The rise of Instagram has had both a positive and detrimental effect when it comes to body image. The picture sharing app is full of stunning photographs of celebrities and personal trainers who all have bodies that we can only dream of having. These images give us a warped opinion of ourselves and can leave us feeling inadequate and insecure. However, the app has also given birth to the rise of body-positivity; a movement committed to increasing our feelings of self-worth and encouraging us to embrace our "flaws".
There are a host of different body-positivity bloggers across Instagram, with some of them having millions of followers hanging off their every word. The movement is mainly geared towards women - although male body-positivity is becoming a thing - with the majority of content focusing on issues such a cellulite, tummy rolls and trashing the archaic and misogynistic western beauty standards that have stood for far too long.
One woman who is making waves in the movement is Tesia Kline, who took to Instagram to show the difference that natural lighting can make to your Instagram posts. Attempting to photograph her new bikini, Tesia accidentally took a shot that accentuated her cellulite. However, rather than deleting the photo, the 27-year-old nail technician from Bremen, Alabama, decided to share it alongside an image that she had intended to use on her Instagram. In the caption, Tesia wrote:
"Sometimes your “body goals” may not always be what they appear to be (especially on IG). Thank you, angles and lighting for helping me see that I’m still fcking FLAWESOME from every point of view!! And so are YOU."
Speaking about her reason for sharing the image, Kline said: "I wanted to share it because I feel like there are millions of women out there who are so insecure about something that is so normal." The blogger also said that she's sick of people trying "to 'cure' it like it’s some kind of disorder."
Kline admits that she was once that way inclined. In 2011, she was fat-shamed off a stage where she was dancing and began to exercise regularly. She lost 50 pounds and decided to compete in body-building competitions for several years. It turned into an obsession: "I was never satisfied with my body no matter how lean I got," she says, acknowledging her low-self esteem.
To reboot, she quit competing. "I finally realized that my self-worth is not based on what I looked like," she says. "You don’t have to be lean and shredded to be happy or healthy."
Now, Kline claims to work out a few days a week and eats a balanced diet. She's racked up over 95,000 followers who regularly praise her for her uplifting and honest posts about her body and the struggles she faces.
"Life is way too short to worry about something so meaningless as cellulite or the negative opinions of others," she says. "It's up to us to just accept ourselves, enjoy, and live our lives to the fullest."
Kline's statement that life is too short to be worrying about such small issues is true - there are bigger things to worry about in the world.