Hotter Than

You know that phrase "Real women have curves"? Sure you do! It's kind of ubiquitous. And obnoxious. Not to mention completely counterproductive to the whole body acceptance movement in that it is still body shaming.

I've got curves. I have rounded, ample flesh that only forms straight lines with concentration. My fingers arch and bend. My belly consists of bands of softness, much like my arms and thighs. My calves are uneven and round and curvy. My toes, my nose, the bows of my eyes: all of them are curves. Some are finer and more delicate than others. Some of those others are like bending arcs.

I am curvy, but that isn't what makes me a woman, real or otherwise.

There are women with straight hips, or rounded hips. Women with flat and ample chests. Women with one distinct chin, women with multiple.

It isn't the shape that makes a woman, and this is obvious, right? Well, you'd think so. While we know this, quite clearly and logically, there is still this temptation to try to do good by one group by stepping on another. Mothers, don't tell your daughters that "real women have curves" when they're fighting their bodies. Tell your daughters, sisters, best friends, reflections that your body is beautiful because it fits a certain constraint or construct. Your body is beautiful because it is yours. Lame and cheesy as that sounds, it's true. Even if you're a twin (or triplet, or nontuplet, whatever), no one before or since has had your precise body, down to the whorls of your fingerprints, down to the planes of your belly, down to the bows of your eyes. Don't squander your own body by believing that it isn't as good as others, but most of all, don't tear down others because they don't fit your construct of beauty.

That's just not cool, dude.