I think it’s time for some classic Emma June wisdom.

The weather is heating up, right?

We’re starting to sweat? We’re starting to realize that wearing sunscreen is a necessity?

That means it’s nearly time for…

Summer attire. Swimsuits. Shorts. Tank tops. The works. 

I feel like I talk about the whole swimsuit-season thing a lot, and here’s why: I think it’s traumatic for a lot of people. It doesn’t matter your gender, your age, your body type, your location, whatever, I think that conceptually a lot of folks struggle with swimsuits.

I know for me growing up, the yearly assessment of “does this suit fit” and “will I need to buy some new suits for the summer” was something I dreaded.

And then, when inevitably I would need a new suit (bum got bigger, boobs got bigger, sense of style changed drastically, you get it), the actual FINDING of one was traumatic, too. 

Picture it: you’re in a Target dressing room with a bunch of swimsuit options you grabbed off the racks, and none of them will work.

This one doesn’t have enough support.

Your bum hangs out of this one.

The leg holes aren’t big enough on this one, so not only does it make you look stumpy, but it’s also incredibly uncomfortable.

And then, as you leave the dressing room, you have to hang all of the suits that won’t work on the Reject Rack. The store associate pretends not to notice. 

We’ve all lived it. It’s awful. 

These days, I’m more of an order-a-suit-online-and-send-it-back-with-dignity kind of gal. I have very specific parameters that I’m comfortable with, and I prefer to test the waters in my apartment with the shades drawn. 

I’ve thought a lot about swimsuits and why there’s so much media that circulates during swimsuit season that attempts to bolster people, especially women, into loving their bodies. 

I think, first and foremost, that the issue a lot of people have with wearing swimsuits is the vulnerability of it all. Everyone has body insecurities. If you have a body, which, I’m assuming all of you do, then you have body insecurities. 

Swimsuits don’t really let us hide those insecurities. 

They’re just out there. Open to the air. 

Let’s take me and my insecurity about my bottom half as an example.

The commitment to having cellulite, stretch marks and a wide expanse of pale thigh just OUT AND ABOUT has been terrifying to me for years.

(My thoughts on this matter have shifted somewhat; God forbid anyone discovers that I have thighs, right? That might actually BE the end of the world.) 

But be that as it may, it’s hard to just have your insecurities out there for the world to see. 

And sometimes, people and the media around us don’t make it easier.

Here’s something that has always pissed me off: people giving backhanded compliments. 

“I love your confidence! It’s so brave of you to wear a bikini, I could never do that.”

Look, I’m going to be real with you. It is not “brave” to wear a swimsuit at the beach or the pool. That’s what you wear. It’s just what you do. No one thinks it’s “brave” if someone carries an umbrella in the rain.

No one says, “Wow, I wish I had YOUR confidence!” when it’s the middle of winter and someone walks by wearing a parka. 

Swimsuits shouldn’t be any different, and all I’m going to say on this is that if someone throws a backhanded compliment like this to you this summer, just remember that it’s reflective of their own body insecurities. 

And a blanket rule for this sort of thing is that if it SOUNDS like a backhanded compliment, it probably is. So just prepare for it and prepare to let it go when it inevitably happens.

(And that concludes my tangent about backhanded compliments because MAN, are THOSE annoying.)

So now that I’ve beat the dead horse with swimsuits, let’s talk a little about shorts. 

Shorts are another touchy subject for me. I, as I commonly like to describe myself, am bottom-heavy. Some people might even say pear-shaped, but I fall into the camp of hating comparing body types, skin colors, etc. to food. As someone who considers herself a writer (barely), I think it’s a little lazy, cliched and annoying. 

Whew, I digress. Again.

Anyway, sizing-wise, I’m plus-sized on the bottom, but smaller on the top. 

The bottom half, as I have mentioned umpteen times already, is a definite insecurity of mine.

“Stop the presses! A young woman is insecure about her butt and thighs! She has cellulite! This is unprecedented! Extra, extra, read all about it!” 

Yeah, it’s hardly groundbreaking. But it does make feeling comfortable in shorts during the summer a pain in, well, the ass. 

On social media, it’s easy to airbrush or smooth your legs. Give me about 10 minutes MAX, with an app like Facetune and I can make my legs look poreless, hairless, cellulite-less and stretch mark-less, lickedy-split. 

But, as we know, that’s not reality. In reality, if you pick a random summer day, I probably have prickly legs that could use a shave. I definitely have scratches and scars and bug bites peppering the pins. And, you guessed it, cellulite, bumps, stretch marks, ingrown hairs, the entire works. 

Here’s what I have concluded: I don’t care.

I really don’t. Last summer, with Covid, I hardly was able to get out and do anything. Sure, I did some hiking, sure, I was able to go to the beach, and sure, I was able to sun the buns in my backyard in my small town, but it was hardly Hot Girl Summer.

I simply cannot be bothered to care about the jiggle, the cellulite, or any of that this summer. I am going to be happy that I can be out and about. I am going to wear shorts because it is HOT and I will be more comfortable in shorts than I will be trying to cover up with long pants. 

I guess that’s the message I’m trying to send here: 

We’re heading into the summer on the heels of a global pandemic. If your body has changed over the last year and a half, who cares? It doesn’t matter. Wear the shorts. Wear the tank top. Wear the swimsuit (and ignore anyone who calls you “brave” for wearing a swimsuit. You deserve to be comfortable in your own skin and take up space). 

You have a body, and it deserves to be comfortable and feel cute, no matter the season. Megan Thee Stallion would want it that way.