Women are often told to embrace their bodies and be comfortable in their own skin. Yet, there are ridiculous trends that surface in our society like thigh gaps, bikini bridges and belly button challenges that constantly leave women questioning the skin they are in. Most women are never fully confident in the body they have no matter how beautiful they may seem to other people.

While this debate is constantly in the spotlight of many media outlets, it was most recently brought up again due to an alleged Photoshop error on behalf of a Victoria’s Secret advertisement. The advertisement is for a pair of the brand’s underpants, showing a model with her back facing the camera. It appears the company enhanced one butt cheek, but in doing so, they forgot to enhance the other side. When the company shared the image on their Facebook page, many users and fans of the brand were very unhappy with the mistake. For a brand that uses some of the most beautiful women in the world, why would it be necessary to enhance their bodies at all?

For over a year now, American Eagle has been doing a campaign with their lingerie line, Aerie, in which they use no Photoshop on the bodies of their models in order to capture the natural beauty of women and put out a positive message about embracing the body you have. Perhaps soon, Victoria’s Secret may follow that example and choose to send out a more positive message as well.

Models and other public figures have often spoken out about the pressure that i
s put on them to look a certain way. With the world watching, there is no doubt they experience even more scrutiny on how their bodies look. Two weeks ago, model Gigi Hadid shared a powerful message about body image that instantly gained her praise and support from others in her industry. In the post she wrote, “I represent a body image that wasn’t accepted in high-fashion before, and I’m very lucky to be supported by the designers, stylists, and editors that I am: ones that know this is fashion, it’s art; it can never stay the same.” This message of not fitting into a certain mold and being your own kind of beautiful is just the kind that we need to stop those who feel body shaming is okay. Stars like Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato

have both struggled with having their bodies under the scrutiny of the public eye, but like Hadid, they have turned the negativity into creating positive messages for the young girls that look up to them.

Other public figures find themselves under the same scrutiny over body image as well. Ronda Rousey has been making headlines for months for all of her success in the MMA fighting world. Rousey is known for going undefeated and finishing matches in a matter of seconds, she is one of the best athletes around right now. With this success, she’s gained a lot of popularity with
advertisement opportunities, but with that she has experienced some scrutiny about her body.

She revealed that for one ad campaign it was suggested maybe she could lose a few pounds for the shoot, so to spite the company Rousey decided to instead put on some weight for the campaign. The shoot was still a huge success, which proved Rousey’s stance against the company was not only justified, but successful as well. Regardless, she is not okay with the message being sent her way, and she warned in a recent interview, “If anyone calls me fat one more time in my life, I’m going to kill them.” That’s not something you want to hear from someone who has built a career on fighting. While the comment may me dramatic, it once again echoes the sentiment that we should embrace positive body image and all body types.

Feature Image: Eternity Portfolio, Courtesy of Flickr URL