Every Body Is a Beach Body --- And We Have The Photos To Prove It
On this week’s episode of “Braless,” Laci Green shares an all-too-familiar experience many young women have, "By the time I hit 8th grade, something as simple as a pool party was enough to send me into a spiral of self-hatred," she says. "This is in no small part because I became aware of the 'bikini body.'"
Laci points out that when bikinis were first introduced, they were "Declared sinful by the Catholic Church, banned in certain countries, and generally considered immoral. Because of this repression, bikinis became a symbol of liberation. Women who wore them were rebels against tradition."
As we all know, things have changed quite a bit since then, but not necessarily for the best. Laci points out that today, "Companies by the thousands come out to make people feel horribly inadequate about their skin, thighs, tummy, butt, boobs, stretch marks, pretty much everything. Then they sell you a cure for the insecurities they themselves created."
"The message we get over and over and over again is that some peoples’ bodies shouldn’t be seen," Laci says. "If you don’t look like this, if you don’t fit into that -- you need to hide your body. You shouldn’t go to the beach or the pool or have fun and enjoy your life. You should stay at home...and feel ashamed."
"It’s kind of a sad, twisted ending to what was once a story of girl power," Laci says, "So I’m thinking we should find an alternative here. The truth is that swimsuits, bikinis included, are first and foremost for recreational comfort and enjoyment -- which is why precisely every body is a bikini body. Every body on a beach is a beach body. It’s that simple. We desperately need to stand up against companies and media that are profiting off the body shame machine."
To help inspire you to stand up against that body-shaming-machine, we found some bathing beauties who are proud of their beach bodies and loving life in swimsuits.
A photo posted by +Size Model || Feminist (@tessholliday) on
A photo posted by @gabifresh on
A photo posted by Liris Crosse (@lirisc) on
A photo posted by Felicity Hayward (@felicityhaywardcurvemodel) on
You do you. #swimspiration pic.twitter.com/yljGgFW6fx
— swimsuitsforall (@swimsuitsforall) May 29, 2015
