Are you beach body ready? Essay

Are you beach body ready? It is the glorious question we should all be asking ourselves, now that it is May and the endless predictable cycle of bikini body-related cynicism has been launched. It may not make much sense, but every woman who has noticed the massive billboards decorating the sides of our public transport system this week knows what the question is really asking.
Is your body, the unbelievably detailed, dazzling physical vessel that is currently at a level of slimness labeled attractive according to western concepts of female beauty such that it can be unveiled to fellow human beings, especially the male specimens, on the beach without causing them unnecessary suffering?
But that doesn't seem so billboard suitable does it? Protein World's new slogan is much shorter and straightforward, they want you to look at the picture of a woman in a bikini and feel bad about yourself, then go online and purchase their collection of weight loss powders and capsules.
How shocking, another company thinks they know the definition of 'fitness' and 'beauty', and this time their way of expressing themselves is no less animalistic than the others.
This disgrace is covered in yellow, the color of happiness. 75% of pencils in our schools are painted yellow, but we are not children. The virtual woman slaughter will not be neglected just because the devil of sexism is dressed in yellow. Protein World might think they are providing a bright light at the end of the tunnel, a life of gold and jewels as a reward for selling our bodies, but do they not realize that such displays of sexism are the burden on our development as a human race.
I am a mother of 3, how am I supposed to expect the day that my daughter tells me "Mommy, look at me. I'm beautiful." If every media outlet is asking us if we are beach body ready, she is 5 and I'm pretty sure she is already insecure.
I find such an ad hard to believe having just come back from Bali where there are virtually no ads to be seen except for the odd salesman walking around promoting a local boxing match. Upon my return, descending into the halls of sexism and shaming known as the London Underground, I realized how my vision was occupied without my consent with billboards and messages that are trying to sell me stuff (as a woman, its usually telling me how to alter my body to satisfy the social norms). The problem isn't only the content but the amount of times I have been told to buy the new slimming tea is unholy. The victims of such a hate crime are endless, Independent newspaper claims that by age 12, a girl has seen 77,500 ads and trust me if they are all telling her that she needs a cream for her cellulite then she is definitely not going to grow up to be the Oprah Winfrey of her class.