Strong, not Skinny.

As you know, as I've not shut up about it for the past week, I went away recently. The plane journey wasn't very long but I bought myself a magazine (Heat to be precise) for entertainment on the hour long trip and there was an article in it which really infuriated me. The aim of the article is to promote women being 'strong' and 'athletic', not 'skinny'. What a load of bullshit.
It's the same anger I feel towards the song 'All About that Bass'. Yes, it's so important to empower curvier or more athletic shaped bodies. However, it is not at all right to empower curvier women by absolutely slating those who are thinner. I personally don't see myself as a particularly thin person but then I'm also not chubby- I have bits of me that are too chunky and bits I wish were bigger. What really doesn't help with my self confidence are songs plastered over radio stations, reminding me how I don't have 'all the right junk in all the right places' and articles repeatedly telling me how I should be 'firm and toned, not soft and flabby'.

What really hits me, about the song particularly, is how it is repeatedly stresses how we shouldn't judge people on whether they are a little larger or curvier than the average model (which is 100% true) but the way in which thinner people are perceived is as 'skinny bitches'. I have a few friends and family who are desperate to put a bit of weight on because they feel they are too thin but, without becoming super unhealthy, they can't. Different bodies put on weight differently in different places. Just because you put very little weight on anywhere, it does not mean you can insult those who are a little larger. Similarly, if you put on weight in area others don't, it doesn't mean you can automatically assume anyone who doesn't, is a bitch. 

Let's just all accept that all bodies and different and whether you're fat, skinny, curvy, straight, chunky, chubby, petite, large, small etc. etc., that shouldn't be what anyone judges you on. And if they do, maybe that person isn't worth your time and effort.