What do you look for in a clothing item when you are shopping? The price tag? Obviously, with prices being hiked and you going broke over that obsessive retail therapy, it’s a must. The texture, colour and feel? Of course, clothes being the most intimate stuff owned by us, things have to get comfy. The style? Hell yeah, who doesn’t want to keep up with the latest fashion tends! And the final bid: do I look too fat/too skinny in this? If the poor item doesn’t live up to the last check, it’s thrown back to the shelves.
The obsession over making it look like you have the perfect hour-glass bod is as old as time. Behind layers of dresses, laces and a shape-wear pieces, we want to hide that belly we feed, or don’t, so diligently. Why the shame? Why is that one body part so hated that we want to get rid of it, making it prey to rigorous workout schedules and planned diets?
Well, while we were debating over this psychological mania (in our heads, of course, because even the mention of ‘tummy’ sends shockwaves through our nervous system), Cosmopolitan India came up with a campaign that sure will resonate with all of us.
The campaign, with the name #TheTummySeries, has been published by Cosmopolitan on their Instagram handle, that features real women with real bodies without photoshop, to remind us that the unattainable “perfect body” is just a product of the fake virtual world.
The campaign features twelve women who bared their tummies “to remind us that our stomachs are to be celebrated, no matter their shape.” With the motto “All tummies are good tummies”, Cosmo worked to shift the narrative around the normative body standards, and push us a little towards body positivity.
Women invited for the campaign, from models, to a fashion designer, author, activist, and influencers and actors, show us how people form different walks of life appear different, and one shouldn’t shy away from a very natural part of the body.
All of these photos are organic and real, giving us an insight into the women that they are, who are not defined by stereotypical body standards that say “slim-waist and flat tummy”. The message is clear for all of us reading this: how many times have we sucked in our tummies to have so-called perfect photographs? It is time that we turn away from the societal expectations and how ‘they’ want to see our bodies. Because it has always been, and should be, how we want to see our bodies.
Bodies of women go through so much in their lifetime: from periods, to pregnancy and stress, it has a lot on its skin. So instead of counting the stretch marks on our bodies, we should count our happy days and worth as a woman! It’s as simple as that.
Cosmopolitan has surely put its foot forward into the difficult and hushed realm of body positivity. With women not being able to accept the gorgeous bods they’ve been gifted with, this campaign will remind them that every body is unique, and so is every tummy. So why not feed it to its fullest and let it shine in that crop top that’s been sitting in your wardrobe since last summer!
