By Kayla Lopez
“You have to stand up and say ‘There's nothing wrong with me or my shape or who I am, you're the one with the problem!’ ” - Jennifer Lopez. People come in all shapes and sizes. Nowadays our society makes many people believe that they need to look a certain way. That is not true at all.
There are many platforms that can be used to influence how one views themselves. For example Tik Tok, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, all these social media platforms can affect how you view yourself. It would be great if everyone saw each other’s beauty instead of their imperfections or at least didn’t think imperfections were such a bad thing. I know people will judge you for everything you do. For example many girls get judged for their appearance mostly by men, as if women dress up to impress men. I'm only 17 years old and there’s many girls my age or even younger that get sexualized because of their clothes. As if wearing a skirt and a shirt means they are “asking for it” and if they’re not “fit” for the clothes they’ll get put down because that’s not the beauty standard for the clothes she is wearing.
I personally have had to deal with these kinds of disturbing issues. I was wearing shorts that went right above my knee and I was told to go change because the shorts “showed my shape”. I wear shorts because they are comfortable and if it's too hot to wear pants i will most definitely be wearing shorts, I don't care how I look, i'm just trying to be comfortable.
I will wear what I want when I want to, this is my body and I do not care how others think about how I look. My body is a fortress, my body has fought through many things for me. I will never say I have the best shape but I am proud of what I have overcome to get where I am. I did not walk through hell and back to let others put me down.
When did we as a society decide it was ok for us to judge others lives by just looking at them. It shouldn’t matter if you’re chubby, skinny, black, white, gay, straight, a girl or a guy, what should matter is your personality and if you judge others based on look and you purposely bring them down, you have a horrible personality, sorry not sorry. No one has the right to body shame someone because you don't know what people go through. So the next time you want to make a negative comment on how someone looks just remember it costs nothing to just be quiet.
The reason I wrote this essay is because body positivity is a huge thing for me, I personally have had body image issues so I know what it's like to need a little bit of support.
In this essay “My body is a fortress” by Kayla Lopez, the author tries to provide a sense of reassurance by offering support and trying to show that they understand the struggle. She knows that not everyone knows what you as a person have to go through, no one sees your struggles nor do they know about you, she writes “No one has the right to body shame someone because you don't know what people go through.” All people really know is what you tell them and they think that because they see you they know you, well some things aren't always what it seems.
This essay begins with a quote about what the essay will be about. She states this quote to show that even famous people go through being body shamed. She did it in a way to show that you're not alone. Description is used as the text structure because she focuses on explaining what it's like, she gives an example that she went through. She states “ I was wearing shorts that went right above my knee and I was told to go change because the shorts “showed my shape.” The author uses a personal example to be able to relate to the reader.
Some literary devices the author used in her essay was a metaphor. She states “my body is a fortress” which to me says that your body is strong and stands with you. She also states that she “did not walk through hell and back” to let others tear her down. This is a hyperbole because she exaggerated the fact that she worked really hard to get where she is. She also uses allusions like “tik tok, instagram, snapchat, twitter, all these social media platforms” so she can show that there are many places that you may know about that talk about this topic.
The author wrote this essay because they wanted to show their support for those individuals who struggle with the topic. I chose this topic because I felt like it was a topic that gets put down a lot. You do hear of it but it gets pushed under the rug. I just hope that the people who get body shamed, which is almost everyone, read this and know that they aren't alone and they shouldn't worry about what other people think. Confidence looks good on you, you should definitely wear it more. :)
I really enjoy reading this essay because it's a topic that people often don't talk about. I believe that this topic should be talked about more because no one should be body shame. A phase that stood out to me was when the author said “When did we as a society decide it was ok for us to judge others lives by just looking at them. It shouldn’t matter if you’re chubby, skinny, black, white, gay, straight, a girl or a guy.” This phase stood out to me because it's true how society often judges a person by their appearance before giving the person a chance. If we don't have anything nice to say it's better to stay quiet because we don't know what the person is going through.
--Maria Arellano
I really like this essay because is has great topics to talk about in this time judging a person is something that we see a lot in social media. I have seeing comments in some platform that body shame woman more than man and some of those comments comes for man and woman too and those comments can make people depress.We as society need to learn more and became a better person to make this world more united.
--Joan Rangel