WARNING: THIS COULD GET DEEP.
For the last week or so, my twitter and instagram feeds have been absolutely full of those before and after photos of Charlotte Crosby as she promotes her new fitness DVD. It's this which has prompted me to make this post.
To be honest, I'm disappointed. Charlotte is someone I love, and will love for a long time I'm sure, but I feel almost let down by her.
Growing up as a girl "on the bigger side", I was always desperate for someone to look up to. The magazines and TV were (and still are) full of lovely slender women with thigh gaps and at 12 or 13 years old by having this constantly shoved down your throats is going to create insecurities in girls who don't look like that. For a long time the only women who I could relate to were Adele and Dawn French and even the latter succumbed to the pressures of society and slimmed down.
Seeing Charlotte as the same size as me made me think "She doesn't look that bad at all, maybe I dont look as bad as I think I do!" But in this instagram from only today, she says "Erghh who is that monster standing next to me!?!".
It is NO WONDER that young girls get into dangerous situations with eating disorders and the such like. If the people we encounter every day in the media are telling us that to be a size 14 is disgusting then how can we ever hope to accept ourselves for the way we are.
I've accepted that I'll never be like the women on the pages of Cosmo. I know it is unlikely that I'll ever even feel the need to join the gym. This may not be the greatest attitude to have but at 21 years old I am finally accepting of the way I look and that has not been the easiest of journeys.
So when someone you thought would always been there as a hero suddenly drops 4 stone, you immediately go back to the mindset that there is something wrong with you and you need to be fixed; pushed into the mould that society demands.
It is NO WONDER that young girls get into dangerous situations with eating disorders and the such like. If the people we encounter every day in the media are telling us that to be a size 14 is disgusting then how can we ever hope to accept ourselves for the way we are.
I've accepted that I'll never be like the women on the pages of Cosmo. I know it is unlikely that I'll ever even feel the need to join the gym. This may not be the greatest attitude to have but at 21 years old I am finally accepting of the way I look and that has not been the easiest of journeys.
So when someone you thought would always been there as a hero suddenly drops 4 stone, you immediately go back to the mindset that there is something wrong with you and you need to be fixed; pushed into the mould that society demands.
The fact of the matter is there are not enough role models for girls like me. Even in such a supposedly modern, open-minded world. I hope to one day be the role model that I never had.
When Meghan Trainor's All About That Bass came out I thought "YES, finally something empowering" after hearing the lyric Every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top... but that turned out to be counter-productive with its 'skinny shaming'. Not to mention her own problematic ways.
I'm going to end this here since its got a lot more angry and aggressive than I wanted it to be. However, this is something I am truly passionate about so who cares?
Thanks for reading yay hooo I got into this one.
I feel like there may be a part two to this eventually.
I'm going to end this here since its got a lot more angry and aggressive than I wanted it to be. However, this is something I am truly passionate about so who cares?
Thanks for reading yay hooo I got into this one.
I feel like there may be a part two to this eventually.
***I feel like I should put a disclaimer in here to reiterate that I do really love Charlotte and I'm not trying to attack her in this. I have simply been upset and inspired by her actions to write this today.***
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