I'M BRINGING (TAKING) SEXY BACK

Petra Collins

I know it may come as a surprise to some, but I spent quite a large proportion of my childhood at my mother's breast; whether I was sucking or snuggling, there was a 12/10 chance that that's where I'd be. Little did I know that I, as little as I was, had a front row seat at one of the world's sexiest sites - that I spent everyday at the eighth wonder of the world. Watching her blouse unbutton did thrill me, there's no denying that, but it was more because I knew food was coming - not because of a lustful leak in my diaper. Now, aged 15 I sit with set of my own and wonder, what is so sexy about my chest chums? 

Whether you choose to believe it or not, most of what we know is fed to us by mass media - television, music, magazines, newspapers, 'news'papers (The Sun) and everything in between. So it comes as no surprise that 'sexy' as we know it sits proudly between the lines (and pixels) in the world of media - a mutli-gazilllion dollar empire built solely to tend to the 'wants' of heterosexual men. Don't believe me? Have a look at the third page of The Sun, the front page of 'heat' magazine' or even your internet history - which sites did you accidentally-on-purpose 'stumble' upon when nobody was home? Correct me if I'm wrong (I'm not) but I'm pretty sure that none of us were born '#teamboobs' or '#teamass' or that the big-breasted, slim-bellied, teeny tiny tanned and topless 'babes' we're so used to seeing actually exist. So whereabouts on the herstory timeline did it all go wrong? It seems like only yesterday I was frolicking across the beach in my undies without a care in the world and now I spend at least 3 minutes a day wondering whether I should be a little more perky or petite or plump or, well, perfect. 

We, mankind, have made yet another mega faux-pas. Somewhere along the line the female body went from sensual master piece to a mere sexual object, and there's nothing sexy about that. The sexualisation of the woman has limited her to nothing more than her appearance, when she is so much more than her boobs or her bottom. She is forced to succumb to the tucked in, pushed up, round-bottomed ideal and made to feel inadequate if (when) she doesn't achieve it. We've spent our lives growing, only to be shrunken by countless rules and restrictions - we shouldn't show too much leg, too much breast, too much arm, too much of ourselves and it's getting too much.

What I'm not saying is that 'sexy' shouldn't exist or that using the word 'sexy' is wrong. What I am saying is that sexiness isn't limited to what we see in the media, and that it can exist in whoever you see in the mirror. If you are sexy it's because you say that you're sexy - not the idiot who yelled it from the passenger side of their best friend's ride, or the 'article' in the latest issue of Cosmopolitan and definitely not the 'artist' in the 4 minute music video that's 3.59 booty close-ups.

So if you're sexy and you know it...

Posted by Melissa