people feel the need to belittle others? To ridicule that which looks different to what we perceive as normal? Personally I think normal is way over rated and I would much rather be unique. This woman (and all the other photos like it) was a lady totally in control of her confidence and rocking her curves, I say "good on ya girl"! Was it an outfit I would wear? No, (although my husband would probably have liked me to!) but what does that have to do with it? Who am I or anyone else to judge her and what she wants to wear? What gives us the right to trash talk about her? We are all fighting the sterotype that the fashion industry would insist we look like - the rib cage skinny with knife edge shoulder blades - we continuously fight for the fuller figure to be accepted in the 'industry' and 'mainstream' so why do we then trash images of goddess shape women? And whilst we are on the subject, yes I do join the campaign for the industry to accept women to be a realistic size. When I was a teenager I could rock a size 8 ra ra skirt but that was a gazillion years and a couple of children ago - no way would I ever maintain a size 8 figure now, nor would I want to. I have my bad "I think I am fat" days (I wear a UK size 16) but in actual fact yes I am larger now than I was in my teens and twenties but I am also the most confident and content...The flip side of this as well, when we post the images on facebook of Marilyn Monroe types and what the fashion industry would have us call 'larger models' do we then belittle those of the population that are either naturally slim or work very hard to be so? Why can we not just accept that whatever body size or shape we are is right for us? Why can we not just accept that if we want to go out dressed in whatever outfit we dang well choose to that it is up to us and no one else's business? All those people that are commenting on these photos with vile, sarcastic and spiteful comments...are you perfect? What the heck gives you the right to judge those people? I say...be yourself, be confident, be comfortable, wear what makes YOU feel good and wear whatever you damn well want to and anyone that says otherwise can go take a running jump... If you are one of those that judges and that puts the spiteful comments on those social media posts...WHY, why would you do that to another human being? Right...I'm off to put on my Princess Leia gold bikini to go do the shopping...
