5 minute read
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.
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What do stretch marks mean?
Our bodies are like maps of experiences, and every mark can imply a change. It can happen during puberty, for rapid weight loss or gain, with weight training when we are about to have a baby.
In the same way that wrinkles can show the age of a person and how much that person has laughed or cried, stretch marks are also body stories. They are part of our growth, and it is important to accept ourselves and to feel comfortable in our bodies. However, nowadays there are many images of the perfect body and it’s sometimes difficult to feel happy in our own body.
In this article, we analyze how women feel with stretch marks and how they affect them in different ways. I interviewed four different women, who experienced different things.
The path to deal with it and accept them
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:
Carol, a young volunteer from Estonia and living now in Greece, says: “ I don’t even notice them and I never saw it as a bad or weird thing”. However, not all youngsters feel the same about stretch marks. “I was insecure about them when I was younger because we grow up with how we should look like with no stretch no cellulite, no scars but then I discover a lot of body positivity account who helped me to realize that’s normal and almost everyone has it” , says Kasia, a Polish girl also living in Thessaloniki.
It’s hard to accept our bodies, it’s a big step in our life, sometimes we can feel good, sometimes we don’t and we can’t do a lot about it. We do our best everyday. Stretch marks appear in our bodies, we are not born with them, but most of the women accept this. Zoria and Pirjo have the same opinion; they accept it and can do nothing about it.
Stretch marks on the body
Although Kasia has struggled with her body marks for some time, now she feels different about them: “I even like them and I think they look like tiger stripes.”
Stretch marks are on our bodies and most of the time we can’t do anything about it, so sometimes it’s better to look them with positivity: “It’s a pride and to me it is as natural as having my leg. I also have stretch marks, it’s the same”, states Carol.
Society and its view on stretch marks
We grow up with a very specific idea of the body, we see it on magazines, television, we see it everywhere. But with this generation we start to evolve. It’s not always easy to show it on social media for example because there are always people who are bored in their daily life to comment about other people’s life and body. “I think society is getting better and better because of social media. A lot of people are showing everything about themselves so people see it more like a normal thing to have. Some people tend to judge them for being too ‘fat’ when it’s not even related’’ Carol added.
Influencers promote a lot of bodycare products to remove stretch marks, but not only them; society always had this mindset that if you have stretch marks that you should try to do everything to remove them. “I see how there are a lot of creams to remove them so the society encourages us to get rid of it to look like the perfect beauty standard that they love to impose on us and it gives pressure to most people to look like this when these little marks can be beautiful”, says Zoria.
Stretch marks on the body
Women are the most impacted by this because society would try to find every little thing to tell them how they should look like, how their bodies should be. “When it comes to women’s bodies they are finding everything that needs to be changed. I think society has a long way to go”, says Kasia.
We often hear some people who want to remove it or some people who ask you if you want to remove it. If people want to remove it and if they think they will feel better in their bodies without it it’s absolutely their choice. We are no one to tell them to not do it but also nobody should tell someone to remove it. I asked them, if they have the opportunity to remove it, what would they decide to do? Carol said “ No, of course everyone want a perfect skin or a perfect face but we will a look the same so i think it’s personal to everyone”
Zoria said “ I wouldn’t remove them even if I have the opportunity. That’s part of me like my hair, my arms.. and it will be weird to take them away. It’s my body history, who has lived, who expressed a lot. My body is not the body of a baby who was just born. I’m proud of my story and some of these marks are due to my pregnancies so they are my children. I will keep them and I will die with them”. We are humans, we have flaws, we shouldn’t look like everyone else there is no purpose to look like each other, Kasia said “ Everyone has cellulite and stretch marks, it’s totally normal. I wouldn’t remove them”.
