Spain’s equality ministry has launched a summer body positivity campaign, in an effort to encourage more women to go to the beach no matter what their body looks like.
The government’s campaign poster features five diverse women of different shapes and sizes– including a topless woman after a mastectomy– with a slogan above the image reading, “Summer is ours too.”
The ad also says, “Today we toast a summer for all, without stereotypes and aesthetic violence against our bodies.”
The institute behind this campaign hopes this initiative will ease any worries women may hold about going to the beach because of the way their body looks.
All bodies have validity and Social Services Minister Ione Belarra says, “All bodies are beach bodies.”
The government initiative has received much praise but has also garnered some criticism from those who wonder if men should have also been included in this campaign or ask why women would need government “permission” to go to the beach.
Left-wing leader, Cayo Lara, called the campaign the height of absurdity and said it was trying to, “create a problem where it doesn’t exist.”
To this type of backlash from male critics, people like Junior equality minister, Angela Rodriguez Pam, reminded them that women have never needed government permission to go to the beach, and that they are missing the point behind the campaign’s messaging.
“Of course we go [to the beach]. But we’re assuming we’ll attract hatred for showing a body that isn’t standard,” she wrote on Twitter.
Women’s Institute head, Antonia Morillas, also advocates for the campaign’s body positive messaging, saying physical expectations affect not only women’s self-esteem, but deny them their rights.
The campaign’s essence is a reminder that women should be able to enjoy warm weather, however, wherever and with whomever they wish. Every body is beach ready.