Why I won’t be attempting to be “beach body ready” this summer
Hands up! Does anybody remember, back in 2015, a yellow, black & white media campaign by “protein world” which caused so much controversy in the UK that it led to the entire, weight loss promoting, advert being banned? The blonde, white skinned, slim bodied, with curvy hips, woman that took centre stage in the advert so viewed negatively by most as it was reported at the time that most women felt that they would never be able to look like “that”.
I sometimes get asked what body shape I prefer to photograph in the studio. In my opinion this question is archaic. Most that ask will happily discuss why they feel a fuller figure should be better embraced by media & advertising but I personally think it goes way beyond this.If I’m really honest, I don’t think that those asking this question care about the answer I give. I actually think they are more interested in finding out what sizes we see at the studio and I think there is a subconscious undertone of finding out if they, themselves, fit into this ridiculous self proclaimed category.
For me the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover” has never been more suited to this very question.
How can I possibly answer this question? I’m 5ft and half an inch… That half an inch is important as it gets me onto the rides at Alton Towers! I meet ladies who seem to tower over me due to, well, not being a shorty like me! Some see height, whether tall or short, as a plus and others class it as a negative against their own looks and, as a result, confidence & wellbeing. I meet ladies who are a size 8 by choice or others who are desperate to put on weight but are struggling to do so. In some people’s eyes, the thought of being a size 8 is the equivalent to winning the lottery! In complete contrast, I meet ladies whose hanger based size goes into the 20s and they are so happy with this whereas others feel they have to wear clothes bigger than their actual shape to hide parts of themselves they feel unsure of. My point?? Every single body is different. There is absolutely no answer to one of the most common questions I get asked, running a professional boudoir photography studio.
I do think that our western based society is getting better at being less judgemental over people’s fashion choices. Perhaps, now that I’m a mum of three school aged girls, as well as being on my way to the mid 30s club, I’ve just become less conscious about what’s fashionable and stuck to what I feel comfortable being seen in. Perhaps I’ve being doing this job for so long now that I really never notice the difference between viewing someone in their bra or bikini. Interestingly the ad campaign I mentioned earlier, run by Protein World back in 2015, was banned from the UK but barely caused a flutter of thought over in America. I know one thing and that is that I personally, don’t agree with and that’s the phrase “beach body”.
It’s not the actual phrase “beach body” I have an issue with but what it seems to represent across our society and, in my opinion, that’s a thin, well toned body which then leads us to think that we can only feel positive about ourselves, wearing a bikini, if our bodyshape reflects the image linked to the words. It could be argued that that advertising world has sadly programmed our brains to think this way however I do think there is one fact that gets glossed over so much and deserves more credit is this: It’s being scientifically proven in many studies over the last 15 years that our DNA has a direct impact on where our body chooses to store fat and this leads to different body shapes and sizes. A study in 2011, for example, by Oxford University and the Medical Research Council identified 13 areas of our body, based on a study of 77,000 people, where genes control the levels of insulin and cholesterol and, as a result, have control of where the body chooses to store fat. That “beach body” will never be achieved by many because their body just isn’t genetically designed to be that shape. In other words, and in my opinion, the phrase “beach body ready” is nothing more than a naive & ill educated, archaic, phrase that we need to leave behind.
