Just look at it, with its soft curves and imperfectly perfect imperfections.
When you stop for a moment and really think about the female body. YOUR female body it really is a testament to the incredible diversity and resilience of woman kind.
Don’t agree?
We are damn mean to our bodies as women, me included! We stand in front of a mirror or stand on a scale from an early age and pick fault at ourselves. My breasts are too small, my breasts are too large, one nipple points in the right direction whilst the other got a little tipsy and is meandering off to the side. My nipples are inverted, my areola is too large, bumpy, dark! My tummy is soft and I don’t have abs, why can’t shift my baby weight? Other women on instagram seem to be in their jeans just weeks after birth?, my Caesarian scar is ugly, dark, uneven. My thighs are huge. My bottom is jiggly. The list goes on… we shame our bodies on the daily. Also, it’s not just post baby, in reality it is from a very young age. My daughter just a few days ago told me that slick pony tails are ‘in’ but she couldn’t possibly pull off a slick pony tail because she doesn’t like her forehead… I mean what the actual F@*K! 12 years old and already shaming her beautiful body.
And really instead of shaming our body we should be celebrating it. Journey with me back to a tender young age when your body shifted into a woman’s.
You may remember the day you first bled. I do. A day greatly anticipated. The day a girl becomes a woman. Since that day, many many years ago for many of us your body has cycled, supported by a symphony of hormones, passing through seasons of shedding and regrowth. Now, I don’t know about you, but I know that I have never given my body any instruction for this. The complexity of this cycle is truely remarkable. Your body has held space for you to grow into a woman. It rebuilds and sheds, rebuilds and sheds, rebuilds and sheds. Once a month, on cue, again with no instruction to do so your ovary releases an egg and that egg travels down to your womb and waits patiently to be fertilised.
One day, that egg is fertilised. And your beautiful, incredible, marvellous female body transforms that tiny little egg that is naked to the human eye into a baby. It creates a placenta, a heartbeat, an umbilical cord, eyes, fingers, toes, eyelashes and fingernails. Your beautiful female body grows and stretches and even goes as far as shifting some of your major organs to accomodate your growing baby. Your hormones encourage your pelvis to loosen to allow more space for your baby to descend and to prepare for birth. In just 9 short months a teeny tiny pip has transformed into a human. And you my friend, my beautiful friend, you have done that, your body has done that.
Don’t get me started on birth! It is said that women in labour leave their bodies and travel to the stars to collect the souls of their babies, and return to this world. I have to agree with this. Birth is the most mesmerising experience you could ever witness. Just when you thought that a woman growing a human was special birth hits it out of the park. This is where the female body really is in its most sublime chapter.
Birth begins (usually) without instruction. No one actually knows what causes labour to begin. Whether it be that your baby’s brain has reached readiness or if space has run out or some scientists believe that the baby releases a small amount of protein that initiates labour. Whatever it may be, your beautiful body, without instruction falls into a rhythm, like waves building and peaking and melting away your body contracts to bring your baby to you. The contractions of your incredible body help your baby lie an optimal position to exit into the world. Your cervix opens and melts away to open the gates for your baby to descend down the birth canal. Your incredible vagina stretches to a mammoth diameter to release your baby and immediately afterwards returns to a normal, but tender state.
Through this journey your body goes to battle. It is pressed, poked, kicked, stretched, torn, stitched. It doesn’t give up, it moves on to its next job with no questions asked.
By mid pregnancy your breasts begin to create a network of lobes and lobules. Like a young tree growing its roots and reaching for sunlight your breast creates branches and twigs followed by buds poised to blossom into a well-established mother tree that's robust and flourishing. A breast that’s ready and primed to produce milk. A milk so perfect for your baby. A milk that over a 24hr period adapts and changes to meet your baby’s needs. A milk that in the morning contains higher levels of serotonin and in the evening higher levels of melatonin. A milk that upon your bodies instruction will contain antibodies to fight off sickness and disease. A milk that enriches your baby’s brain to grow and reach its potential. Your body; your beautiful, incredible, marvellous female body does this.
Your female body will take on many roles. To your babies and children your body will be a place of comfort, of safety; a place that feels like home. A body that nurtures them, grows them, protects them. In your arms is a place that offers comfort when they are feeling sad or happy or scared or lonely. To our partner our female body is sacred. It's a vessel of love, a sanctuary of intimacy and connection. It embodies strength, resilience, and boundless affection. It's a source of admiration, reverence, and profound appreciation.
So, I challenge anyone who doesn’t agree that the female body should be celebrated. Because i think it’s f*$king awesome. Next time you stand in front of a mirror and put yourself down or stand on a scale and tell yourself that you’re not as skinny as all of those Instagram influencers. I want you to stick up your middle finger to her and tell her to f@*k off and I want you to take a good look with a new lens , because this body , your body is a masterpiece! It's carried life, it's weathered storms, and it's a testament to your strength and resilience.
And if it helps say this to the shamer…
I won't conform to anyone else's standards because I am uniquely beautiful, just as I am.
