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Women are constantly told to ‘work’ on their bikini bodies, almost as if their lives depended on it. Flip through any celeb magazine or browse any women’s lifestyle website and you’ll find articles and galleries providing ‘tips’ and easy ‘tricks’ on getting beach-ready – especially come summer. And don’t forget the magnitude of image galleries available on Hollywood’s top celeb bikini-bodies. In fact, there are entire magazines whose existence is built solely on the spying, spotting, blaming and praising of celebs in swimsuits.
But what does ‘beach-ready’ or ‘the perfect bikini body’ actually even mean? We all know that in the mainstream media it refers to the one body we have been taught to value above all others: the slim, ripped, young celebrity or model figure. This is obviously extremely marginalising as it automatically dubs other bodies as ‘problematic’ or ‘fixable’.
Fed-up with society telling them to cover up (and with the rise of beautifully made plus-size beachwear for women), curvy women around the world are now taking to the beach snapping and sharing pictures of themselves on social media using the hashtag #Fatkini. Let’s face it, watching skinny women frolic on the beach in multi-coloured and patterned bikinis (not available to you) as you lie (fully clothed) on your towel, sweating your ass off, is just no fun.
The hashtag has created conversation around the topic of redefining the term ‘beach-body’ or ‘bikini-body’, looking at its harsh policy of exclusion. It has since ushered in camaraderie between women encouraging each other to stop feeling self-conscious, barred or judged for wearing a bikini in public.
It’s not ideal that this hashtag was needed in the first place, but at least it’s exposing the masses to an alternative looking beach-body, one which is just as beach-worthy as its skinny counterpart.
What are your thoughts on this mini body revolution? Let us know in the comments below.
Follow Women24 on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
But what does ‘beach-ready’ or ‘the perfect bikini body’ actually even mean? We all know that in the mainstream media it refers to the one body we have been taught to value above all others: the slim, ripped, young celebrity or model figure. This is obviously extremely marginalising as it automatically dubs other bodies as ‘problematic’ or ‘fixable’.
Fed-up with society telling them to cover up (and with the rise of beautifully made plus-size beachwear for women), curvy women around the world are now taking to the beach snapping and sharing pictures of themselves on social media using the hashtag #Fatkini. Let’s face it, watching skinny women frolic on the beach in multi-coloured and patterned bikinis (not available to you) as you lie (fully clothed) on your towel, sweating your ass off, is just no fun.
The hashtag has created conversation around the topic of redefining the term ‘beach-body’ or ‘bikini-body’, looking at its harsh policy of exclusion. It has since ushered in camaraderie between women encouraging each other to stop feeling self-conscious, barred or judged for wearing a bikini in public.
It’s not ideal that this hashtag was needed in the first place, but at least it’s exposing the masses to an alternative looking beach-body, one which is just as beach-worthy as its skinny counterpart.
What are your thoughts on this mini body revolution? Let us know in the comments below.
Follow Women24 on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
