Alright, y’all. I’ve
had this idea written down for a couple months now and I think I’m finally
ready to lay down my thoughts.
A while back, I tweeted something along the lines of “If
there’s one thing I’ll never understand about society, it’s the way we’ve
normalized body shaming.” Understandably, it got quite a few favorites and
retweets. They were almost exclusively by women, probably owing to the fact
that we are the main target of this, what I like to call “benevolent body
policing.” It undoubtedly happens all year round (see: conversations revolving
around chubby people “pulling off” yoga pants, leggings, and skinny jeans), but
during the warmer half of the year, there’s no denying the fucked up ideas
surrounding women and how they choose to dress.
The source of all this ruckus? Bikini bodies.
I’m really not sure who coined the term, and I’m not sure I’m
interested in looking it up. What I do know is that if you look in nearly any
women’s magazine starting as early as February (spring break, y’all) all the
way through August, you’ll find some variation of those 2 words on the cover.
Inside will be all the best workouts to get rid of belly fat, as well as super
healthy recipes that you can totally afford to replace your normal diet with.
Because somehow, as a society, we have developed this very
specific idea of who we think is allowed to show their skin during the summer.
Furthermore, we are raised to blindly accept this as a fact of life. Fat girls
grow up and are expected to just accept that they can’t wear a bikini beyond
their backyard in the summer. They wear pants or long shorts to avoid the
confused looks of strangers as their exposed thighs are eyed up and down, the
looks that say, “Did she look in the mirror before she left the house?” “Does
she not realize that she’s fat?” “That poor girl doesn’t even realize that she’s
disgusting everyone nearby.”
I have overheard many a conversation at water parks, and
even participated in some myself, where someone says, “Some people just shouldn’t
wear bikinis.” When you hear this, and definitely if you’re the one saying it,
I challenge you to ask “why?”
Is it because the sight of jiggling thighs disgusts you?
Is it because you’re repulsed by the idea of someone taking
up more space than the minimum their bones will allow?
Are you mad that they have the nerve to be proud of taking
up that space?
Are you afraid that monsters will crawl out of the stretch
marks on her sides?
Or, perhaps, are you just upset that they’re fighting
(sometimes unknowingly) against the standards that most of society have just
accepted as necessary?
It’s pretty prevalent in our society, the idea that fat
people should be ashamed of their bodies. Can you imagine the kind of things
said behind the back of a chubby girl wearing a crop top? Why the hell would
she want to show off that little bit of her tummy? Doesn’t she know that she
should be embarrassed that it hangs over the top of her shorts? Except that she
shouldn’t: the only difference between her stomach and the stomach of a thin
girl is that there’s more of it and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that.
I could get into the ethical implications of expecting
chubby people to cover their bodies up, even in extreme heat (they deserve heat
stroke for being fat?) but the point of this article is to address the social
constructionism here.
There is no specific “bikini body” you need to craft for the
warm months. We all live in a natural state of bikini bodyism.
Really, this graphic (that I unfortunately can’t find a
proper source for) sums up this whole post.
I'll also leave you with these tweets.
Stay rad, pals.
