Elizabeth Nourse
6:45 AM
What is a personal
experience with your own body image that you would like to share?
When I was in high school,
I remember occasionally looking at myself in the mirror and liking what I saw
in the reflection. I was finally starting to develop into a woman, and I had
certain features that I was proud of. But something within me would immediately
suppress those thoughts, and I would revert back to perfecting myself. That was
the norm. It was not normal for a girl to think she was pretty. It is normal, however,
for girls to think that they are not enough. Our society has completely
confused humility with self-denial. If a girl admits that she is physically
beautiful, she is judged as narcissistic or self-obsessed. I say we break that
status quo. If I could go back in time to when I was 15 or 16, I would compliment
myself like crazy. Knowing this has made me realize that I need to start
complimenting myself in the present. We truly can be our own worst enemy and our
biggest bully. But we can also be our biggest cheerleader. It just takes
breaking the status quo and making self-love the new normal.
What do you think is the
most important thing for young girls to know about their bodies as they grow
older?
Perfection does not exist.
Although the mainstream media nips and tucks women to their idea of perfection,
those women are not real. You are real. Nothing you have will ever be enough to
reach society’s ideal. Imagine this: You spend your whole life dieting,
tanning, and perfecting yourself. One morning, you wake up and look in the
bathroom mirror. You are finally her. You are finally the ideal woman. You have
the tan, toned, 36-24-36 body. Your hair is long and sleek. Your teeth are as
white as the snow. Not one wrinkle traces your face. You are perfect. Who is
perfect? You. But wait, who are you? Beyond the perfect appearance, who is this
woman staring back at you in the mirror? In the fight to achieve exactly who
this society wanted you to be, you lost that passion, that spark, that fire
that you used to have. You ask yourself, “Who am I… really?” and you are at a
loss for words. Do not waste away your life trying to become that perfect woman
because you are not her. You will never be her. She does not exist. But you do.
You are a somebody. Spend your life trying to figure out who this beautifully
unique “somebody” is, so that one day you can look at yourself in the mirror
and recognize the fiery spirit that smiles back at you.
What is a quote or saying
that makes you feel great about yourself?
“She was becoming herself
and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment
with which to appear before the world.” –Kate Chopin, “The Awakening”
While I was forced to read
this book for high school English and did not particularly like the story
(especially the ending…), this quote really stood out to me. This is the woman
whom I wish to be. I want to spend every day of my life challenging myself and
learning more and more about who I am. Who the world wants me to be is
irrelevant. The further I can get from the standards of others, the closer I am
to finding myself.
What’s one way that you
celebrate your body every day?
I celebrate my body every
day through exercise. I never thought I would ever say those words. I used to
hate exercise with a passion, but once I got into better shape and my body
began to grow used to working out, going to the gym became more of a hobby than
a chore. I listen to some upbeat classical, jazz, country, or pop hits
(depending on my mood), hop on a cardio machine or grab some dumbbells, and
spend an hour or 2 exercising the body God gave me. I have noticed that I feel
so much better on a daily basis, I have so much more strength, and I have lots
of energy. “Treating myself” doesn’t just have to mean grabbing some froyo or
taking a bubble bath. It can also mean taking an hour out of my day to continue
strengthening the body that I was given.
How do you feel the
media’s portrayal of women’s bodies influences women’s body image?
Our bodies are mere tools
that are meant to aid us in life. The media, however, portrays a woman’s body
as her defining quality. In Hollywood, it’s all about her body measurements,
her skin color, her hair color, her makeup, her clothes, her shoes, and her
hairstyle. TV and radio personalities talk about this stuff for hours on the
air, for women across the nation to see and hear. How we should look in a
bikini is suddenly our iPhone wallpaper. How much we should weigh is suddenly
our New Year’s Resolution. It becomes all women think about because the media
tells us that it is all that we are. We are our bodies. Nothing more. This
needs to change. Who we are is truly defined by what we do. Our bodies are just
a convenient tool we use to do whatever it is we choose to do. Considering that
your body is just a device to aid you in your life journey, the size dress that
it fits into or how tan it is means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of
why you are here on this planet. We need to keep our bodies healthy so that they
can aid us in our travels. But that’s all that we as women should have to worry
about when it comes to our body image.
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