Submitted by Zoe

I just wanted to share something that happened to me the other day; I was in PE class (the British equivalent of gym, I think) and the teacher/coach was telling us how to use all the gym and weight-lifting equipment. She was talking about all the benefits of each exercise… Except she never once mentioned any health benefits, she only focused on weight loss and ‘getting the perfect body’, even using underweight celebrities as examples. To be honest, I found it sickening that she believed that the only way that we, as teenage girls, would be motivated and interested in doing exercise was if she told us to lose weight and be like the 'perfect’ girls that are portrayed in the media. It made me so mad, because although she maybe didn’t mean harm by the comments and said them lightly, girls (and guys for that matter) should NEVER be made to feel they have to change for others. If people want to lose weight, they should do it for themselves and to benefit themselves, not because someone made them feel like they should, or because they think they’re not good enough. And I know everyone’s probably tired of hearing this, but everyone is beautiful, no matter what shape or size you are. Don ’t let people tell you what to do with YOUR body, and don’t you dare let them convince you that you’re not good enough.