Recently I’ve begun to notice this narrative of “realness” being called out. As someone who named their blog after being real, it’s begun to rub me the wrong way. Our blog presence is built upon the premise of keeping it real with our audience. What does that mean to us? It means not misleading you by overediting our pictures, taking out blemishes, cellulite, anything that women might find unsavory about themselves. If there is stray hair blowing in the wind, you’ll probably see it on here. If you catch us at the right angle you might find that extra 5 or 10 pounds we as tall women can hide easier than most!
What I’m struggling to understand is, when the narrative has changed in social media with the calling out of moments of realness about our natural bodies. It has become so out of the norm that we have to call attention to how brave we are or maybe it’s masked in discomfort of showing our authentic selves.
You probably won’t see Caitlin or I make apologies or explanations for our bodies being the way they are. We understand that many people struggle with body image issues and respect their journeys towards acceptance. On our blog, we want to normalize being in our skin and not having to explain why we posted something despite our perceived flaws.
It’s been said often but something you complain about on yourself is something that someone else is envious of about you.
All of this to say, stop photoshopping your pictures to beyond recognition. Our society has become obsessed with a version of celebrity/public figure that doesn’t exist. Fast fashion has evolved into fast fixes for anything you don’t like about your face/body. We’re not saying if you have something that causes you pain or embarrassment that you can’t/shouldn’t fix it, but it feels like days of embracing yourself flaws and all are past us.
Please don’t mistake this as either Caitlin and I getting on a soapbox of being holier than thou. It has just been weighing on my heart recently and a teammate from college posted a picture/stories talking about the same thing. Know that if you have imperfections, like acne or bags under your eyes or cellulite or whatever it may be; you don’t have to call it out preemptively or make any apologies for it. If you had a baby and your stomach isn’t as tight as it used to be, you can still wear a bikini and not have any explanation.
The beauty standard is impossible and you have no obligation to live up to it. As women we feel beholden to explain our existence, and we’re here to encourage you to drop that habit. Wash your hands of it and live free. Obviously it’s easier said than done but just start testing the waters of not coming up with an answer if someone says you look tired and you just happen to not be wearing makeup. Let them be a little uncomfortable for asking questions they have no business asking.
It ties in closely with all of the height/body comments we get regularly, so we’ve had more practice than normal. Just because I’m in relatively good shape, doesn’t mean I “had to” have played basketball or volleyball at my height or it’s a waste. Same as short women being referred to as “cute” automatically because of their size.
Let’s do away with the assumptions and societal pressures for all women. We’re here to celebrate you being you, beautiful flaws and all, no explanation required. If you liked this Real Tall Talks, check out our last post, here.
Lastly, all of the swimsuits pictured are from Figleaves! The one piece swimsuits are obviously not “tall,” but the rise on them is great for our longer butts to still keep everything covered. The one piece swimsuits are tall sizing and they are super comfortable and well-fitting. If you haven’t tried them yet they have some really great timeless options!
Link to two piece suits, top here and bottom here.
