The moment I read your article I thought what an interesting view. A little disturbing, but interesting nonetheless. And I for one, appreciate you speaking out on something that touches you so deeply. After all change begins with a conversation and I'm all about speaking your opinion, which leads me to my argument. Your body type is beautiful and you should be reminded of that no matter what your shape is. Every time I look around there is a skinny girl receiving praise for her beautifully thin body; whether it comes naturally for her or she puts an effort forth. In America, the size 00 body type has been admired for centuries and will continue to be admired for centuries to come.
Quit hogging all the glory! It's about time the thick girls get some acknowledgement for being beautiful too! You mentioned Dove's "Real Beauty" campaign, and I understand your perspective. However, I do believe that campaign was never meant to put the skinny girls down. It was meant to pick the big girls up. As a matter of fact, the campaign began because of the amount of pressure and ridicule placed on the women who are not a size 00. Plus from a logical standpoint in order to properly advertise, they have to find a way to connect to women who have a little more meat on them because the average woman is not a size 00. They should have started this campaign a long time ago! That being said, I don't think skinny girls should be insulted.They never said 00 is not beautiful. They were advertising that there are other types of Beauty too! Basically if you have a body and you're breathing, you're beautiful.
Like I said, I adore the body type. I used to be that body type until I started to develop. My thighs are thick, my butt is big, my cheeks are cheeky and I'm still beautiful. And that's the point of their campaign. To show the ladies like me some love and to expand this idea we have of beauty.
As you said, models are constantly Photoshopped to look thinner than they are. Dove's "Real Beauty" campaign was created to counteract that and to include curvy girls in the definition of beauty. Not only that, but for ages people have been making themselves sick to fit the standard that the media has set for beauty. The statistics for eating disorders are ridiculous. Around 50% of teenage girls and 30% of teenage boys use unhealthy methods to control their weight. They skip meals, smoke cigarettes, force themselves to vomit, and irresponsibly take laxatives.
So if our daughters have been romanticizing the model's body type then that's not due to the average curvy girl, that's due to the media. You also mentioned that you're comfortable in your own skin. Have you stopped to think that maybe that's because for so long society has encouraged you to be? Why shouldn't thick girls have that too? Why can't we love each others body types without that being an insult to skinny girls? Skinny girl bashing is kind of a new concept. If you had nothing to say in support of the big girls for all those years that big girls were being tormented for having curves, then you should remain silent for the skinny girl bashing. We should all support each other, but please don't try to make the skinny girl the victim while making the thick girl the villain. You're right, but only to a certain degree. I'm all about people getting healthy, but whether you're skinny or curvy, our focus should be health. Beauty is much deeper than skin and that's the real message we should be enforcing on our daughters and sons.