Anyone else hear about the playboy model Dani Mathers who posted a nude photo of a woman at her gym without her permission with the caption “If I can’t unsee this, then you can’t either"? When I first heard about it, I initially expected to feel shock, but if anything I felt the complete opposite. Body Shaming is something that I have come to expect of the world we live in and it makes me sick to my stomach to feel that way.

When I was quite young, I learned that what is important about a person is not their looks, but who they are as a human being. I guess not everyone got that memo because everyday someone is being judged because of their appearance. I am not sure if the people simply were not listening to the lesson about “not judging a book by its cover” or if they just do not have any regard for other people’s feelings and I honestly do not care what their excuse is. What I do know is that it is never okay.

As humans, we are programmed to want to have a good appearance. For some people, that means dying your hair and for others, it means losing weight. No matter what it is, it should be what they want. At the end of the day, the only opinion that matters is their own. So if they want to dye their hair purple, they should go to the salon and if they want to lose some weight, they should strap on those running shoes. They should be able to do whatever they want with their body without the fear of being judged for it.

As women, we are already put under a microscope and told what we should look like by society, do we really want to add to the problem by having women judge other women? I did not think so. There is absolutely no way you can please every single person whose path your cross with the way you look. Someone will always be there to tell you that you should always wear heels because you are to show or that you need braces because your teeth are not perfectly straight. It is actually ridiculous to say someone does not look perfect when it is an unattainable quality. How can someone’s appearance be considered imperfect if there is no scale on which to base it upon?

No one should care if someone is skinny or fat, tall or short, blonde or brunette because the fact of the matter everyone has something about themselves that they wish were different and that quality is what makes that person special. Miranda Kerr said it best in her book

Treasure Yourself: “A rose can never be a sunflower, and a sunflower can never be a rose. All flowers are beautiful in their own way, and that’s like women too." Every single person in the world is beautiful in their own unique way and it is about time that everyone starts recognizing that.