My Body, My Choice (Re-post from my Facebook status)

I wish the "my body, my choice" frame of mind could be applied to reactions to the fashion, diet, fitness, and media industries. WHY aren't women everywhere screaming this at all those businesses who are trying to get money off us by telling us our bodies are not as they should be? Who is anyone to say that my stomach should be flat or my arms should have a little bicep definition or I should have a thigh gap?! It's MY BODY, MY CHOICE. I can freely tell the whole world right now that I weigh considerably more than most female celebrities who are considerably taller than I am, as well as the ones who are my same height. I can also tell you that this is no indication of my health or the world's perception or acceptance of my physical self. So if I make the personal decision that I am okay with some flab and softness and curviture - that I can still travel and sing and dance and make friends and write and learn foreign languages with the body I am in - then that should be good enough for anyone, including myself with all its conflicting parts. If I am squishy to the touch and not hard or compact, that shouldn't be anything that complete strangers in some office building in a big city far, far away can have the authority to demand I change - so they can profit off it. Yes, we'll always want to be thinner. But when you get a second chance at life you kind of realize that truly LIVING is more important. So I refuse to give in to these fake worlds of calories and nutrition myths and diet foods (i.e. chemical shit) and time and clothes. I know my body well - I have been cruel to it and I have learned to respect it. It does so much for me. So if I want breakfast in the middle of the night because I come back from salsa and my tummy feels empty, I will refuel it and not care that it is the middle of the night. If I want to wear a cute dress that bares my flabby arms because the dress is cute and it's a sunny day and I'm young and enjoy smiling at people and feeling pretty in a girly dress, then I will wear the damn dress. I will look the other way when Ed tries to distract me. I will focus on being a beautiful woman - forward, classy, Godly, colorful, musical, passionate, cultural, and downright elegant.