Most people, especially influencers and models, use their social media profiles to showcase only the best about themselves. However, one model decided to use her Instagram account for an entirely different purpose. Rather than posts of perfection, her snaps show off her body’s “flaws.”
Karina Irby, an Australian model and swimwear designer, has garnered attention as a body positivity activist who isn’t afraid to post photos without retouching them. For Karina, it’s all about leading by example, and she wants young women to embrace their bodies as they are. So, that’s what she does. That means dropping the filters and Photoshop and showing her natural body with its cellulite and eczema scars.
After deciding to keep it real in 2018, Karina stopped retouching her photos when she was 28 years old, according to ThoughtNova. While ditching Photoshop and filters is not out of the norm for most of us, that’s a big deal when you’re a model. Karina explained what was behind her decision to not only embrace but show off her true self, “flaws” included, and we can all learn something from her.
“I like to post content online of what I want to see more of on social media,” Karina wrote on Instagram as she opened up about why it’s so important for women to be unafraid to show off their true, raw, and authentic selves, Yahoo! News reported. The post, like so many others by Karina, shows the model posing naturally in a swimsuit compared to her body being retouched to remove cellulite and smoothen the skin.
“I’m not doing this for attention or likes,” Karina continued. “I’m doing this because for my entire teens/early 20s, I was brainwashed into thinking that this was beautiful and that I needed to look this way to be liked by boys, be popular, wear nice clothes etc. I WISH I could have seen someone flaunt their natural ‘flaws,’ just to show me that they aren’t flaws at all.”
So often, women are encouraged to hide their imperfections, whether that be stomach rolls, cellulite, loose skin, body hair, scars, and even natural occurrences like bloating. However, Karina has chosen to inspire women to stop viewing such things as “flaws” and, instead, embrace them. After all, they are normal and natural, and Karina makes that clear with her powerful posts that prove even models aren’t “perfect.” Rather, it’s all an illusion created by editing.
Wanting to drive that point home, Karina exposes how much editing it takes to look “Instagram-Ready.” And, in addition to Photoshop and filters, she shows just how much simple posing can alter a woman’s appearance. “So there’s my 2-second transformation from posing to relaxing with a bloated tummy and wearing my [swimsuit] bottoms differently,” Karina wrote in one such post featuring two images for comparison.
Karina, who loves posting beachside snaps, admits that it’s “human nature” to only post photos in which “you think you look your best,” and says, “there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that,” but warns, “it’s important to never judge yourself” by others’ online personas “because one static image can not represent someone’s beauty, health, heart or income.” Indeed, there is more to all of us than our physical appearance.
Thankfully, Karina brings her over one million followers back to reality, reminding them that no matter how beautiful you are or how much you work out, you’ll still have some perceived “flaws,” but those imperfections are not your enemy nor are they something to be ashamed of. They are simply real life, and Karina speaks from experience after eczema left her legs scarred. She doesn’t want other young women to hide away due to their natural appearance like she once did. Sadly, she’s experienced exactly why most women aren’t so open about their “imperfections.”
Although Karina says she loves social media and putting herself out there in hopes of helping others, it comes with its fair share of hate-filled comments. Sadly, even with the push for body positivity, many trolls still enjoy body shaming women, even healthy-looking ones like Karina. She has experienced a lot of negative comments, but she says she does not care anymore. Instead, she wants people to be happier and not obsessed with their looks. So, she says she will continue posting, even though she sometimes needs a “breather” away from social media.
It’s no wonder Karina Irby has garnered over a million followers while sharing unretouched photos of her body and showing off her cellulite and eczema scars. Her posts are a reminder to embrace the skin you’re in rather than getting stuck comparing your body to others you see on Instagram. We need more people like Karina, who understand that things like skin rolls and bloating are normal human occurrences and that women are more than what you see in an image online.
