I know I talk about it a lot, however, things have not changed.

Every single one of us have insecurities, the majority being about our body. The media has such a good way of distorting this, for example, by the coding of the in-trend app TikTok only showing ‘skinny and beautiful’ girls on the ‘FYP’ (‘for you page’). As well as this, we are not kind to ourselves, by following these stunning celebrities and our friends online, we can’t help but pick out our own flaws when we see pictures of everyone else online looking ‘skinny’.

Why can’t we just love the way we look regardless?

Us ladies, skinny or not, we all have folds and creases and rolls in our stomachs, for example, but this is not shown enough. A recent Instagram post by one of my role models who I have followed on all social media platforms for years, Summer McKeen, a vlogger with 2m followers on Twitter and 2.3m subscribers on YouTube, talks about this topic. In the past, I have posted my views on body image on my own accounts, raising the not-talked-about-enough concept that we ALL have insecurities and that we ALL post when we look our best: therefore, when we are our ‘skinniest’.

What made me sad is that still today, even us none celebrities are receiving hate for saying things like this and we are said to be ‘too skinny’. McKeen posted a screenshot of a Direct Message she received from a fan after she had voiced her opinion, saying ‘but you are skinny’. Surely, she kicked off about it, explaining that we all post when we look our best. I clapped out loud when I saw this on her Instagram story. She only shows her body when she ‘looks and feels her best’, saying that that is ‘rare’.

Summer says that ‘there needs to be more of a normalisation of imperfection… when it comes to body image’ in our society and online platforms, mentioning ‘society’s standard of beauty’. She couldn’t be more spot-on. She goes on to say that ‘someone dm-ing her (privately) doesn’t change her opinion and that she should be able to speak strongly about this topic ‘without someone devaluing what [she] says’.

In order to stop this hate and negativity, we should support each other and focus on our own lives rather than constantly commenting on others’. This is not healthy for anyone. It’s a slow process to learn to love your body, whatever shape or size, but we will all get there, as long as we have the support from each other and society/the media. ❤