The harsh reality is that the overwhelming majority of us dislike ourselves much more than those who can comfortably compliment themselves. From such a young age we are restricted to the expectations and pressures of a perfect body. We learn that the reason to apply makeup and wear certain clothing is for the approval of others and to make ourselves appealing to attract the attention of people who are not us. We learn to adapt our bodies to cater for those who do not even care for us. When will we wake up and realise that we are the people who have to live day in and day out with our bodies?
We are the only people that we need to please!
As long as we accept ourselves or begin the journey to liking ourselves then a body is just a body. Don’t get me wrong – each of our bodies are remarkable but why should one body type be favoured over the other?
I also wanted to put a spin on the concept of body to speak out about the reality of existing as a person of colour. I am grateful to have grown up in a developed country with multiple opportunities at my feet however the one issue that has arisen for me is those stemming from my skin colour; the skin that coats my body. To even find makeup for my skin tone is such a task and learning to accept that my excessively dark body hair is normal has provided me with mini hurdles. I felt as if I was not pretty enough because of my darker skin and was raised with some sort of internal voice informing me that boys prefer the lighter complexion.
The skin that protects my body is brown. Brown is beautiful. Every skin tone is beautiful and it is a message that I think needs to be preached to children as soon as they begin to grow up because the future is within our youth who are paving their own directions.
By Simmy Hoonjan