Today marks ten days until the first day of school vacation around here. Temperatures have reached surprising highs over the last few weeks and, although the solstice is still a couple of days away, we can feel the strong call of SUMMER! everywhere.
In newsstands all over the place, just as on their web counterparts, tabloids are probably full of pictures with comments pulling apart scantily clad celebrities. I’m saying probably because I’ve stopped looking a long time ago.
But things aren’t really bound to change, are they?
Even if you don’t take the time to open those magazines, just a glance at any of the covers will grant you the starlet du jour in a bikini, surrounded by emboldened headlines urging you to lose weight now—hinting a brand new miracle trick, of course!
It won’t come to a surprise to you that I am beyond tired of this rhetoric.
Thankfully, voices are rising—in increasing number and volume!—to counter this, and offer a different perspective. (More on this later.)
THERE ARE NO RULES
No thanks to media, we tend to live under the assumption that there are rules to be followed when it comes to swimwear—or any other type of clothing, for that matter.
Certain types of bodies “get” to wear certain things, and every one else has to cover up.
Except there’s a major flaw with this perspective.
You know what? Those so-called “rules” completely evaporate if we choose to disregard them! I swear! As soon as we embrace freedom and critical thinking instead, they actually disappear!
Pssst! There’s no bikini police!
Furthermore, the mental energy that we used to expend on weighing whether or not we were being compliant suddenly becomes available, and can thus be dedicated to much more fruitful pursuits.
Isn’t that grand?
Ultimately, I think we all have a responsibility to take part in reclaiming the fact that all bodies are good bodies, and come in a diversity of shapes and sizes.
No one needs to “earn” the right to certain types of swimwear. No one.
YOUR BODY, YOUR CHOICE
I really love to see women rallying around the idea that anyone can wear a bikini. That should be celebrated.
I also hear voices admitting meekly that they simply don’t want to wear a bikini.
You know what? That’s totally cool too!
The way some choose to celebrate their bodies shouldn’t feel like pressure on everyone to do the same. Our choices should be individual, embodied and empowering.
Electing to wear a bikini should never be perceived as the be-all, end-all of body positivity, the standard to which one can measure up how “free” they are.
While we have the liberty to do as we please with our body, we also need to grant everyone else the autonomy to make their own choices. Selecting some more covering swimwear doesn’t ultimately make one less empowered!
Over the years, I’ve gone from being overwhelmingly self-conscious to… well… not giving a damn anymore last year. It felt GREAT!
But my choices shouldn’t dictate yours, or anyone else’s.
That’s the true beauty of autonomy.
Let’s just agree to stop wasting time and energy on fabricated rules, wear whatever swimwear pleases us most, and actually enjoy the nice weather, shall we?
