All of my dimples are cute!
Before we start, please forgive the title image - it's the only photo I have where any of my cellulite is on show! Zoom in and you'll see it better...
You may have missed it, but this weekend an Avon advert
was brought to our attention – an advert for some kind of ‘solution’ to
cellulite. One version of the advert featured a woman sitting down, thighs on
show, and read “dimples are cute on your face (not your thighs)”, whilst
another variation of the advert ironically read “Every body is beautiful”
It was actually the American branch of Avon, Avon Insider,
who created the ad and brought it to life. However, after being attacked by
Jameela Jamil on Twitter, both Avon and Avon Insider admitted they’d missed the
mark with their advert and advised that it would be taken down and wouldn’t be
used anymore.
As great as that end result is, I just can’t get over
that it’s 2019 and this is still a
thing – targeting women’s ‘flaws’ in advertising to make money and sell crappy
products that are made to make us feel better but in reality don’t actually
achieve anything.
How dare Avon sit there and dictate what dimples are cute
and what dimples aren’t? I love all my dimples, particularly the ones on my bum
and thighs because some days, those dimples need a little more loving than the
ones that society chooses to accept – the ones on my face.
I wish that companies would get a grip and stop telling
us how we should feel about our own bodies. I wish that companies would stop
creating new flaws out of nowhere and brainwashing us into agreeing that yes,
actually that part of my body is
awful and I must change it using their product! I wish companies would stop
making money from women hating themselves.
Because essentially that’s what’s going on. Companies
tell us something is ugly or needs changing, through mass marketing and
celebrity endorsements they manage to convince us that they’re right and we buy
into their products that claim they can help us overcome said flaw. Our money goes right into their pockets so
that we can solve a problem that we didn’t even know we had. Of course, the
product doesn’t work, we become more aware of the issue, we see more perfectly flawless
photoshopped celebs endorsing the product and we keep buying into it. It’s a
toxic cycle that we can’t seem to escape from.
Open your eyes! Expand your mind! Do some research!
‘Flaws’ such as body hair and cellulite weren’t even an
issue before the 50’s. Women weren’t fazed by stretch marks and dimply skin and
a bit of hair under their arms. No one cared! These ‘flaws’ have only been
brought to light by clever marketing techniques that now make us all believe we’re
supposed to be god damn flawless.
No scars, no stray hairs, no cellulite, not one ounce of
fat on your body, perfect hair, no spots, big lips, perky boobs, thick thighs,
tiny waist, flat tummy, long legs… the list continues to grow, and as it does,
it becomes more and more unrealistic and unobtainable.
I will admit that I’m chubby – perhaps even verging on
fat, depending on who you are and what your perspective is. My boobs definitely
aren’t perky, I have stretch marks seemingly left, right and centre, I can’t
remember the last time I shaved my legs and I have dimpled skin thanks to my
cellulite across my arse and my thighs.
But guess what? I feel attractive, I feel sexy and I feel
confident. I feel so empowered by the fact that I can defy what the media tells
me I should be, that it makes me feel even better about my own body. I’m
comfortable in who I am, who I want to be. I know that my body will change
continuously throughout my life – when I’m pregnant, when I eat more or less,
at different stages of my cycle, when I go through the menopause, when I’m a
mum, if/when I get ill.
My body will always change. It is a flexible being that
can be altered so easily. That’s why it’s so important that I pin my worth, my
sense of belonging and self-love on more than just my body. It’s important for
everyone else to do the same.
Flaws or no flaws, Kim Kardashian or Sarah Brown from the
house next door, we are all perfectly imperfect in our own ways – and we are
all so much more than our bodies. We are our sense of humour, our intelligence,
our kindness, our good nature, our skills and expertise, our good qualities,
our bad qualities. We are made up of one hundred different things, all of which
make us who we are far more than our bodies ever will.
We need to be reminded of that way more than we need to
be reminded that the world wants us to constantly change.
Love from,
Florence Grace
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