Why The Term 'Real Women' Divides Us #weareallrealwomen

When I was younger I used to throw the term around. I guess it was to feel better about my body shape when faced with an army of stunning, perfect girls that looked back at me in magazines. But really the impact this term can have, on those hearing it can be very damaging. I guess in a way I was lucky that when I was a teenager, YouTube and Instagram would have been mere mumbles of a mad person 'yeah okay buddy a phone that takes photos whatever'.  But even as a nineties teen, I was still aware that what media classed as normal seemed very different from what I saw of women I was around on a daily bases. At the same time there was no real fashion for plus size women, unless they wanted to be dressed like a flowery tent and there seemed to be all but one plus size model on the catwalk. So there has been a lot of change already, even if it's been slow and doesn't feel like it. 

Photo from Doves campaign, which is about embracing your body. 

I can understand that yes, okay the media tends to show one body type and it's annoying. At the same time as we try to fight, to show that women come in all different shapes and sizes the term 'real women' is rubbish. The models in those pages are no less real than you or I. If we want to address the issues of body image, and trying to improve it for generations to come we have to ditch these terms. By saying 'real women' your suggesting that anyone with a skinnier, toned  frame is not a real women. Women are beautiful, no matter what their size. Believe it or not but everyone has a body hang up/hang ups, over the years we have been conditioned to hate our bodies. There is no escaping this, but we can change this. Starting with ourselves and how we view our bodies, than being less judgemental of other peoples bodies. We are human and we judge, that's normal but we don't have to be nasty to one another. When did this became a fight against each other, why do we feel a need to tear each other down. There is no such thing as the perfect women, because we all have different tastes and opinions there's only your own ideal. 

Slamming women that bombard the media is no better than the industry saying that the average woman's body is not acceptable or normal. I think it's time a new term was coined, why not all women. Because all women are real, not because of their waist size or what bra cup they fill. Not because of what they eat,  how much or little they wear or do. Not because they choose to have children, get married or not. Why do we have these awful judgements of what a 'real women' is. A real women to me is one that lives her life, a women who gets on with her day and tries to be a good person. We are all real women. While the media is only showing part of what some of us look like, let's not get it twisted, let's not be anti. Let's stand up and say that we are beautiful to someone, and that's ourselves because we are all real women. 

I want this post to speak to you all, cheesy as it may seem. I want to be part of the change of body image with social media, I hope you do to. I would love to hear your comments  and it would be amazing if you could tweet your 'real women' statement. How do you feel? What change would you like to see in the media?  #weareallrealwomen