The Weight Trap

In today’s society, there is so much pressure on girls and boys, young and old, to be beautiful; part of these expectations include our weight, shape and dress size. In the media, we are given the expectation that we must be unnaturally thin, with big bums and big boobs, of course, while also having glowing, flawless skin and perfect features. Magazines often show overly touched up models and celebrities, who have been photo shopped to the point where the girl in the photo doesn’t even look like ‘the girl in the photo’. With all this deception how are we ever supposed to achieve what is considered  by the media beautiful? Well the obvious answer is that we can’t.

Instead what websites like Tumblr allow us to do, is encourage us to be body confident and to point a giant middle-finger up at the mainstream media who says that a women who aren’t a size 4 are not beautiful. However, I have noticed throughout my many years on the internet, that some people actually cyber-bully those who naturally may be thin, pinpointing them as ‘anorexic’, when in actuality being skinny is something that they cannot help. ‘Thin shaming’, like ‘fat shaming’ does no good and only makes people feel incredibly shit about themselves.

This is the part where I introduce the paradox that our society has created. On the one hand, we have the media constantly telling girls that they should starve themselves to be the crux of beauty; on the other hand, social media websites like tumblr that beauty isn’t being thin, it is instead eating whatever you like whenever you want to. However, it is my personal opinion that neither of these are ideal for girls and teenagers growing up. There is of course nothing beautiful about an eating disorder, whether is it anorexia, or binge eating- and this is what both of these influence are trying to entice. I propose that we define something new few beauty. I propose that healthy is beautiful.

This new definition of beauty means that whether you’re a size 6 or a size 18, as long as your lifestyle includes at least 20 minutes of exercise a day (and this does include walking to your school or job) and your 5 fruits and veggies a day, you are beautiful. My aim of this is not to shame those who enjoy eating a little more than they should, nor is it an attempt to put an end eating disorders through shaming them; it is simply an attempt to encourage those who are worried about their shape to worry more about their health. Any extremity in diet, whether you don’t eat anything, or eat too much, can result in serious health issues. I am of course not suggest that you abandon McDonalds and chocolate completely, just take small steps in attaining the healthier lifestyle.

By changing the definition of beauty to something that can easily be attained by almost everyone, I fully believe that not only would physical health issues can be prevented better, but also, so can mental health issues.