Your bodies, your stories

What have we learned from your body stories, and why is it important to hear them?

Two significant statistics inspired Rosie to start Deakin & Blue. One is that, over a decade, half a million women gave up swimming because of body image concerns. The other is that one in two mums don’t take their children swimming because of how they feel they look in a swimsuit.

We aimed to help turn the tide on these stats. A big part of that was understanding why so many women struggle with their body image – and what helps them overcome those difficulties to feel better about themselves.

So, we asked you to share your Body Stories. And boy, did you share. Since Amy told her Body Story in April 2020, we’ve published almost 60 beautiful, candid, difficult, joyful, brilliant stories.

We learned when body image issues start

From those Body Stories, we spotted a pattern. Most teenage girls experience self-consciousness, and that’s when all those subliminal – and blatant – messages about body size, diets and appearance kick in, adding up to lifelong body image issues.

“I have a really clear memory of not being happy with how I looked when I was about 13 or 14,” Amy told us in that first Body Story.

We talked to women of different ages and from different racial and cultural backgrounds and found that the story was the same – those teen years are critical for developing self-image.

“When I was a teenager, I remember being told I was overweight. I remember being told I was short, too,” Adya told us in her Body Story. “Somehow, there was an expectation that I could be tall or taller, or smaller and skinnier.”

We learned that it’s possible to protect children and teens from body image issues

But not every woman who told her Body Story has poor body image. The key lies in how they grew up. For some, it’s down to having parents who not only explicitly told them they were beautiful and brilliant but also demonstrated body confidence themselves.

In her Body Story, Ellie tells us how her mother gave her body confidence. “I think that the way I can most accurately describe what my mother gave me is like that spell from Harry Potter that his mum weaves over him that protects him from Voldemort,” she says.

“The positivity around my body comes from my mother,” says Abigail in her Body Story. “My mum demonstrated body confidence growing up; she taught me that you should appreciate your looks, but at the same time, it's not what's on the outside that matters, it’s what’s on the inside. She taught me to say, ‘I am beautiful’ every single day.”

For Mickey, it was a carefree childhood that allowed her to explore the world physically that protected her self-confidence.

“I've always sought out some sort of physical activity,” says Mickey. “My mum used to be outside all the time, which meant that I had the privilege of being able to make dens, climb trees, fall out of trees, get stuck up trees, need rescuing, and come home absolutely filthy.”

We learned how physical activity is key to positive self-image

Mickey describes something that all our Body Stories participants share – that physical activity helped repair and rebuild their self-confidence - and that contributed to better body happiness.

For many of us, swimming, especially outdoors, surfing and paddling have been life-changing. This is mainly because when we get into cold water, we do something amazingly challenging, brave and life-affirming.

“Since joining the Bluetits, I’ve realised that people aren’t thinking ‘she’s too fat for that cossie’ - they’re thinking ‘wow, she’s brave. I wish I could join her’,” says Wendy.

“My swimsuit is my super cape. It’s bizarre: it’s the most stripped bare I could be (in a legal way!) in public and you can see everything when I’m in my swimsuit. But as soon as I put it on and get in the water, I am reminded of how great my body is. I focus on breathing; I focus on what my body is capable of,” says Ella.

“Three months after finishing chemotherapy, I went on a surf trip. Looking back, I think, ‘What was I doing?’” says Ameera. “I was no good at surfing, but I didn’t care. It was beyond enough to think, ‘Wow, I’m in the sea. I’m meeting people. I’m getting outside. I’m alive.”

We learned how community is important, too

A powerful factor in outdoor water-based activities is the communities that grow around them. We’ve been lucky enough to work with a few communities, including The Bluetits, Mental Health Swims, The Gower Women’s Surf Society and Open Minds Active.

We’ve also heard from women within smaller, local communities. Across all these stories, we’ve learned how communities support each other, buoy each other up, keep each other safe, and spread joy and happiness.

“We swam throughout the [first] winter, even when the air temperature read -3˚C, and the water was at 0˚,” says Vix about her winter swimming group. “We talked about how it made us feel… How it was helping us physically and mentally. It became a bit of a lifeline for some. A truly special group.”

“It’s important to make exercise fun. When you're exercising in a group of people… you get to meet your friends, and mentally, your head feels much clearer. You feel better in yourself, physically and mentally. It’s almost like your body's calling for it,” says Minreet.

“My first swim was with [The Orcas],” says Becca. “Up until that point, I had felt completely on my own with my diagnosis, and then having somebody else conquering their own thing right next to me made me feel a bit less alone.”

We learned how water levels our differences

Through hearing from women with disabilities, physical differences, mental illness, chronic illness and in recovery from illness, we learned how levelling water can be. And, because it’s levelling, it helps women who struggle with their health or appearance rebuild their self-confidence.

“I began to appreciate far more the beauty of nature and the beauty of the human body and how much it can actually adapt,” Mary told us in her Body Story. “Living without a limb is really difficult, but in the water, you're not disadvantaged at all.”

“Wild swimming is such a personal experience and everybody is there on their own mission,” says Ali. “I noticed that passers-by would stop and talk to us, ask how cold it was and so on – at first I was sure they wouldn’t be able to see anything else about me, but they didn’t see me as a woman with one boob, they saw me as a woman that was getting into cold water, doing this amazing thing.”

We learned that hearing Body Stories matters

Our individual experiences of life are so varied and nuanced. Our Body Stories explore love, loss, health, ill health, discrimination, celebration and amazing achievements.

And yet, despite these disparate and varied life experiences, so many of our Body Stories follow a similar pattern. Our body confidence drops in our younger years, is compounded by life’s challenges, and then we rediscover our physical selves and learn how to celebrate our bodies for what they can do.

We then share this newly discovered body confidence, spreading the joy to others. Some women become coaches, write books, and set up supportive organisations. Others pass on that joy to their friends and family, including their children.

Sharing our Body Stories is one other way that we have spread this joy. Every week, we got emails from women saying that Deakin & Blue had inspired them to wear the swimsuit.

So, whenever you’re feeling wobbly about your body, remember what it can do. Browse through our beautiful, inspiring, uplifting Body Stories and hear about the journey other women like you have been on. Body Stories will stay on our website until September 2025.

With huge thanks to all our Body Stories participants:

Maggy, Sima, Kiki, Jayne, Amy, Lisa, Allie, Terri, Jude, Rebecca, Laura, Cassie, Sarah, Molly, Becca, Nancy, Pippa, Farrah, Lindsey, Kerry, Ebbi, Helen, Mickey, Tirion, Rachel, Adya, Abigail, Pritpal, Minreet, Kelly, Vix, Hannah, Lindsay, Ellie, Rosie, Mary, Rowan, Lucy, Lynette, Claudine, Emma, Ella, George, Charlotte, Emma, Laura, Natasha, Kelly, Fran, Wendy, Tracie, Nic, Lisa, Sophie, Ali, Sian, Rachel, Rabiah, Sophie, Deb, Ameera, Naomi, Charlotte, Kath, Melanie and Amy.