Real Women

Begin Rant:

There are a few things that bug me. Running out of ice cream is one of them. Another is when people, women in particular, SLAM one another, especially over the internet.

A picture is posted and the girls aren’t a size ___________.

Internet comment: “They’re fat/unhealthy.” Or…. “They’re anorexic.”

Since when did it become okay to comment on photos of women that most likely the commenter doesn’t know, and furthermore, comment on their physical wellbeing?

Did I miss that memo? If so thank goodness.

How is this okay? In this world there are all sizes and shapes of women, and there is a reason for that. We are all made genetically unique. We all have different stories, different life circumstance, different goals, and different bodies. I have never met someone whose legs looked just like mine, or who had eyes the same shade of green as mine, or who had the exact same proportions everywhere that I do. That’s the beauty of our world!

There might be an “average” size woman in this country, and if there is why does it really matter? There are also average ages, average years of schooling, and many other averages statisticians calculate on a regular basis. Women might be above, below, or at this average but that has absolutely no bearing on their worth, and it should have absolutely no bearing on how strangers see them, especially on the internet.

People can judge me if they want. I try my very best to not let that bug me (especially the opinions of those who don’t know me), but what in anyone’s right mind makes it okay to tear a woman down online based on her body? A girl could be a size you think is “above average” so that makes her unhealthy? Or a girl could be a size you think is underweight so that must mean she hates food/has an eating disorder?  Almost worse is when women who are choosing to build musculature and working damn hard are being told they “look gross.” WHAT about our society made this okay?

I guess I just really don’t get it. As a woman I know the battle we all face everyday when we look in the mirror. So why would I choose to pass body judgment on another woman I don’t know? You know all the complexities that go into why your body looks the way it does any given day (did I eat 3 bowls of past last night, am I bloated, did I forget to eat dinner cause I was studying, etc.) so realize before you make a judgment call, or worse a hateful comment, that their body is complex too!

And the whole “real women” thing. There is absolutely no body type that makes someone a real woman. Perhaps it is when we stick up for one another, embrace what makes us feel feminine individually, and celebrate womanhood that we see what  real women look like.

End Rant.