The Myth of the "Summer Body"


Apr 5, 2022

 by Briana Gutierrez
Share

The Myth of the “Summer Body”

We’ve all heard it before and we’ll all hear it again; as we round the corner into Spring, the term “summer body” jumps back into the limelight. 

The first evolution of this term, the “bikini body” was coined back in 1961, so it comes as no surprise that modern day populations have been conditioned to accept this as an inevitable ideal that comes along with the warmer weather. It doesn’t have to be.

This mythological idea is outdated, and we’re gonna talk about why!

  1. EVERY BODY IS A SUMMER BODY. Full stop.

So many of our societal constructs are built on shame and admittedly, they're hard to break. The “bikini body” idea was created to shame women into buying in on a chain of weight loss salons (capitalism🥴) and NOT as something meant to genuinely improve upon the population’s health and wellbeing.

It also feeds into the belief that exercise and movement should be shame based, and not viewed as an activity to nurture your physical and emotional wellbeing. Practicing fitness is a journey into discovering what works for you as an individual, and it should be fun! 

Take this as your sign to practice your self-compassion. You have the right to exist and find joy just as you are. Embracing yourself can be hard but it doesn’t have to be a linear process. Remember that you’re human and work on thinking of yourself in the same way that you think about your best friend!