This July, we celebrate the 173rd anniversary of the birth of the Women's Rights Movement! In 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott spearheaded the first women's rights convention in American History. Over 300 women gathered to challenge perceptions, laws, and popular culture regarding women's rights, bodies, and minds. These trailblazers demanded greater personal freedom for women.
Where Society Stands Today on Body Freedom
Despite their incredible work and the many 'wins' over the decades, we as women still face a myriad of inequality, discrimination, and societal pressure, especially regarding our physical appearance.
Although we have seen significant change and an increased acceptance of different body shapes and sizes, women and girls worldwide are still pressured by the media and society to look a certain way. The 'ideal' appearance is either a very slender supermodel appearance or an incredibly voluptuous shape. Where is the in-between? Where is the 'normal'?
Take Back Your Freedom Through Body Acceptance
Perhaps, this July, as a slight nod to the women who began the fight for freedom, we begin to find peace and freedom in our relationship with our bodies and with ourselves.
As a society, we have become so much more accepting of so many things – racial, ethnic, and religious differences, sexual orientation, interracial unions? But when it comes to beauty and body size, we have a fixed and minimal idea of what is acceptable. It's time to stop letting someone else's prescription for what we should eat or what we should look like govern our lives. Your body is yours. It is beautiful and innately wise. It's time to Find Body Freedom.