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In a world that tells women to shrink—physically, emotionally, and in their ambitions—choosing to take up space is an act of defiance. We are surrounded with messages that equate smallness with worth: thinness with beauty, youth with value, quietness with politeness, and self-sacrifice with virtue. But what if we rejected that? What if we refused to make ourselves smaller just to fit into the mold society has carved out for us?
“Gross”, “Nice traps, Shrek”, “That’s a dude, right?”, “She got lost on the way to the kitchen.”, “Make me a sandwich”, “Shit form”, “Not impressive, I can lift double that on an easy day.”, “I would KMS if I looked like that”, “Are you proud of this?”, “Attention whore, why are you naked in the gym”, “Does your boyfriend know you’re dressed like that?” . These are all real comments taken from women’s videos on social media who had posted themselves in the gym. “It’s not all men”. Yes, that is true, it’s not. Women left some of these comments as well. This isn’t necessarily a “man” problem. It’s a culture problem.
The pressure to be thin is deeply embedded in our culture, reinforced through media, fashion, and everyday conversations. Framed as loving concern from loved ones. Women are often praised for weight loss, regardless of the methods used to achieve it or the impact it has on their well-being. Diet culture thrives on the belief that a woman’s body is a problem to be fixed, a project to be worked on indefinitely. But at its core, this obsession with smallness isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about control.
Historically, women’s bodies have been policed as a means of keeping them in check. In the modern age, thinness is the standard of acceptability. A woman consumed with shrinking herself is less likely to demand space, speak her mind, or challenge the status quo. Women have long existed in a role that demanded they need to prove their value and maintain it in a way men do not. Not loud, not a “problem”, not taking up too much space etc. and one way they could add to this perceived value is by having a body that was deemed by culture, by the patriarchy, to be “the right body”.
Diet culture and the relentless pursuit of thinness function as a distraction, siphoning energy away from the things that truly matter—our passions, careers, relationships, and activism. It’s an easy take down for someone attempting to discredit, devalue, or silence someone. When we are taught to prioritize being small, we are subtly discouraged from being loud, bold, and unapologetically ourselves.
Rejecting the need to be small is a feminist act because it disrupts the system. It challenges the idea that our value is tied to our appearance and that we exist to be looked at rather than to live fully. Choosing to nourish our bodies rather than deprive them, to move in ways that feel good rather than as punishment, and to embrace our natural forms rather than fight them—these are all radical choices in a world that profits off our insecurities.
Accepting your body as it is does not mean rejecting health or personal goals, but it does mean shifting the focus away from arbitrary beauty standards and toward holistic well-being. It means asking: Am I treating my body with respect? Am I making choices that honor my needs, not society’s expectations? It means recognizing that all bodies—thin, fat, muscular, disabled, tall, short—deserve respect and care and shouldn't have their value hinge on “Are they aesthetically pleasing?”.
When we reject the need to shrink, when we are strong, we set a new standard for the generations to come. We show young girls that they don’t have to spend their lives at war with their bodies. We create space for people of all sizes to exist without shame. We push back against an industry that profits from our self-doubt.
To accept your body is to declare that you are worthy as you are. To reject the need to be small is to reclaim your power. And in a culture that thrives on making women feel inadequate, that is one of the most radical, counter-cultural, and feminist acts of all.
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