When Can Women Love Their Bodies Without Being Politicized? Asking for a friend.

Princella Talley
3 min readJan 29, 2022
Photo by Baran Lotfollahi on Unsplash

Remember when a middle school in Mississippi offered girls “healthy literature” and shapewear to improve their body image? I do because it happened less than three weeks ago, reminding girls and women that even in 2022, your body is not just for you.

Women’s bodies are still up for public debate and speculation, with the current assignment being for women to look, dress, and perform according to expectations set mostly by men.

Beauty standards evolve with history, but modern technology intensifies pressure on girls and women to adhere to unrealistic beauty goals. Social media platforms do give more visibility to toxic beauty standards, but these standards existed long before Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Before social media, there were print magazines, television stars, and music videos setting the tone for who and what was deemed beautiful.

It’s not surprising that girls start having body image issues as young as 3 years old. Even less surprising is that schools would…

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Princella Talley
Princella Talley

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