Does body image matter on the beach?
By Iloradanon Efimoff, Contributor
It may not look like summer yet, but I promise you, itâs right around the corner. And what comes with summer? Parties, barbecues⌠and, of course, the beach!
Letâs be real: how are you getting your beach body ready? Are you cutting back on food? Starving? Working on your thigh gap? Doing an endless number of push ups? Planks? Burpees? Do you just put on a healthy dose of confidence?
Want to know my secret? I donât think about it, and I donât care.
Does that mean that apathy is the key to sexiness, sex-appeal, or self-confidence? Probably not. But it sure as hell beats the endless and pointless hours at the gym in a vain attempt to be âsexy.â After all, I have a lot more fun at the beach, swimming or throwing a football around than I would if I sat there worrying about my lack of a âthigh gap.â
Besides, youâre never going to please everyone. Someone will dislike your bathing suit choice, and write you off as not sexy. Someone will see your abs and consider you âtoo fit for a girl.â Someone will see your chest hair, or lack thereof, and think itâs gross. Your facade of confidence may crumble when you realize not everyone is fooled by it. All of these things are aimed at attaining a concept of sexiness. However, everyone has a different idea of whatâs sexy in real life, even if the magazines donât seem to agree with this fact.
Growing up as a young woman in a society that idealizes thin, white, blonde girls has illustrated to me just how (a) impressionable most teenage girls are, and (b) how difficult it can be to deal with the concept of âsexy.â Most girls I know, both in their late teens and early 20s (and quite a few who are a lot older), regardless of their feminist or non-feminist identity, have body image issues. I know I was prone to these in the past, and still am sometimes. Most girls donât seem to consider themselves sexy, but work really hard to try to reach that idealâwhether itâs by tanning, losing weight, dying hair, or wearing makeup. Or maybe they try to take the âshort-cutâ and just act confident.
The issue with this is that whether it be physical (i.e. losing weight) or attitudinal (i.e. confidence) changes, all of these things really just perpetuate the idea that we should care about what others think of our bodies. The fact is, when you lose or gain five or 10 pounds, most peopleâother than yourself or maybe your significant otherâdonât notice. Another thing to keep in mind is that no body is perfect, and there is no point in a body being aesthetically perfect, anyways. The point of a body is to be functional, not to look nice (in the big picture, anyways). In fact, the whole concept of beauty or sex appeal is largely constructed and cultural.
The takeaway message? Just donât give a fuck.
