Everyone's A Critic...

I've been wanting to write for a while about the expectations that society places on women's bodies, but didn't really know how to start the conversation. Then I saw these articles (I'd definitely recommend reading the 2nd one):

http://shine.yahoo.com/royal-baby-july/kate-middleton-post-baby-body-pressure-193652752.html
(Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge had instructions for how she can lose post-baby weight printed for her in OK! magazine, ONE DAY after she gave birth.)

and a response to the hubbub over Kate's post-baby bump:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/30/pregnancy-women-bodies-duchess-of-cambridge
("For the media not to consider women's bodies public property would be an incredible day indeed.")

Well, I suppose this is as good of a place to start the conversation as any. The last thing I want to worry about when one day I want to start a family (way in the future) is how long it's going to take me to get the baby weight off. I plan on being too busy glowing to worry about that. I'm not sure society's preoccupation with women's bodies is going to change too much between now and then, though. Here are some ways to try to help it along:

• Focus less on the outward. It's become incredibly commonplace in our society to comment on (overtly criticize or analyze) each other's bodies. Men and women. We have become so good at it and we even do it to ourselves. I wonder what would happen if we stopped looking at people as "she's ALL belly" or "she can eat whatever she wants and not gain a pound" or "he's nice, but he's definitely balding"... Those comments place an increasing amount of attention and focus on judging someone by how they look and people are so much more than that! There are so many good things I think we miss out on in others and ourselves when we focus on outward appearances.
• Appreciate beauty in ALL of its MANY forms. Our bodies are always changing and society gives us such a very narrow perspective of what is considered beautiful and what isn't. There is a project called A Beautiful Body Project in response to this. It photographs women's bodies as they actually are and I think especially focuses on mothers. You can read more about it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23276432 
• Do not give in to the pressure to be critical of yourself and others. It's so easy to get caught up and think that being critical of ourselves doesn't negatively influence others (or sometimes I wrongly assume that putting myself down is a form of humility......IT'S NOT), but I guarantee you it does.

We ALL have such an incredible opportunity to lift each other up with out words, actions, and self-talk. Thanks for letting me vent!