my body, or is it?

Millie Bobby Brown’s recent video about scrutiny from critics and professional journalists got me thinking about my experiences with body image growing up and how the media has probably affected 90% of the world’s population with their body image growing up too. 

At 21 years old, the world in which Bobby Brown has grown up in - Hollywood and having the ever present media invading her life - is the world that has dictated and steered the way in which magazines, films, music, etc. influence the way we look and feel about ourselves. How do you think you would feel as a 21 year old growing up in that kind of society, where even a loose strand of hair will be judged? I definitely would have had a Britney moment.

"At thirty, I’m not afraid to admit I’m having a mid-life style crisis"

As a 90’s kid, I wanted to be Baby Spice meets Rachel Weisz in The Mummy Returns and by the time I was a teenager I was thrown fully into my emo phase, but also wanted to be cool like Shakira in the noughties. By the time I reached twenty, I idolised Audrey Hepburn and steered towards anything vintage. Can you see the pattern here? My style and opinion of myself has been influenced by a famous person or stereotype. But what has this done to me as a thirty year old?

At thirty, I’m not afraid to admit I’m having a mid-life style crisis; all my clothes are mismatched and it’s hard to pull an outfit together that doesn’t involve either leggings or a jumper. If anything, these influences growing up have distorted my bodily function which makes decisions and I’ve not been able to think for or judge myself, my interests and what suits me instead of comparing myself to others (whether they’re a celebrity or not.)

I guess I have to thank my own heritage for this. Greeks created the golden mean which is the mathematical creation of perfect symmetry and if you physically have this you are classified as the ideal - godly even! For centuries now, as humans, we have an innate expectation of what beauty is; for example, the Victorians had small corset-squeezed waists and in China there was foot binding. These are ideals pushed around society just as media does today and the Millie Bobby Browns of the world were, and are, forced to live up to these expectations.

"how can we find the energy within to fight whatever evil is out there without feeling good about ourselves first?"

Recently, there have been movements for body and self acceptance, Dove being one of the major companies to do this for over a decade now, and self-expression is being embraced more than marginalised. The key is to not be afraid of who you are. So what if I want to dye my hair blue and wear pink ripped trousers with Mary Jane heels? If I feel that is me and that’s what makes me happy in that moment, then so be it. As long as I’m being authentic to myself and not living up to an ideal set by someone I don’t know then at the end of the day I can say I’m proud of who I am.

Fashion may be trivial in today's society but how can we find the energy within to fight whatever evil is out there without feeling good about ourselves first? And if someone wants to judge, just like Millie, shove your two fingers up at them and leave them hanging.

Rhéa x