The snow is melting, flowers are blooming and summer is less than two months away. This, of course, means that it’s also almost time for “bikini body” season. All over my Facebook news feed are posts from girls and women talking about how they must start getting on their diets and working out in order to rock the right swimsuit.
Is that all necessary?
There are pages and pages of blogs that will go into detail on how to get that bikini body — really, what does that even mean? — and I know people who will go to extreme lengths to achieve their goals. At times, these lengths are unhealthy and dangerous.
How has this piece of cloth come to control an entire time of the year for women? The swimsuit has evolved over the years, ranging from the classic one pieces to extravagant cutout suits that confuse me endlessly (seriously, my head and my legs should not have trouble distinguishing which opening to put themselves through).
The most popular swimsuit in recent history is none other than the bikini. It made its first appearance in 1946 and through the decades has gained growing popularity among women around the world, according to history.com. By the early 2000s, it was one of the most popular swimsuit styles being purchased.
To women (and men), the bikini can represent a lot of things: sexiness, beauty, power, confidence and much more. All of these qualities are great things that women should feel. However, this is not always the case.
The issue is that girls and even women have trouble with how they feel in swimsuits. There is so much pressure to look completely perfect while in a bikini or any swimwear in general. Every inch of fat must turn into muscle, every hair must be plucked away and you’d better get rid of those stretch marks and cellulite.
This seems like an impossible feat that women must live up to or at least try to live up to. With this bikini body in mind, girls will modify their bodies to fit this image that is projected on television screens, Hollywood movies and advertisements.
Other girls may just refuse to ever step into a bikini at all. Many would rather wear something that will cover up their perceived imperfections than go around and be criticized.
I am a woman who has lived this reality and suffered from bikini-ready season. All throughout high school, I was terrified of wearing a bikini because I felt like my body was in no way ever bikini ready.
I would do more sit-ups in the spring or go running more and eventually give up because I felt like I could never live up to the girls who surrounded me at the beach. Looking back at it all, it honestly seems like such a trivial thing to be worried about. But, when you actually think about it, how trivial can it really seem when it is all around you?
I had classmates and friends discussing their bikini bodies. I saw it on the shows I watched and the life-sized ads that covered mall shop windows. I’m from California, where so many of the girls I saw at the beach were tan, lean and bikini body ready all year long. It’s hard to think that your body is good enough when signs telling you the exact opposite constantly surround you.
There wasn’t an exact moment when I realized that this silly bikini body stuff didn’t matter anymore. I think it was just a collective of things, like me being more comfortable in my own skin and just not caring what other people thought of my body. It is mine after all, so the only opinion that should matter is my own.
Women and girls everywhere should feel comfortable in their bodies no matter what season it is or clothes they may be wearing. So ladies, feel confident and powerful and beautiful because no one can tell you aren’t but yourself. There’s no reason that anyone should have to go through some drastic change two months out of the year to live up to society’s standards.
If you want to work out and be “bikini ready,” do it. But do it for yourself and do it healthily, not because you feel pressured to. If you want to wear a bikini but don’t look like a Victoria’s Secret model, do it anyway. If you want to wear a t-shirt and shorts to the pool and you feel fantastic in it, do it, but don’t ever do it because you’re ashamed of how you look.
Here’s the thing I’ve come to see very clearly: my bikini body is the same body I have year round. Whether I’m donned in a winter coat or a summer dress or a fall cardigan or a bikini, it’s all the same body and one that I’ve come to love dearly.
