If you’ve ever casually lost yourself in a Tumblr K-hole, you’ve most likely come across dozens of photographs displaying male or female bodies with protruding ribs, tiny waists, and the ever-elusive thigh gapsglorifying what it is to be skinny .
These were the photographs I discreetly pined over for years on my laptop in the family room, away from my parents’ eyes, or on my phone, scrolling and scrolling well into the night.
These were the bodies I hoped to achieve, and I’d often stop at nothing until my torso and the skeletal arrangements on the computer screen were virtually mirrored images.
Then along arrived Instagram: an entire application dedicated to self-proclaimed photography, where taking a selfie is an art form, where body positivity has attempted to make a epithet for itself, and wherethe phrase # hipdips is now prospering.
Recognized as the slight or dramatic curve fissures between the outer upper thigh and hip, #hipdips has accumulated well over a thousand public photographs to its name so far, growing a community of curve-accepting consumers the hell is, or are in the process, of desiring their shapely figures.
Social media outlets have transitioned from their original intention of being peer-focused, online hangouts where friends, past and present, can keep up with each other, to platforms for political, social, and , now more than ever, body-positive movements to take form and prosper( or fail ).
On the one hand, I truly believe it is both important and powerful to amply accept, appreciate, and be proud of the skin you’re in and the perfect imperfections that attain you, you.
On the other hand, when it comes to torso image, there’s an unavoidable, potent hazard in the celebration of one exclusive group, shape, or feature.
In doing so, it canmake others feel like they need to look like, and/ or live up to criteria that may simply be unattainable.
There is, patently, a clear difference between the thigh gap conundrum and what the hipdips hashtag represents.
But it all simmers down to social adoption, the negative counterpart of this type of behaviour and public authority.
Unfortunately , no good deed moves unpunished, and whether you care to acknowledge it or not, motions like this can trigger anyone, even if there’s no overt intention to cause harm.
Working though an eating disorder and body dysmorphia myself, these experiences have led me to accept all shapes and sizes. It has also taught me to enjoy my body, free of the insatiable need to drive attention and approval in the form of a Facebook’s virtual thumbs up or Instagram’s ruby-red heart.
It is both sad and concerning that people in civilization live so much of “peoples lives” through pixelated screens.
So much so, that how person been thinking about their body weighs heavily on likes and commentaries virtual recognition from a majority of strangers, and a small percentage of loved ones and friends.
To be unforgivably, and proud of how looking and who are as person or persons, that is an amazing attainment, and that self-confidence can radiate all on its own.
So the question to consider is, are these so-called movements body-positive, or do they continue to underline the unrealistic beauty standards we realize every single period?
Just remember: You can, and should, love the skin you’re in, but it doesn’t have to be the standard for everyone else to live up to.
Read more here: http :// www.elitedaily.com
