‘We've forgotten what women's bodies look like - and it's not okay’
Fancy a game of ‘two truths and a lie’?
It’s 2024
Diet culture is toxic
As a society, we know what women’s bodies look like
If you struggled to decipher the lie, we forgive you. But for clarity: it’s number three on the list that – sadly – seems to be a big fat falsehood. Number one on the list (it’s 2024) is obviously true, which also means it's true that we’ve had decades of changemakers fighting against the toxic diet culture that dominated the 90s and 00s, and the unrealistic (and ever-shifting) beauty standards so often used to diminish women. And yet… take one look at Kourtney Kardashian’s latest Instagram and you’ll see exactly why number three simply can’t be classed as a statement of truth. Seriously, does anyone know what a healthy, happy woman (who isn't a size zero) looks like anymore?
To mark her birthday, this week the eldest Kardashian sister shared a series of holiday snaps, including a photo of herself in a bikini on the beach – one of which shows that her stomach (gasp!) is not the pancake level of flat ‘perfection’ we’ve come to expect from celebrities. Even when those celebrities are, like Kourtney, just a few months postpartum (she welcomed her fourth child, a son named Rocky, last November).
While it would be remiss not to mention that the Kardashians have faced their fair share of body image and Photoshop-related controversies over the years – they’ve been accused of leading the way when it comes to setting unrealistic beauty standards (ones they likely felt they had to uphold due to being in the public eye… it’s a vicious cycle, isn’t it?) – Kourtney has always been candid with fans about her fertility journey, pregnancy and postpartum experience. She has directly addressed the pressure mums face to 'bounce back' too, saying "when everything is new and different [it] isn't realistic".
It’s also not the first time her *very normal* body has been scrutinised either. Just last week, Kourtney called out other social media users who said it was impossible that she’d be happy with a bikini photo that her sister, Kim, posted of them together. But the new mother was very clear in wanting to dispel that myth: "I LOVE this photo! It is me and my sisters having the best time on a trip with our kids... and the memories to last forever," she replied to the haters. "And I LOVE this body that gave me my three big babies and my little boy."
Yet, this week we’re back to dancing the same old routine. Almost instantly, people flooded Kourtney’s new birthday carousel post with speculative comments suggesting she’s pregnant again. “Looks like another baby in the oven,” read one popular comment. “Kourtney, you are pregnant?” someone else asked, prompting another commenter to respond: “She literally just had a baby, y'all are rude.”
While we know more about our bodies than ever before in a medical sense, and we’re starting to understand the complexity of experiences such as pregnancy, perimenopause and menopause (all of which see our bodies going through some serious changes), it seems the furore around women daring to exist in their own bodies simply won’t go away. A reaction that almost always intensifies if the celebrity – or any woman – is not a size zero.
Despite the efforts of self-love influencers, campaigns spotlighting more diverse body types and a big shift in the way we talk about diet culture, it seems we’ve still forgotten what women’s bodies actually look like – and the fact that they can change, evolve and grow depending on what’s going on in our lives. Far too many also still put the onus on women to defend and explain why their body is the way it is too. The strong, sharp statements that appear under posts if a woman dares to have a soft belly or thighs featuring cellulite are seemingly ever present.
The negative effect it’s having – on us all – is clear. A survey conducted by The Women and Equalities Committee found that over 6 in every 10 women feel negatively about their bodies, with young people being more likely to experience negative emotions when it comes to their appearance. Celebrities aren’t immune either. As well as Kourtney, the pressure has impacted the likes of Billie Eilish and Selena Gomez, who earlier this year confessed she sometimes forgets that it’s okay to be herself – and to exist in her body. A body that is bigger than it was a decade ago.
In her Instagram Stories, the singer shared how she's learned and accepted it's natural for change to happen over time. Sharing a throwback snap from 2013 (when she was 21), Selena wrote, "Today, I realised I will never look like this again." She then shared another more recent photo of herself. "I'm not perfect but I'm proud to be who I am... sometimes I forget it's ok to be me," she said.
The pictures shared by Selena - who previously needed chemotherapy and a kidney transplant after being diagnosed with lupus - act as a brilliant reminder that women’s bodies change for all sorts of reasons.
Frankly though, it’s a shame she (and Kourtney) had to say anything in the first place. A bikini pic is not an invitation for you to comment on a woman's body, nor is anything else women might choose to post. Instead, let's celebrate bodies and everything they can do. Let's celebrate women who are having fun and the loving bodies they're living life in.
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