"Perfection"
Many of you may know Alexis Ren. She is an Instagram bikini model who has nearly seven million followers. The Los Angels-based 19-year-old beautiful girl has been modeling since she was 13 years old. I started following her about a year ago when I was exploring interesting Instagram accounts, and she became one of my favorites. I like beaches, sunshine, tanning, traveling, working out. I can find thingsI like from her Instagram. Photos of her and her boyfriend, Jay Alvarrez, who is also a model, were so sweet (I use “were” because it seems they broke up several months ago, and Alexis deleted most of his photos). She is like #goals.
The CUT recently posted a story of her written by Allie Jones, Instagram’s Teen Idol on What It’s Like to Be ‘Perfect’. I enjoyed the story because it’s about my favorite model, but I felt this is not just a story of her. This story made me think of what “perfection” is.
She keeps 34-22-34 proportions, which is “wow”. Haters say she photoshops her body because her body looks impossibly flawless, but she denies that and I totally believe her. Her Snapchat actually proves that body is what she is. “I do work this hard, and I have this body.”
Yes, she works a lot for it, and has got the perfect body. But, okay, is being skinny “perfect”?
This story reminds me of the problem of too thin models. I read an article, in which a Japanese runway model said that the model industry forced models to be skinnier. For example, even when they have a daylong show, there was no food for models behind the stage. On magazines, advertisements, and TV, we often see slender actresses or models, which can easily make young girls want to be skinner. In December of 2015, France passed the bill that bans extremely slender models.
And here I want to share my experience. I was not forced to be, but I was very thin when I was in high school. I was stressed out because of complicated relationships with friends. And at the same time, I was a typical teenager. I wanted to be skinnier because everyone around me looked skinny, and being skinny looked better. I tried some extreme ways to reduce my weight in a short term and didn’t eat well. This lasted for almost a year. What happened? My period stopped. I got skinny, but I think it never looked healthy and attractive. I did not feel confident at all, even though I was skinny. I cared too much about how people looked at me. I cannot say I was mentally healthy either. Undoubtedly, it wasn’t perfect at all.
It was not anorexia, but I noticed it was harmful. So I was getting back to a normal diet little by little with my mom’s help, and I developed healthy condition in half a year. I learned being skinny is not always perfect. About 2 years ago, I started working out. Since then I have gone to the gym at least twice a week and have my own workout plan. I eat normally and healthy too. I am very short and I don’t have thin beautiful long legs, but I care about my body in a good way so I can have confidence in my body now.
I just want to say perfection is not defined by how thin you are.
I think many girls still feel the pressure to get skinny from society, but it’s very superficial and not cool.
Back to Alexis’s story. She works very hard to get that body, and it seems like she enjoys it. She is very independent. Even though she has gotten unkind comments from haters, she gets over them and tries to be sunshine for people who support her. Regardless to say, her body makes her look amazing, but I believe all these strong aspects contribute to her beauty and strong.
Photo credit:
4) S - maybe, the problem its me. Via photopin (license)
