So thank you #AerieReal and everyone who created the movement it's not just game changing but life changing ILYđ
And that's why when I started my insta about 3years ago I created the #everyBODYisbeautiful bc we are more than the sum of our perfections we are all beautiful equal souls living in imperfectly perfect bodies.â
Iskra now works as a model for Aerie, American Eagleâs underwear and lingerie line. Aerie has stopped retouching their models and asks the women to look comfortable and happy. This tells women (and especially young women, most of Aerieâs customers) that the âflawsâ in these models donât mean that they arenât beautiful. And that means our âflawsâ donât stop us from being beautiful.
(If you want to see Iskraâs post, you can get it HERE.)
Challenge the belief that you canât be beautiful today, right now, as you are. Skinny does not equal beautiful. In fact, I know many thin women who feel insecure and unsatisfied with the way that they look (that goes for all the guys out there, too).
Part of the problem with believing that skinny = beautiful is the belief gives us a tangible way to compare bodies, and by extension, success. I hear this all the time. People think skinny women must have more successful careers and relationships. They must be happier. They must be more successful!
The skinny = success formula is not true. It is because we equate thinness with other positive qualities that we think we must be thin to be happy.
When we erase the idea that skinny = beauty = success = happiness, we must find other ways to measure ourselves. Clearly nobody told Oprah Winfrey that the only path to success was by being skinny. Oprah was successful because she was engaging, interested, and authentic!
The only thing that stopping you from feeling good about the way you look is your belief that there's something wrong with you. Let's challenge that idea. Check out Iskra Lawrence and others who are out there proving that looking good is not equivalent to a number on the scale. And consider your own biases and assumptions about what being thinner actually means.
The point is not necessarily to accept your weight as it is (although that is a perfectly fine choice). It's to feel good about yourself while you're in the process of losing weight.
We haven't always had the idea that thin is better. Check out this advertisement from a different era: