Can We Stop Objectifying the Female Body?

Comedian B Simone responded to critics yesterday with a video circulated across Instagram as she addressed concerns raised about her body type.

“The amount of negative comments on my body type is insane on my last post,” she said. “I keep deleting them, and of course, I’m not going to respond, but I know what my body looks like. I know my a$$ is little. I know I ain’t got no hips. I know I got a little belly fat. That is my body.”

She later reinforced her statement by commenting on a related Instagram post, “I have enough self-love to know I’m beautiful (glory be to God) but some women don’t. No need to leave negative comments on women’s body types natural or not!”

The Evolution of the Ideal Female Body

The media has for years influenced society’s perception of the perfect female body. In the past 30 to 40 years alone, we have seen the media ideal evolve from tall and svelte to waiflike and small to sporty to that moment in 2014, when Kim Kardashian broke the Internet. Today, we’re in the uncharted territory of cosmetic and non-cosmetic surgical procedures: lip fillers, breast and butt lifts, butt injections, implants and the infamous Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL).

This piece does not propose to criticize any body type. I applaud trendsetters like rappers Coi Leray and Lizzo and now B Simone who have used their platforms to promote body-positivity. I also recognize that there are countless other women who may choose to perform surgery or undergo enhancement of some sort because they are not satisfied with their body in its natural form. That’s a personal choice that I respect and I’ve been there… sort of.

This piece addresses body shaming and the implications for women and young girls whose self esteem may be affected and who may be driven to make changes to their bodies not because they want to for themselves but because they are driven by peer pressure to change to fit a model or an ideal that is deemed to be trendy and attractive at a particular time. 

What Are The Stars Saying?

Rapper Nicki Minaj recently addressed the issue of self esteem and the female body.

In a podcast interview with media personality Joe Budden last month, Minaj confessed to having had butt injections, describing the choice in hindsight as insane but adding that at the time, she didn’t feel complete or good enough.

“Now that I’m older, I understand,” she said. “Sometimes you’ll say something in front of someone and you’re thinking that they know that they’re pretty or they know that they’re smart or they know that they’re talented or whatever. You’re thinking that this is what this person thinks about themselves, so you’ll say something around them or to them, but a lot of times you don’t know how insecure a person is or what their insecurities are. So when you say certain things around women especially, you can never take them back.”

Make Yourself Amazing?

In another article published by the Daily Mail, Why Every Celebrity Photo Should Have A Stamp To Tell You If They’re Real or Not, British journalist Liz Jones notes that some girls opted for breast enhancements because they were teased about being flat chested or because their boyfriend wanted them to.

She notes that for some women: “Breast surgery is a psychological panacea, nothing short of vital for our happiness. We are not vain — just desperate — and easily seduced by the consumer culture that has marketed expensive life-changing surgery as a ‘quick fix’ to cure all.”

And, I mean, when there are ads in the train stations and pictures in your magazine or on social media telling you that this is what an attractive or an amazing woman look like, you’ve got to be really strong mentally to withstand the pressure.

Further, social media has bred a new generation of cyber bullies, many of them teenagers, who create false profiles to troll and tear down a woman’s body image. B Simone fell victim to trolls most recently but there are countless people, public figures and regular individuals, who have endured attacks like these. As B Simone points out though, not everyone is able to withstand the attacks.

Female Empowerment or Exploitation

Whether lip injections, breast or butt implants, shots or butt lifts, the marketing of enhancements to the female body raises the question, is this empowerment or exploitation?

Sometimes, I’ll be honest, with every growing trend, it feels like you’re living in the pages of a dystopian novel where all around you is the Capitol and after a while it could be the norm to see people who are, according to Suzanne Collins in The Hunger Games, “dyed, stenciled, and surgically altered.” After all, as alluded to by one celebrity plastic surgeon in the article, Is Teenage Plastic Surgery a Feminist Act? published in Harper’s Bazaar by journalist Kathleen Hale, you do not have to die with the body you’re born with.

And if a cosmetic procedure is something you want to do for yourself, that’s fine. Go for it. But what if you’re only doing it because you want to fit in?

When I mess with it, can I change it back?

I took pills to gain weight when I was younger. We were entering the era when the curvy body was in fashion, and I was so tiny I could have passed for a teenage boy. My curvier friends and relatives all had suitors while I was just the girl next door, the company, the tag-a-long. I wanted to fit in and, unfortunately, I did not have the strength mentally to withstand peer pressure. I began taking pills and confiding in an older colleague who, thanks to her wisdom, advised me to stop.

“In time,” she said. “You’d wish you hadn’t.” 

My colleague was correct. 

Sadly, very often when we enhance our bodies by unnatural means- and I reiterate, this is not an attack on anyone who chooses to do this, I am a strong believer in your body, your choice- it’s very difficult to get it back the way it was, and sometimes we truly wish we could reverse the hands of time. 

I didn’t have butt injections, implants or a BBL, but I don’t know if I would have if I had the means when I was younger. I was very impressionable. And it is my concern that many young girls may be too.

And so, my friends, as I close, I’d like to share with you a quote from a post by blogger Mik Zazon which I came across on Instagram: “I’M TIRED of every little thing on a woman’s body being picked apart to pieces… Your ever changing body is worthy of being in the suit that you want to wear, so that you can create happy memories that last forever. Hot girl summer includes all bodies.”

To the female readers who come across the post, I'd tell you what I wish someone had told me when I was younger: You are worthy as you are. Please remember to love yourselves first. You can't and won't find validation on social media or even among your peers. This doesn't just apply to a body image or ideal, this applies to all areas of your life. Tap into your inner self confidence, set your own trends. Be uniquely you, the world will come around, and so what if it doesn't?

That's my perspective my friends, but tell me, what are your views?