Self-image
Out Of The Borders
Stretch marks that tell body stories
by Wakila Otmani
Stretch marks sometimes cover our bodies, especially women’s bodies. They become part of us and, as we get pregnant, we grow older or as we gain or lose weight, they can intensify and appear with more frequency. A stretch mark is a type of scar that develops when our skin stretches or shrinks quickly. What do stretch marks mean?
Our bodies are like maps of experiences, and
“ I know that they are from giving birth so I don’t have a problem.” The opinion among the young people is not very different from Zoria & Pirjo.
every mark can imply a change. It can happen Carol, a young volunteer from Estonia and livduring puberty, for rapid weight loss or gain, with ing now in Greece, says: “ I don’t even notice weight training when we are about to have a baby. them and I never saw it as a bad or weird thing”. not all youngsters feel the same about In the same way that wrinkles can show the However, stretch marks. “I was insecure about them when age of a person and how much that person I was younger because we grow up with how we has laughed or cried, stretch marks are also should look like with no stretch no cellulite, no body stories. They are part of our growth, and scars but then I discover a lot of body positivity it is important to accept ourselves and to feel account who helped me to realize that’s normal comfortable in our bodies. However, nowadays and almost everyone has it” , says Kasia, a Polthere are many images of the perfect body and it’s ish girl also living in Thessaloniki. sometimes difficult to feel happy in our own body.
t’s hard to accept our bodies, it’s a big step in In this article, we analyze how women feel with Iour life, sometimes we can feel good, some-
stretch marks and how they affect them in diftimes we don’t and we can’t do a lot about it. ferent ways. I interviewed four different womWe do our best everyday. Stretch marks appear en, who experienced different things. in our bodies, we are not born with them, but The path to deal with it and accept them most of the women accept this. Zoria and Pirjo
I have a lot of stretch marks so I wanted to
know how other people who also have them, deal with it. Personally I love them, it’s part of me and I will always be with them but i was not always in that mindset, especially when I was a teenager but now I learned how to love them.
For example Zoria, mother of 3 kids, said that
she doesn’t have to deal with it or not because it’s on her body either way. Pirjo, also a mom, said:
Stretch marks on the body
25
