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This Model’s Body Positive Instagram Post Is Next Level Great

Jess Commons
9 February 2017, 10:24
You all know Emily Bador, right? The super-cute, super-freckly model from Brighton who's modelled for ASOS, Bella Freud, Refinery29 (hi) and Ivy Park for Topshop? If you don't follow her on Instagram already, you might want to start. Over the past few months, Emily's been posting a series of body positive pics accompanied by much-needed messages about the impossible standards of beauty and body image to which women are expected to adhere. In her first #bopo image two months ago, she posted a picture of herself in a bikini from 2015 next to a picture of herself in underwear now. In the old picture she was a UK size 4-6 and her waist was a teeny tiny 23 inches.
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i'm gonna be honest, the industry needs to change. man oh man i'm tired of it. on the left is july 2015, my lowest weight. i can't tell you how much i weighed but i can tell you i was size 4/6 and my waist only measured 23 inches. i can also tell you i thought i was fat. i've always had a few body image issues but since becoming a model, they've skyrocketed. at work, i've always felt like i didn't belong, i've always been short, and mixed race. i'd been modelling for just over a year, and going to castings made me feel super insecure. every time i didn't get a call back from my casting i'd start to wonder why. was i too fat? during 2015, i became obsessive with my measurements and clothes sizes. i exercised daily and i would never even look at any carbs let alone eat them. it started making me physically sick, dizzy, exhausted, etc. i ended up getting to a point where i'd have daily panic attacks about getting dressed, and couldn't even leave my bed in fear of catching my reflection in the mirror. at this time, i also started getting the most work i've ever had and travelling all over world. which, instilled in me "the thinner i am, the more work i'm gonna get". my hatred for myself became so overwhelming i knew something had to change, i took some time out and finally got working on loving myself. and today, for the first time in a long time, i felt good about myself this morning. i struggle with getting dressed sometimes, catching my reflection can occasionally hurt still and i have panic attacks now and again but i am getting there. sometimes i forget that self love is a journey. we have to call on this system to change. we need diversity. all bodies, differently abled, shaped, coloured, sized, gendered and aged. diversity is so important. representation is so important. i'm sick and tired of seeing amazing, talented, beautiful women hate themselves because they don't look like that VS model or whatever. too many young women suffer from mental health issues which stem from the pressure of today's media. ✨you are more than your appearance, you are strong and resilient and you are beautiful no matter what and i really hope you remember that✨

A photo posted by e m i l y bador (@darth_bador) on

As she said in the caption, she thought she was "fat" in the old pic. She wrote about how she used to have panic attacks over how much she weighed, and how she would get dizzy spells from not eating enough. The post, unsurprisingly, resonated with thousands of people. Emily said she was "overwhelmed" by the response and has since posted more body positive pics. Last night came another, even more candid shot.

You don't owe it to anyone to be perfect. You are not less worthy because you don't have a flat stomach. You are not less valid because you don't shave your armpits. You are not less beautiful because of your scars, stretch marks, eczema, acne. I'm just so sick and tired of the objectification of women's bodies and how it's seemingly ok to dictate a woman's worth based on what she looks like. If you give a shit that I or anyone else has stomach rolls, scars, eczema, armpit hair, etc then I have less than no time for you ✨ bored of hatred tbh ☺️ (this also obviously applies to men, and those who don't conform to gender binary stereotypes too, inclusivity and intersectionality is key ??) (yo feeling v body positive atm, and like I know it might seem easy for me to say as a white passing, averaged sized, model so yaknow but if you've followed me for a while you'll know that I really struggle with my appearance and like I dunno it's just a start of normalising things??? also any hatred will result in instant block looool)

A photo posted by e m i l y bador (@darth_bador) on

In it, Emily (in her pants, like an absolute champ) displays everything normally shunned by overly-glossy, overly-edited Instagram accounts. She proudly touts her belly rolls, shows off her acne, her armpit hair. I mean, she looks great but, most importantly, she's delivering a fundamental message that needs to be shouted from the rooftops, and echoed across the world: "YOU DON'T OWE IT TO ANYONE TO BE PERFECT." "You are not less worthy because you don't have a flat stomach," she says. "You are not less valid because you don't shave your armpits. You are not less beautiful because of your scars, stretch marks, eczema, acne." "I'm just so sick and tired of the objectification of women's bodies and how it's seemingly ok to dictate a woman's worth based on what she looks like." For the record, Emily knows it's not just white, cisgender women that are affected by impossible beauty standards. "This also obviously applies to men, and those who don't conform to gender binary stereotypes too," she writes. "Inclusivity and intersectionality is key." If you don't agree with her, you can totally see yourself out. Any hatred, she says, "Will result in instant block looool." Yes, Emily.
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