One thing we can all agree about being a female in today's society is that it is difficult. There is so much comparison, so much expectation, and so many things that are wanted from us. The media tells us how to dress and how to look, but will it ever tell us that our body is enough?
I grew up absolutely hating my full thighs. I remember comparing the width of my thighs to my friends' legs in elementary school and middle school. I would skip meals and exercise profusely, hoping that my thighs would get slimmer and that I would be recognized as "pretty" by the boys walking down the halls in school.
I would try to tell myself that one day I would get slimmer thighs and be more attractive at my school.
Little did I know how difficult that would be.
Now that I think about it, I feel as if it was difficult because I was already attractive. Maybe not in the eyes of the most popular girls roaming down the school halls, but maybe just in general. Maybe I didn't have to be skinny to be pretty. Maybe I didn't have to skip meals to prove that I was willing to change. And maybe I didn't need outside factors to tell me whether I was attractive or not.
Being perceived as "pretty" is such a controversy. It's like solving a puzzle when you don't know how it is supposed to look in the end. The word "pretty" has millions of connotations and meanings to millions of different people. "Pretty" is like a foreign language to each person. What one person may see as pretty may not necessarily be pretty in the eyes of another person. Every woman is pretty but in a different way. Pretty doesn't have to mean that a person is thin — it just has to mean that the person is themselves. Who they are is what makes them "pretty" and desirable.
I long for the day where all women can go outside naked and not worry about the judgments that may come their way. A day where we can feel perfection through the "imperfections" we see. The media can tell us all they want about being pretty and attractive. But in the end, it is us who make the decision about whether we should listen to them or not.
I have decided not to listen to what the media has to say about my body anymore.
I have decided to mute this obnoxious radio called the media. The media can control what I see, but it cannot control the person I am today. Because now I know I am already enough.
This is where, after many years of self-hatred and poor body image, I have decided to love and appreciate my thick thighs. This is the day where I celebrate my thighs for what they are. The day where I write "I love you" in bold black letters across my inner thighs. It was a long time coming. I never expected to see my oversized thighs as "pretty," or even slightly attractive. The girl who would always see her thighs as a nuisance is gone. She has transformed into a mature woman who knows that there is no such thing as shortcomings if there is self-acceptance.
