Over the last few weeks I have seen a lot of bloggers, magazines and gossip sites drop their 2015 “best swimsuits for you body type” guides. Of course I started consuming these like a rabid beast who hasn’t eaten in months. Duh, because I too wanted to write one of these “so you want to look like a sexy as shut-yo-mouth in a swimsuit” posts. I’m soooo trendy.

But the more I read, the more livid I got. All I got from reading these posts was a huge dose of “your body sucks, here’s how to make it less sucky.” Nearly every post focused on aspiring to some sort of ideal beauty standard that a lonely caveman came up with to sell rocks many moons ago. None of them celebrated the differences in our bodies. None of them allowed me to be educated enough to make my own choices on what I accented + hid. None of them were particularly inspiring. Sigh.

So I fixed it. Well I tried to. I spent probably about 10 hours researching and reading all of this bullshit. I boiled down all the oppressive body talk, pulled out those little nuggets of truth, rewrote it to be factual instead of loaded with “opinions” and categorized it. I The result is what I like to call the #bodypositive swimsuit guide.

Pick the body part, and select whether you want to diminish or accentuate. YOU [not some internet fashion a-hole] are in full control. No glossy magazine is standing by to tell you to hide your gorgeous grandiose gluteus maximus, or to cover up your curvacious cantelopes. You just do you girl. Because doing you, that’s where the real sexy is at.

Edit: A few feel I am advocating for obesity with this guide. This is a size neutral guide. In reading posts, women with toned and athletic bodies (ie the most fit) were still shamed into feeling their body wasn’t ideal. So were petite women, women with wide shoulders, women with chests, and butts. Basically all women. It’s a shame that because I am plus size and open to showing my body with out shame, that some discredit the value of my ideas and thoughts.

I do believe women should be happy whatever size they are, but have a responsibility to continually improve themselves. That improvement includes optimizing the mind, body and heart. Some people’s challenges are more visible than others. I don’t advocate any “state” because I understand that we are all progressing to our own definition of ideal. I don’t have the right or desire to try and control or comment on what any other person’s goal of perfect is. I am busy enough getting my own shit together. If you want to know what I am striving to improve, read some other posts. Peace.