If there’s one thing many of us roll our eyes at every year, it’s lines like “time to get beach body ready!” when truly, if you have a body, you have a beach body.
There is no wrong way to look while you’re enjoying the sunshine and these harmful ideals only serve to make people feel bad about themselves.
Case in point: a survey by Boots in 2019 found 76% of women skipped summer activities like going to the beach or visiting festivals because they felt self-conscious.
Author and activist Bryony Gordon is hoping to change the tide this summer by inviting everybody to her Big Body Confidence Beach Day Out.
The journalist, who previously ran the London Marathon in her underwear, is keen to help others love their bodies, too.
Touted as a “self-esteem afternoon of treats and love”, her summer event is for anybody that wants to get into swimwear in public, but dreads it.
Gordon, 42, has previously spoken about her own insecurities. She told Good Housekeeping: “I don’t have confidence, I have the same hateful thoughts everyone else has, but what I do have is a desire to not spend any more of my time hating on myself.
“I’m sick of this world where we, as women, have this obligation to take bits of our bodies and do them down.”
She added: “I don’t need my body to look amazing, it is amazing because it keeps me alive on a day to day basis, and that’s enough. I’m sick of this notion that our only worth is found in how we look. It’s really detrimental to our self-esteem and our lives in general.”
She added that liking herself is a “radical feminist act” and said she especially doesn’t “trash talk” herself anymore – something which she feels is particularly important, as she has a daughter of her own.
Her day out has been created in collaboration with Mental Health Mates, a network of peer-support groups for people who experience poor mental health.
It will be held at yoga studio Flow State Hove on July 23rd at 1pm, and if you’re hoping to go, you can register by emailing bigbodyconfidence@gmail.com
Organisers have said “bring a swimsuit and a towel, but don’t worry about body confidence – we’ll provide you with that”.
It promises to be a gorgeous day out – and what better way to make the most of our fleeting summer than letting go of societal expectations and insecurities?