My entire life, I felt like I was fighting a losing battle with form-fitting clothing. It didn't matter whether I gained or lost weight — no matter what I did, I looked in the mirror and could only stare at my hips. They protruded out like hips normally do, before sharply coming in and then sticking out again, creating a slight-yet-noticeable bulge that made me feel like I was made out of random body parts à la Frankenstein's monster.
It would take me A DECADE to realize the silhouette of my hips wasn't some freak flaw, but a fairly common phenomenon: hip dips. (You have to appreciate whoever came up with such an adorable name for a body part so many women are self-conscious about.)
Also known as violin hips, it simply means your hips sit higher than most people's. It's the way your pelvic bones are shaped. There's literally nothing you can do about it, short of surgery, which is — uh, extreme, for such a small thing, to say the least.
Luckily, for future insecure preteens, more women are talking about their hip dips — and not to criticize them. Instead, they're proudly posting pictures to show some love for their hips.
Women are taking to Instagram to show off their hip dips.
While many admit it's something that's made them self-conscious in the past, they now know it's completely normal...
... and that there's nothing wrong with the way they look.
It's just the way our bodies are, so why stress about it?
It's not weird or unflattering or something to always hide.
There are over a thousand gorgeous photos under "#hipdips" on Instagram right now.
And there's even more under "#violinhips."
We applaud these women.
It's definitely not always easy to feel good about the way your body looks — especially when you never see your body type represented. Most of my friends had hips that curved perfectly (in my mind, anyway) with their bodies, and I literally never saw any women in ads or movies with the in-and-out hips I felt cursed with. That's why these Instagrammers are so empowering — they prove there's no "right" way for a body to look, and remind us it's OK to love the way we look.
So, let's keep talking about the parts of our body we feel uncomfortable with. You'll be surprised by how many other people feel the same.
