Body.
Defined as, “the physical structure of a person or an animal, including the bones, flesh, and organs,” a body is the basis of a human’s physical appearance. There is a very wide range of body types, starting with the waifish to the voluptuous.
However, despite the very wide range of body types presented, there is always a desired standard of body structure, specifically for women.
In order to catch a boy’s attention, a girl is generally required to have “reasonably-sized” breasts, a narrow waist, a large behind, and other technicalities. Girls can’t be too skinny, but not too big. They have to have big thighs, but no cellulite. Big breasts, but they can’t sag, and God forbid they have large areolas. No body hair, none at all, but make sure that it looks clean shaven – no razor burn.
These days, every girl has to look at their body and compare it to what they see on television. Do they weigh a decent amount? Should they gain weight? Should they lose weight? Should they wax this, shave those, pluck that? The way that the media portrays the female body has a severe lack of diversity. On television, the only actors cast in the main role are usually fair-skinned, skinny (or ‘well-proportioned’) actresses. In shows where there is someone overweight, their character and/or personality almost always seems to revolve around their weight.
Why can’t girls have a wide range of body types projected onto them by the media? Why does it always have to be the same, stereotypical structure over and over again?
Not only do the media’s portrayals (or lack thereof) of different body types affect the way women see themselves, they also affect how boys see women. Since plenty of men are generally exposed to media before they are exposed to women in a realistic setting, their expectations of what the ‘true’ female body type is generally what they see on television, movies, and magazines. Girls are held to an unimaginable standard when it comes to their bodies, and it’s unfair for boys to try and copy paste their perfect girl out of body parts they’ve seen on a celebrity!
Industries that sell sex, such as pornography or even modelling broadcast what they believe is their ideal body type. Women in porn have unimaginably large breasts, which are often unproportional to their slim bodies. These breasts don’t sag, they stay upright and perky, which isn’t how the majority of breasts are. In fact, the majority of adult-film stars have gone under the knife, specifically for a breast augmentation. This projection of fake breasts leads to men thinking of them as how every woman should be, which doesn’t make sense, as implants do not sag, while genuine (mostly large) breasts do. This desensitization leads to unrealistic body standards being expected of women. In fact, in 2002 and 2003, the numbers of women 18 years and younger getting boob jobs tripled.
In addition to breasts, there is an expectation for women to not have any form of cellulite on their body at all. Cellulite is natural, even celebrities like Amber Rose and Kim Kardashian, who are both known for their sexually appealing bodies, have it. However, when the topic of sex comes up, cellulite is not what is seen as ‘sexy.’ Instead, it’s considered ‘gross.’ It’s a natural thing that happens in even the fittest of women. Why is it so hard to be accepted?
The policing of the female body is damaging to every woman’s self-esteem. We should be able to love our bodies, and having boys nitpick on every aspect of us that deviates from society’s aesthetic interpretation does nothing to ameliorate us.
We’re girls, not science projects.
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