When I was 13 my mother took me to the doctor, worried about the red lines all over my breasts and thighs. 'Those are stretch marks,' he explained, patiently. Poor guy. And god love the NHS. He didn't laugh once. I would have.
I'll admit, I had been somewhat alarmed to discover that my previously soft, white body now resembled a crooked swiss roll covered in red biro. And less-than-thrilled to find out that, although the red barcoding would eventually turn to silver, these uninvited prints were here to stay. That was it – my thighs would forever read like an OS map of Keswick and my tits would look like zebras.
I wish #ThighReading had been there to reassure me. The Twitter hashtag has been rolling on like a sausage down a hill for over a week – women sharing photos of the stretchmarks, scars, cellulite and blemishes on their thighs that we are all-too-often told to hide.
#ThighReading is just a celebration of normalcy,' said @princesslabia who started the trend with a post of her tattooed and stretchmarked thighs. It's about saying we're not freaks... we all have imperfections and that we're not ashamed of these things.'
Sadly, most of the thighs on there are white (it would be nice to see a Body Positive trend that garnered more traction with the BME community) and I'm yet to spot any photos of the Wookiee patches of thick dark hair that seem to appear on the back of your thighs once you hit your late twenties. But hey, it's a good start.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.