As the body positivity movement continues to sweep its way through the internet feeds of so many young women, the realities of societal body expectations are still ingrained deeply into individual lives. Girls for decades have been made to feel inadequate because of their differences in shapes and sizes. The value of a woman’s body is often held to a higher standard than anything else she may possess.
The internet is undoubtedly flooded with content perpetuating such a negative culture. But historically speaking, certain women have always been heralded as having the “ideal” female body. Fitness YouTuber and entrepreneur Cassey Ho, known as “Blogilates” on the Internet, has worked for many years to create a community of healthy living and fitness lifestyle tips that does not exclude certain body types or promote a singular perfect outcome. Much of her content is about personal growth and progress, for what an individual needs to achieve in order to be healthy.
In an effort to do so she posted a series of Instagram photos on November 27, depicting the “ideal female body” throughout history
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqsSXu9htZG/
“Why do we treat our bodies like we treat fashion?” she asks, providing some interesting insight into how social media culture manages to accept and reject certain ideas so quickly.
The Kardashian body is seen as the figure of the moment, but only a few years ago, women were expected to be so much smaller in the hips. It is simply unrealistic to assume that certain body types are “achievable” within realistic parameters, particularly when no such body type should be seen as better than another.
In so many ways, the issue seems tediously repeated over generations, and yet the message is still not received that things simply do not have to be the way that they are.
It is nice to see social media influencers working to build positive change, on platforms like Instagram, which can be so detrimental when it comes to projecting certain images. Particularly someone like Cassey Ho, who works in fitness, a business so often influenced by the idea of an ideal body image.
Learning to self-love and reject body stereotypes is perhaps one of the most powerful yet challenging things a woman may have to do in her lifetime, because of that, I believe we all owe a big thank you to Cassey Ho.
Featured Image via Shape
