Spain launches ‘all bodies are beach bodies’ campaign

In summer months, many will have planned trips abroad or to nearby coastlines. But along with summer can come the pressure to look nothing less than amazing in a swimsuit, resulting in obsessively cutting calories and exercising a lot more than usual.

Pressures to be perfect are deeply engrained into the fabric of modern society, affecting people of all genders, and have only been intensified by the oversaturation of perfectly posed and toned images constantly bombarding us online and in mainstream media.

It only takes a simple Google search of ‘summer body’ to realise how pervasive these narratives are, with 3.19 billion hits offering up suggestions for how to achieve stereotypical body ideals that are – for most – not naturally attainable.

Despite this, Spanish left-wing leader Cayo Lara called the campaign ‘absurd’ saying it was creating a problem that doesn’t exist. Quite controversial, as body dysmorphia affects about 1 in 50 people, and in March of 2022, England’s healthcare service announced that it had been treating record numbers of patients for eating disorders.

Of course, anyone can go to the beach. But whether they feel comfortable in their own skin or able to enjoy things without being judged by others while there – especially when they do not fit modern body ideals – is a different story.

The campaign hopes to eradicate toxic mindsets about how bodies should be – and surely that impact will help, not hurt, the people of Spain who see it.