gisselle vega - body image

How Many Fruits Can I Be?

    "You're shaped like an apple, on the rounder side. Whereas your sister, she's shapes like a pear." What do you mean I'm an apple and she's a pear? These are fruits. How can I be compared to fruit I ate 10 minutes ago? How can our bodies be compared to fruit, I'm made of sugar and spice, blood and bones.

                            

Me, Myself, and I

    My entire life I felt as though I wasn't beautiful enough. I wasn't skinny enough nor was I tall enough. I struggled with self-confidence because my entire life I was comparing myself to others on social media, on television, and even my peers. I would always tell myself, "if only I had clear skin, if only i had straight teeth, if only i was skinnier". I was making these comments to myself from a young age. 

Pictured: Luzmila Mondragon

      I vividly remember looking at myself in the mirror and absolutely hated the person I saw before me; I'd cry myself to sleep because I wanted to be someone else-- anyone else other than myself. I was eight years old going through this self-hatred. I look back at my younger self, and god, I was so incredibly mean to myself. I would repeat on a loop "you're ugly and fat" everyday. 

    All I want to do is hug my younger self because I will never get that innocence back, but I will also never get the time back. I will never be 8 again, I'll never be able to be free and reckless and not worry about life, because at that age kids are suppose to be kids. I chose this topic because it has effected myself personally for the past decade along with my small community of friends. My generation is very unique, we grew up in an era where technology grew at such a speed and all of us from the age of 11 had an Instagram. I saw models and influencers and saw flawless women, everything I was not. But how could I be? I was 13 and I was seeing these beautiful influencers with photoshop at the touch of their fingertips showing myself and the world how great their lives were. 

Pictured: Luzmila Mondragon

    Now, at the ripe age of 21 I believe it's important to realize the self-beauty within ourselves because 1. There is truly no one else on this Earth like you and 2. We cannot compare ourselves to others physically, that is incredibly damaging to our mental health and self-esteem. I can go on social media for endless hours comparing myself to models and hating what I don't have or I can learn to let go and realize life is so very precious and I am beautiful. 

    As a community I think we should have a place to talk about our personal struggles with body image. It could be an online community forum. We could talk about our struggles and say affirmations at the end, just check in on each other and make sure we’re okay. I think it's very important to talk to young girls in our community if they are struggling. Be their mentors and help them navigate those feelings and emotions.

Meet The Community!

Questions for the community:                                                                                                            1. Growing up, do you feel like you compared yourself to people online or even peers around you? 2. How did it make you feel at a younger age? 3. Looking back now what would you tell your younger self? 4. What do you think we as a community can do to help promote self-love with body image?

Sophia, 22💜

"Yes I compared myself to people online as well as my peers. It made me feel very insecure about my body and that I wasn’t beautiful or “good” enough. It made me feel like I would never be desirable, that boys would never like me. I would tell my younger self that she is enough. That her body is beautiful and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. And that if anyone makes her feel bad about her body that they’re just unhappy with themselves, to not let it get to her. But that I understand her and it’s ok to not be strong all the time. But to just remember that so many people love her and think she’s perfect."

Nick, 22😎

"Yes i think it was because at such a young age our peers around us were those who we looked to for validation, but as we tend to grow older we learn that we, ourselves, are the validation we need. It always me made feel that I needed to change. That no matter how much I changed to “fit in”, I was never truly “in”. To be you, as corny as it sounds I think at such a young age it’s very important to be taught to be you. To do what you like, wear what you like, act how you want, and not let the opinions of your peers and online change you to not be you. Teach those around each other to accept yourself for all you flaws bc at the end of the day no one is perfect, everyone’s definition of perfect is different."

Carlos, 19🙊

"Growing up I did compare myself to others, but not in a physical way--well maybe I did. I always knew I was the kid who was bigger aka "fatter", so I know I had to have a different personality from the others. So, then I became “the funny fat kid.” Thinking about it now, I find it funny and a little silly, but back then my only mission was to keep my little friend group together and keep them happy. If I were able to tell my younger self anything, it would have to be to not care about anyone else’s opinion and sometimes not even mine. As a community we shouldn’t feel the need to compare ourselves to others because we’re all good in our own little different ways. Wether that being a passion for reading or being really good at crocheting and even having a passion for working out."

Brianna, 25💫

"Growing up I was very lonely and sad so yes, I compared myself to my cousins a lot. They did everything I couldn’t. They would travel the world and do things with their family and my family wasn’t like that. I felt defeated and misunderstood by my family. I would tell younger Bri to just focus on herself. I always tell myself to love my body for what it does and not so much on what it looks like."

Itzel, 22🐢

"Growing up I did compare myself to people online, especially celebrities who were praised for how beautiful and fit they were. But me personally, I compared myself to my peers a lot more. Growing up I went to school with majority of my peers being White/Caucasian so that constant comparison of hair color, blue eyes, and them being seen as beautiful in which I was not. It made me feel insecure at a young age and if I were to tell my younger self something I would tell her that everyone is beautiful in their own way. Diversity in communities as a whole and showing/ teaching kids beauty is not a physical thing can help with self love."

Statistics

    According to the National Organization for Women, "50% of teens are “self-conscious” about their bodies; 26.2% report being “dissatisfied”. By age 60, 28.7% of women feel “dissatisfied” and 32.6% feel “self-conscious” about their bodies. 40-60% of elementary school girls are concerned about their weight or about becoming “too fat”. Studies at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts found that 70% of college women say they feel worse about their own looks after reading women’s magazines. A majority of girls (59%) reported dissatisfaction with their body shape, and 66 percent expressed the desire to lose weight." From experience, being an elementary girl who was concerned about my weight made it difficult to be comfortable in my own skin and I grew up disliking shopping because I didn't want to see myself trying on new clothes. Being satisfied with your body I believe comes from within. Cognitive thinking and telling yourself positive comments allows us to believe them and over time it builds that confidence and love within ourselves. "Fake it til you make it", but it works!

    ForbesHealth reports, "Ironically, social media—which is designed to connect you with others—can have an opposite effect, leading to feelings of isolation and alienation. Judy Ho, Ph.D., a triple board-certified and licensed clinical and forensic neuropsychologist and 2022 Forbes Health Advisory Board member, has also noticed a trend in people being more self-judgmental about their body and experiencing more anxiety over their image since the onset of the pandemic." During quarantine, it became a time where people, like myself, didn't really do anything. I fell into a depression because I was fearful of the outcome since Covid-19 was spreading like wild-fire and I was unsure if I myself would survive. But I became very attached to my iPhone. I don't think I went a day without logging into social media seeing people live their lives even if they were stuck home. Many people started their fitness journey, where I gained about 20 pounds. 

   

“This may be related to being socially isolated and being even more attached to our devices where social comparisons are not only readily available, but also greatly filtered—since everyone can filter themselves nowadays with a free app,” she says. “So you are comparing what you see in the mirror—without filters—to the outside world, which is, at this point, almost always filtered in some shape or fashion"(Forbes). Any platform allows you to add a filter before a selfie. Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook. I can honestly say that I wouldn't even consider posting a picture unless I had a filter on where it hid my imperfections. To a point where I started photoshopping and altering my photos. I would give myself hips and add gluteus-maximus and eliminate fat around my waist to give me the hourglass figure. I would be disgusted to see myself in a mirror because it wouldn't look like my photos at high angles.

Work Cited

Get the facts: National Organization for Women. National Organization for Women -. (2014, November 29). Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://now.org/now-foundation/love-your-body/love-your-body-whats-it-all-about/get-the-facts/

Forbes Magazine. (2022, September 9). The pandemic is poisoning body image-it's time to find the antidote. Forbes. Retrieved November 9, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/health/body/covid-and-body-image/