Why do people concentrate on the human body? The one thing that we can’t control. We are born this way, we are born with frizzy hair, lopsided boobs, and crooked teeth. We are born with thick eyebrows, curvy hips, and large feet. We are also all born with the want for perfection. The deep gut feeling that tells you that you aren’t good enough. We hate the things we can’t control. So we fix what's possible. We will get braces, put chemicals in our hair and pluck our eyebrows. We will push our physical limits to fit the picture of “perfect” we have in our mind. Sometimes you hit a stump though. You want to look like Kylie Jenner but you’re twig thin and can’t gain weight no matter how hard you try. You want to look like a runway model but no matter how much you work out and how little you eat your hips are still there just reminding you of the out of reach goal. You were born with a body and instead of being taught to love it you were forced to hate it by the standards they have defined as “beautiful”.

You look at a campaign that say all bodies are beautiful. Bulls*** is what you think. Bulls***. You see the plus size models that are perfectly curvy, with a tiny waste and big boobs. What about the girls with cellulite covering her thighs. Stretch marks on her boobs. The girls with disproportionate bodies. You look at those photos and see companies beautifying plus size people. Not just plus size but every size.

You would think that doubting your body would be enough, that there wouldn't be any stronger force to wither down your confidence. You forgot about other people. Their looks, comments, and actions. How those can affect you just as much.

You and most other women have been a victim of body shaming. Most of the time people don’t even know it when they do it. It has become such a standard that they are blind to the fact, blind to the the fact that it's NOT their place to tell us what to do with our bodies. Blind to the fact that when teachers tell girls that they can’t show their shoulders because it may distract boys, they are teaching boys that what they are doing is okay. They are teaching girls to be ashamed of their bodies, that they should hide their shoulders just so a boy can do his work. They are teaching girls at such a young age their body is the problem. It is that mindset that messes with our perception of our bodies. You ask yourself every time a teacher tells you to put on a sweater, “Why are my shoulders inappropriate?”. Why has society oversexualized the woman's body so much?  Why has it come to blaming the female body on men's wrongdoings? Since when is it okay to blame a woman for showing too much of her body and “asking for it” as an excuse for rape, sexual assault, unwanted attention, and cat calling. How can you blame the victim?

You would think that it’s the twenty first century, that the oppression of the female body wouldn’t still be a prevalent thing. Think again.