Thin is still in....

In debates as whether hating exercise is setting a good example for young people....

I have always been that awkward tall skinny girl. In the 6^th grade, I was already 5’6 and had a good few inches on most all of the boys and girls in my grade. By 8^th grade, I was already at my currently height, 5’9 and skinny as a rail. I eventually filled out, but I have always been lanky, tall, and skinny. I have been under a lot of stress lately particularly with being diagnosed with a medical condition, and well as school, my family, and my relationships. Therefore my health has taken a bit of a turn, I haven’t been eating as much as a regularly do, and as a result I have lost about 10 pounds from my already thin frame.  Recently, many of my friends have been noticing how thin I look. In the best way, they make comments alluding to the fact that I need to put on some pounds, but no matter how hard I try, how many cupcakes and thin mints I eat, I just can’t put any weight back on. Sometimes, in fact, I feel like I am treated like the enemy for being thin. I know that sounds kind of ridiculous and out there, but women who are thin tend to have just as many haters as those who are overweight due. To me there seems to be a double standard with those who are overweight and those who are thin. How is it okay for random girls I don’t know to accuse me of being anorexic or doing cocaine but if I were to ever tell someone to stop eating it would be offensive? I eat what I want, I don’t starve myself and I am beautiful. So why are you allowed to love your ‘curves’ but it’s wrong for me to love my ‘bones’? If you can tell me to ‘gain weight’, why is it wrong for me to tell someone to lose weight? If you can feel beautiful being big, I can feel beautiful being small. I think people forget that it hurts me too just like it would hurt an overweight girl to be called fat; do I like being asked if I eat enough or if I have a problem? Obviously not.

So what does this have to do with women’s magazines? Well, it is this magazines that are telling us how to look, dress, act, et cetera. Everyone has different body shapes. But with today’s society, we try to normal what that body type should be, SKINNY. This is pretty much the only body type that you see in media and in the magazines. (Of course you have your non-conformers like Adele, who refuse to accept the norm the media is imposing on us). I believe that this type of pressure placed on us makes us resent others for having the body type that they see in the magazines. To you that statement might seem outlandish, this could just be me projecting my personal feelings in this post. Some girls encourage me to eat more, but others ask me what my “secret” is. It upsets me that women see my body type as the ideal, and can’t embrace what they are given. I wish that this could be changed.