Diversity Discussion: Why Better Body Image (+other rep) In Books Will Help You Love YOURSELF This Valentine’s Day.

I’m totally not bitter that I’m all alone this Valentine’s… pfttt.

Jk I’ve got MULTIPLE YA husbands…

Okay, so I’m not doing one of those smushy-feelings-y-posts on Valentine’s Day… I’m far too bitter and untrusting for all that kind of emotion*

Anyways. So firstly I’d like to link back to Sam’s post because she did an amazing post about body image in books that spoke. to. me. and was just amazing. Secondly, I’d like to state that yes, body image/size IS a type of diversity and this is my opinion and MY story and… deal with that yeah?

Also, as usual, this will probably end up as me ranting… but we’re all used to that now, yea? Cool.

*no, I don’t have a soul — i lost it a few years ago. ha. I just never had one. 

My personal story with body image is that ever since I can remember I’ve been insecure about the way that I look. I’m probably not ‘fat’, I’m probably more what you’d call ‘curvy’. But I had ALWAYS compared myself to everyone else, and that alone made me think that I needed to look like them.

But when I would read, I was also reading about people who were skinny and so comfortable in their own skin because they were skinny. I never read about someone who wasn’t skinny and comfortable that way.  and it’s not that I was avoiding the books that had ‘larger’ characters, it’s that there weren’t any!!

None of the popular/hyped YA books had ANY body rep and for me, it was just another thing that made me think that I needed to change.For the same reason that PoC or those who are LGBTQIA read books with their representation, I want to read a book about a girl/boy who is larger than the ‘average’/’norm’ and not have her/him fat shamed, or made fun of, or even made to feel like he/she isn’t perfect the way that s/he is! I want to relate to them. I want to be shown that yes, we’re just as worthy as everyone else.  And the same would go for someone that was ‘skinnier’ than the rest.

As Sam said in her post, some people cannot control their body type with exercise or dieting. Some people naturally find it really hard to put on weight, some have wide hips and you can’t change that. Like you can’t change your skin colour, your ethnicity, or your sexual orientation; all of this needs to be embraced, not shunned.

I want to read more books with those who aren’t “AVERAGE” embracing themselves.Another reason that we need positive body image is that not everyone in the world is the same, and they shouldn’t be in books either. In the world, we aren’t all the same colour, we don’t all follow the same religion, and we don’t all have the same bodies!! We don’t all look the same, we’re all unique. And, to be honest, if we were all the same, imagine what a dull bucket of a world we would be living in.*

AND we can learn to love ourselves more, and what we look like, if we see others that are embracing what they look like too.

When I see people who embrace their bodies and love what they look like, it makes me want to be able to love myself too, so I work on it!!

I want to read books where people aren’t ashamed of what they look like, or who they are and really, is that asking for a lot?

*sounds worse than a book with one of those endings that makes no sense, i.e a letdown.

Chat with me: what diversity do YOU personally look for in books? Do you think that there needs to be more characters that love themselves? Have a nice Valentine’s Day everyone ❤️❤️

Luuuuuu