Everyone has different body images and their own definitions of body image. To me body image is my own opinions about my appearance. We all have our own body and we are the one controlling them to how they look like.

People tend to have stereotypes for body images. Some people think that women should be skinny, have long hair, wear heels, and have hourglass body figure; As for men, they should be muscular, tall, and have short hair. A lot of people are likely to get judged on their body image by their gender and race. Some of Asian’s beauty standards expect people to have slim figure, double eyelids, pale skin and melon-seed-like face shape.

Body image judgment has been causing health concerns to people, both mentally and physically. People get depressed and think they look bad because other people judged them on how they look. Some people may develop eating disorders from other people’s opinions. Just because you’re a little chubbier than other people doesn’t make you a bad person or anything. I hate how some parents be telling their kids that they should lose weight because they are fat. Like it’s your own child and you are hurting their feelings by calling them fat. We have full control of how our bodies look like.

I personally love food and I don’t workout at all. My mom would tell me to exercise more. I do agree with her because I do feel weak sometimes like when my back starts hurting from carrying my backpack around for a long time and my legs being sore after walking. But I still haven’t start exercising yet because I am also a lazy person. I don’t really care about what others think about my body image because I know humans are not perfect and there’s always some flaws about our bodies. I wish people will stop judging other people’s body and stop body shaming. Your body image is how YOU think and feel about YOUR body, NOT how others think about it. Be more confident about your body!

History of kings and queens, prosperous lands, and successful societies at peace. Riches from gold and silver to the richness in the soil that makes the fruits of labor even sweeter. History that was wanted by the fairest of skin. From prosperous lands to slaving over the white man’s lands the darkest of us have been turned into the outcasts of society. White skin is the standard while darker skin is considered a curse from God for our sins. But is it really a curse? Or is the true curse being “blessed with white skin “because no one on this earth has made life more difficult for black people than white society and because white is the societal standard black people are pushing and fighting over the approval of the white man. We change our hair to look like them, even going as far to bleach our skin, we speak differently to not come off as ghetto or too ethnic, we change our demeanor to not come off as the aggressor of an attack against us but yet we are still the villain of our own suffering. They sit back and watch as we destroy each other because of a problem they created.

Now see the world through our eyes. Did your parents have “the talk” with you? Not the talk about the birds and the bees, but thee talk. The talk about how you should act when being pulled over by a cop or being talked down to by an aggressive white person. The talk about how you can’t do what your white friends are doing or can’t be out past the streetlights because you live in a sundown town. The talk about how you are guilty until proven innocent in eyes of the law. That talk? The history that is engraved in our skin is deeper and filled with triumph, our veins pierce with gold but we have long since been whipped, beaten, and bled out of that motherland and placed onto a new land, long years of harsh slavery to be followed up by ongoing years of discrimination and violence and with all of that white society still tends to have it rain bullets in our already gaping wounds. The white man’s Constitutional Amendments say that we have the right to free speech, but is it really free speech when you are being beaten and killed for expressing your frustration over how this society treats you? We were told that we were no longer slaves because the white man’s constitution said so, so they made prisons for us, but at least it’s not slavery, right? And the reason I call it the white man’s Constitution is because it controls us. We are nothing unless the white man says we are something, we were slaves until the white man told us we weren’t. we were segregated and lynched until the white man-made that illegal. The info structure of our society has been written by white men for the benefit of white men and white women. We are not free until the white man tells us we are free and even then, we are not truly free. They are told to be afraid of us “aggressive, violent, suspicious dark character” but black people are tough that we should be afraid of because the power of a white person is as powerful as a nuke, destroying families, homes, and countries. 

“Women, Life, Freedom!” These are the chants being heard around Iran right now. Twenty-two-year-old Mahsa Amini was arrested for breaking strict hijab laws earlier this week – a few days later she died in police custody. This has sparked outrage in the country that hasn’t been seen since the protests of 2009. In 2009 it was a different story, and protests were silenced promptly with killings by the harsh regime. Today – we are connecting even faster with the advance of social media and communication systems, giving the world a glimpse of injustices all around. We are seeing the women of Iran dancing on the streets sans headscarves, clashing with morality police. We are seeing the men of Iran standing side-by-side with their women counterparts, dreaming of a better future for their children. For too long have the women of Iran, with their strong resolve and hope, been the victims of an inhumane system. These laws have been around for a little over 40 years. My parents escaped in 1980 because of the change in dynamic that came after the revolution – everyone was scared of what would happen next. My parents thought it would only be a few years before they could go back home –  they didn’t think they’d have to start whole new lives somewhere else. That wasn’t the case, however, and there are many people (members of the diaspora) just watching on the sidelines, hoping that one day they can go back home too. 

This is the phenomenology that I experience through my mom and dad, through the memories of when I was a kid, or through my family members who weren’t as “blessed” as we were to leave. Our land was taken over by vultures – who were only there to line their own pockets and suck out every last drop from the innocent. The cowards say it’s in the name of God, but these people aren’t Muslim or even religious for that matter – they’re thieves hiding behind a facade and destroying a beautiful culture and country in the process. If recent history shows anything, I think these protests will be on the news for a few days to be eventually forgotten – but I don’t think the will of the Iranian people is one to forget. They are hungry for change and I hope that we get to see that, at least in my lifetime. No government, no power, no faction, and no regime is stronger than the will of a woman – and with that, I am confident.

The sexualization and ostracization of the female breast and nipple.

Society places great importance on breasts as a defining characteristic of women and womanhood, but at the same time recoils at the sight of them. During puberty, growing breasts define the shift from “girl to woman”. But growing breasts also means a growing problem: alienation. 

This is because women’s breasts aren’t viewed as the fatty mass of flesh they are, instead they’re viewed as inherently sexual and provocative. This can be seen in art dating back centuries, up to modern day advertisements and media. Women’s breasts are considered totally different from men’s, even though men do and can have larger breasts than women. Why is that? Because one is sexualized and one is not. While men’s breasts can be sexualized, the difference is that they aren’t always thought of as sexual. Men’s breasts can be neutral, athletic, robust, while women’s are almost entirely thought of in a sexual manner, no matter the situation. Women’s breasts cannot be neutral without backlash. 

Depending on the size of your breasts, shape of them, color of them, you will be judged and assumptions will be made about you. Large breasts mean your sexual, seductive. Small breasts means you’re less of a woman or prepubescent. None of this is true though. Breasts do not define womanhood, are not inherently sexual, and do not represent the content of your character. 

“Why I don’t relate to my skin colour” is a video, created by the creator of the Kidology YouTube channel (I’m going to be calling them Zee, as it’s one of the answers she gave when asked about her name, and the one I see others most often use), and it’s one that I have found myself repeatedly returning to. Zee’s relationship to race and society are polar opposite to mine, and hearing her experiences has pushed me to rethink the way I think of my own race.

Content Warning: The video being referenced, and to a lesser extent this blog post, focuses on racial relations in an institutionally segregated South Africa, and talks about it from the perspective of someone raised within that system.

I don’t know if the title should really be called this or not but I wanted to talk about how bodies are portrayed in different settings like I find it weird when I think of my body socially and then from a medical standpoint. When I look at my body compared to society’s standards… I am disgusted. I wish it wasn’t the case but I don’t like how I look. I could do a deep dive into whose fault it was to give me such an outlandish idea of what bodies should look like. Especially since every body type is different and made beautifully. However, that’s a lot to unpack so instead I will just say it is my own weaknesses and justified insecurities that make me this way. Welp.. that was dark…anyway… I wanted to talk about how when we think socially about our bodies certain thoughts come to my mind such as what style is in, or what body proportions are popular. Like all I see on social media is BBL’s or small waist coke body types and that’s what’s popular and that’s what everyone wants to look like. However, when I go to the hospital I don’t see that doctors explain the body in totally different terms. But what’s crazy is they are referring to the same thing. They are referring to the body. However, when they explain it to me it’s deeper than just body proportions or what clothes would look the best and fit the best or how tiny your hips are. In my opinion it’s more intimate when health professionals discuss your body. I start thinking about every cell and every vein \and how they all team up to help you breathe. I just think its wild how a body is just a body until a different context is applied.