This Instagram post exposes the big problem with how women see themselves

Life


This Instagram post exposes the big problem with how women see themselves

By Sarah Biddlecombe

Updated 6 years ago

Anyone with an Instagram account will be well-versed in the smoke and mirrors illusion that accompanies the majority of images in their feed.

From the seemingly endless stream of #sorrynotsorry holiday snaps, to the ubiquitous selfies and pictures of food, it can seem like everyone except ourselves is living their best lives, all of the time.

But in amongst the humble brags and carefully curated images there are a handful of Instagram users who are keen to highlight a more “real” version of events.

One of these is blogger Louise Aubery, who recently took to her feed to remind her 50,000 followers “not to be so harsh” on themselves when it comes to criticising their appearance, particularly in comparison to the filtered images they see on Instagram every day.

Sharing two identical images of herself pasted side by side, the Parisian science student used big white arrows to point out the differences between “what you see” and “what I see”.

Aubery pointed to the “big smile”, “long legs” and “strong butt” that we would see when we first glanced at the image, and compared them to how she sees them – namely as a “big nose”, “back fact” and “cellulite”.

“I am here to always be completely honest, because I feel social media need more of it,” she wrote in the caption to the post.

“Whenever I see a picture of me, the first things which catches my eyes are my FLAWS,” she added. “I always see what is wrong.”

The blogger went on to list the negative things she thinks about herself when seeing photos of her body, including "my nose appears too big”, “my legs look too white,” or – the thought that we’ve all had about ourselves at least once – “I look terrible”.

Aubery goes on to point out that she never thinks such negative things when seeing images of her fellow bloggers or friends on her feed, and instead focuses on their assets.

“So why not do the same with yourself?” she asked.

The image has garnered over 6,500 likes so far, with many of Aubery’s followers taking to the comments section to praise her for her honesty.

“I couldn't agree with your caption anymore, I feel the exact same way all the time… You’re beautiful!” wrote one user.

“No one is perfect,” added another. “We're all bent and cracked, some of us are even broken, but that just makes people stronger.”

And Aubery herself had an important message to share about self-acceptance.

“We really need to learn not to be so harsh on ourselves,” she wrote.

“It is not healthy. I am going to work on it, and I hope you will too.”

Bravo.

Images: Instagram

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