This magazine just banned the term ‘bikini body’

When it comes to bikini bodies, our motto here at HelloGiggles is: To get one, put a bikini on your body. Voila! You’ve got a bikini body. But the phrase is often used differently on women’s magazines — “How to get the ultimate bikini body,” for example. Ugh.

That’s exactly why we’re so thrilled that Women’s Health is making major changes, thanks to feedback based on its reader surveys. Recently, in a letter penned by the publication’s editor-in-chief, Amy Keller Laird, the publication announced that for 2016, they’re no longer using the phrase “bikini body.”

“Any body—every body—is a bikini body,” Laird wrote. “. . . Listen, rocking a bikini does require confidence, but we’d rather focus on the greater benefits of getting a strong-as-hell core: running, surfing, dancing, climbing, being able to carry a 2-year-old up and down the stairs 10 times a day. When one reader said, ‘I hate how women’s magazines emphasize being skinny or wearing bikinis as the reason to be healthy,’ it became so clear: We never want to be that type of women’s magazine.”

The publication is also getting rid of the phrase “drop two sizes” on the grounds that it’s not only promoting an uncool body standard, but is also unhealthy. “Yes, it’s true that many of us are looking to drop a few pounds—surveys and studies prove as much,” Laird wrote. “But two sizes in one month? Not super practical, or even all that healthy. . . Women in 2016 want stories that, as one reader so aptly suggested, ‘focus on wellness and less on unrealistic weight-loss goals.’”

Women’s Health plans on focusing less on weight and more on health. This has been a long-term change, as over the last year, they’ve stopped using words like “shrink” and “diet.” All of these changes come from online readers’ survey feedback, in which many women have requested they stop using such unrealistic and body-negative phrases on their covers.

“Three words that topped your favorites list? Toned. Strong. Sexy,” Laird wrote. “This thrills me, because these epitomize all that Women’s Health is, and what we strive to do: help you become the best version of yourself . . . our goal is always to pump you up, and never to make you feel bad.”

We could not be more thrilled about this change and can only hope other magazines follow in Women’s Health‘s footsteps.

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Image via Women’s Health Mag/Twitter.