Okay, so we all know that the media priviledges a certain image of women, mainly skinny and flawless. That’s bad enough. But I’m sick and fucking tired of reading about how stretch marks are ugly and evil and seeing all the pseudo articles and products meant to “minimize the appearance of ugly stretch marks.”
Stretch marks are a fact of life.
I have had them since I was about 12 because I grew busty then and voilá, stretch marks. Not to mention the fact that I’ve been fat/voluptuous/chubby/full bodied (pick one) in varying degrees my whole life. Most women who have been pregnant have them.
I have heard people exclaim about how stretch marks are “gross,” and no wonder when ads in magazines ranging from Cosmopolitan to Newsweek all talk about “unsightly” stretchmarks, “ugly” stretchmarks, and “undesirable” stretchmarks.
I was thinking about this because a friend of mine who is beautiful, inside and out remarked in passing about how she is self-conscious about her stretch marks. She’s had a kid, she’s lost and gained weight, she’s a normal woman. Why should she be made to feel ugly for what is normal?
I long for the day when instead of trying to get rid of stretch marks we learn to embrace them as part of what is womanly, powerful and even sexy.
Instead of seeing pictures of celebrities where a red pen highlights their stretchmarks as “flaws” we will see a new trend: skinny women who don’t have any natural stretch marks will be having a new special plastic surgery to create them.
Instead of the advice to cover up faint stretch marks with self tanning lotion to “minimize” their appearance, women will be applying body makeup to create them.
Hip huggers will be unacceptable unless seductive stretch marks are visible on the hips.
Women who get breast augmentation will ask for the extra stretch marks, to make them look sexy and real. Women who have breast reduction surgeries will make sure the skin isn’t unnecessarily smoothed out to “minimize” the natural attributes.
There will be a new fettish out there. People will be turned on by stretch marks. There will be websites devoted to stretch mark worshippers (are there any already? hmmmm… I’ve missed my niche if there are!). Men and women will live to make love to stretch marks. To rub yummy lotions into them to enhance their womanly appearance. To lick and love them for hours. Personal ads will provide measurements and estimated amount of stretch marks.
No longer will women have to hide their skin for fear of being ugly, for having a woman’s body.
No longer will women have to worry about them while pregnant. Of all the things to worry about when expecting a child, stretch marks shouldn’t even be making it on the radar, and WOULDN’T if weren’t for all the pressure to be perfect, and smooth and radiant.
My stretch marks are perfect and smooth and radiant. And I’m not buying any minimizing creams! In fact, I’m working on creating more stretch marks as I lose weight. So there!
They exemplify all that is me:
womanly
flexible
changing
adapting
voluptuous
powerful
elastic
growing
Our bodies were meant to grow, to shift, to hold, to move, to love, to stretch. We were not meant to be mere statues with smooth contours and flawless finish. We are beautiful in many colors, shapes, sizes and textures. Stretchmarks and all.