July 2022
According to a new campaign in Spain, there is no body that is not suitable for the beach.
"Summer is ours too," the country's equality ministry tweeted on Wednesday, along with a picture of five women of various ages and builds, including one who appeared to have a mastectomy scar.
Women should enjoy the season "however, wherever and with whomever," without "clichés" or "aesthetic violence," it said.
The campaign was launched in partnership with the Instituto de las Mujeres, a Spanish human rights group that works with the ministry.
It arose in response to fat phobia, hatred and questioning of non-normative bodies, particularly women's bodies, which are more pronounced during the summer, the group said in a news release on Thursday.
When women are told that their bodies are not valid unless they are thin and young, if they have stretch marks, cellulite or scars, our self-esteem is destroyed and it has a direct impact on our health, our quality of life and on the possibility of all to be and exercise our rights, said the group's director, Antonia Morillas, in the press release.
Fat women face harassment in the streets and on the beaches, they face censorship and stigmatization, they face great difficulties in accessing employment and/or other rights, she added.