085 - Stretch Marks

"OH EM GEE! Did she just say stretch marks?!!??!"

Yes. Yes I did. I've talked about fat asses this week because I've grown to love mine and I thought everyone else should too. One thing I've really really hated for a long time and have never talked about before is stretch marks. My stretch marks.

Deep breath.

I have stretch marks on my tummy, my hips, the backs of my thighs, the backs of my knees (yeah OK, what?), my boobs, and on my upper arms. The only ones that really really make me stress are the ones on my arms, because they're the ones people can see in the Summer when I wear sleeveless tops.

I'm one of the people who always associated stretch marks with old age, bad skin and pregnancy, so I've not even admitted to having them until now. Not to the outside world, anyway. It was always just so embarrassing!

So, I was watching that How To Look Good Naked crap and for once I didn't want to slap that Gok fella. (Let's face it, he's really irritating and extremely hypocritical. He was a fat kid who lost a ton of weight to look good, can't even look at his old photos, and he's making a living off of telling women they don't need to change how they look and should be happy with their bodies.) He said how 78% of women have stretch marks.

78% of women have stretch marks.

That's almost 4 of every 5 women look like a kid drew train tracks over their skin. I wonder how far a train would go if you laid all the women together...

OK, mind wandering now...

Only one member of Girls Aloud DOESN'T have stretch marks. Hah! That's a satisfying thought!

Not only that, but it really made me realise how these women get their stretch marks. Yes, some just have skin prone to it, some have had kids, but quite a lot come from weight loss or gain, which almost every woman goes through, and even puberty. Yep, that's when mine started showing up for sure. Just getting taller and growing can give teenage girls stretch marks.

Amazing, isn't it? So many women have them that saying "I hate my stretch marks" is like saying "I hate having dry skin" or "I hate having dark hair".

Look around you, girls. The woman right next to you probably has them too.

For the guys that have them, I wouldn't know where to start to talk about it. Like I said before, most people associate stretch marks with being pregnant, so that in itself is potentially demeaning for a guy. There is the thought that guys are less sensitive to body issues and lacking self-confidence, which I think is total bull. Guys just don't complain as much as we do. That doesn't mean they don't get self-conscious.

Guys get stretch marks from growing and weight fluctuation just like women do. And if women have a hard enough time dealing with them, imagine what it's like for the men.

But, men + stretch marks = taboo.

Or so it seems.

Hey, why don't we just call them Growth Scars instead?

And to all the women without stretch marks.... just you wait.... just.... wait...