Open Letter: Skinny Girls Need Love Too

We are living in a world where girls are glorified for having big butts and boobs. Singer and rapper Nicki Minaj brought back Sir Mix-A-Lot’s Baby Got Back sentiments when she dropped Anaconda. And in the music video, women twerk and twerk. I am all for twerking, (shake what your momma gave yah), but I don’t have the assets to accomplish that. Artist Meghan Trainor slams skinny women in her top single All About That Bass, while simultaneously uplifting curvy women.  She sings “every inch of you is perfect.” Yes it is! But that is true for skinny girls too. 

In addition to messages of body image in the music industry, a fitness craze and health trend is slowly taking over. Fitness videos are thrown at us and we are expected to have flat stomachs and rock hard abs with killer biceps and triceps. It seems that women are being pressured to either be “slim thick” with undeniable curves, or fit, and ready to hit the gym at any time.  

And then there is me. The skinny girl who is in between. I am far from thick and nowhere near fit. I have been blessed with a high metabolism. Yes, I eat. I eat a lot actually; I try to self-indulge in fulfilling meals at least three times a day, but I do not have abs and I never weighed over 130 pounds. In today’s world, it is almost impossible to scroll through Facebook without seeing a gif or a meme about a beautiful curvy woman. 

I am a supporter for owning your vivacious body and booty. However, I am against putting skinny girls down in the process. You can love your curves, and I can love my lack of curves. Having extraordinary assets is glorified so much that it is almost as if women are not worth looking at if they do not meet society’s standard of thickness. Because I wear a size 0, does that make me less attractive? No. Is a woman any more desirable than me because of curves? Definitely not. And it works the other way as well. Skinny girls are not better than curvy girls, but rather we should receive the same recognitions.

Critics say that skinny women have been glorified and that the media portrays thinness to be the standard for beauty. In some instances, that is true, but not so much in urban pop culture. Mattel recently released a new set of Barbie dolls to say that “one size doesn’t fit all,” which is great. However, when a lot of emphasis is placed on having curves, you are telling skinny girls that something is wrong with them.  

A friend told me that he did not care for skinny girls because he was surrounded by women who were told something was wrong with them for not being skinny. He said that those women felt pressure to be skinny and he did not understand why. He saw them as beautiful human beings. Unfortunately, that is how skinny girls feel. We feel pressure to obtain this figure that we are just not cut out to have. 

This is not a rant. I am making an observation of something I believe people don’t acknowledge. My closing words: While you are praising women for their big butts, boobs and amazing curves, don’t forget that skinny girls need love too.  

**Disclaimer: This is a personal piece and does not necessarily reflect the views of Her Campus Media.