"Thinspo"* is Not In, so...

Tumblr, We Heart It, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, Vine--the list can go on. Teenage girls are attached to their iPhones like infants cling to their bottles. They surround themselves with endless photos of thoroughly tanned girls with a "thigh gap" and an empty stomach. But what authority do I have to be talking about this subject? I am one of them. At least, I have been, but I'm tired of looking at pictures of my unhealthy peers, subjecting themselves to that kind of lifestyle.

Sometimes the best cure to the "I don't want to get out of bed" blues is to spend time scrolling through pictures of college dorms, yummy foods, and don't forget about the style pics. They are wonderful and a curse at the same time. We get top-notch fashion at our finger tips--yet finding those clothes in even the country's largest mall is a feat that many of us have yet to accomplish. And those "inspirational" photos of perfect abs with a list of small workout requirements to get them--"do 20 crunches, 40 squats, wall sit for a minutes, 5 push-ups, 10 burpees, and do it everyday! Then you too can have perfect abs."We can re-pin them all day long, but 1)we probably won't do them, 2) is that really all?

The trend of girls wanting to be thin is not so new. In fact, how is it still in? So I am pushing for all of these so-called trendsetters to actually start a new one, instead of brushing aside all of the attempts at "zero is not a size." It's not! So instead of ditching food and hitting the gym like it's your job, I propose re-defining beauty. But in order for it to work, we need to ditch the thigh gap, the no-food diets, and the  constant feeling that we are not good enough. If anything, we should be pushing to get fit, not thin. We want to be healthy, but there is nothing healthy about forcefully redefining your body structure by not eating.

It's not enough to occasionally acknowledge the articles and ads that tell you to love your body. There is so much more to be done to change this problem.

Whether you think of yourself as a leader or a follower, it's time to join the revolution, and RECHARGE BEAUTY.


*"Thinspiration" (short term is "thinspo") has hit the web as a term to describe posts about getting thin, plus how and why young girls should do it.