Real Women Have Bodies. Not Thin Or Full Figures. Bodies.
Eurgh, body standards. The idea that real women have curves is a myth. It’s not about thin or full figures. Maybe real women have bodies.
“Real women have curves!”
I’m sure we have all heard this phrase one time or another, and while I do agree with its original intent, I often wonder if its meaning has been lost over the years. Let’s take a look at Greek Goddess, Aphrodite as exhibit A. Let’s just objectify her for a moment. Look at that hour glass figure, ladies and gentlemen! Check out those bountiful breasts, firm butt, sexy thighs… the whole package, right there! That’s what a real woman is. That is, without a doubt, the one and only body a true woman can have. Ever.
I’ll give everyone a minute to let the absurdity of that statement sink in. You good? Good.
Many women out there would love to have the hourglass figure of Aphrodite or Marilyn Monroe or Natalie Wood. But as only eight percent of women have the genetic wiring for that famous hourglass ratio (at least according to Wikipedia), it’s safe to say most women in the world aren’t so much hourglass as pint glass, test tube and everything in between. Do small breasts and size two hips make a woman any less of a woman? Should we shun Athena for not being able to fit into Aphrodite’s bra? Should we boycott all movies casting Noomi Rapace for being a bit slimmer than Marilyn?
I agree with the original intent of the phrase “real women have curves”. I’m of a mind that women should not be subdued to the starved and withered bodies we see in high fashion magazines such as Glamour or Vogue. But to say “real women have curves” is putting another restraint on women; not all of us have DDD breasts or thirty-six inch hips. I’ve seen plenty of healthy women who never left the training bra section of Target. Should we pressure these women to have breast implants or some other plastic surgery to give them curves? Should we force feed them chocolate dipped strawberries each day until their gain an extra twenty pounds? Or should we just let them be and accept their bodies for what they are?
Women, like all human beings, are simply majestic in their variety. Some women have broad shoulders, some have small noses, and some have bouncing, firm breasts. Is our womanhood, whether Cis or transgender, depleted simply because we do not have a certain body? No. Absolutely not. Screaming “real women have curves” is the same as shouting “real woman are a size zero.”
Rather than demanding women fit into a certain ideal of beauty, why don’t we just teach them to enjoy what they have? Do you have massive bubbies that hit you in the face every time you jump? Good! Do passersby call you “sir” if you don’t wear hot pink and a bow in your hair? Excellent!
Women are women. That’s it. It’s not based on her body type, her pant size, or her bra size. These are nothing more than numbers we as a society use to measure the outside of a woman. They should not be used to measure her gender, her womanhood, or her person.
Real women have bodies. End of. Stick with that, and the only women you’ll be discriminating against are the those of some unthinkable post-apocalyptic future. Something to worry about, certainly. But we can worry about it if and when the time comes.