Video Transcription
Garra’s Story: #EveryBODYisDeadly
So my name is Gary Gara Raleigh Mundy. I’m Rodrigo and you and woman from Dubbo, New South Wales. Growing up, I was very blessed to have a strong connection to my culture and my community. Then I moved to Sydney for high school, which was a big transition moving away from my family and community. I think for me, when I moved to Sydney, I was so much surrounded by family and culture that I never really noticed that my body was different until I moved to Sydney. Suddenly, I became part of this very multicultural community, and a lot of my friends were of Asian heritage, Irish, and Italian. Teenage girls, they had naturally skinny bodies that fit European beauty standards, and I noticed that my body wasn’t like that. I really struggled because I just wanted to fit in. I was incredibly self-conscious, and I was always trying to find ways to lose weight and to fit into those smaller sizes.
The fashion at the time was all about crop tops and looking small and cute, and I just wasn’t that girl, so it really impacted me. I became really self-conscious of myself. I would specifically buy clothes that were too small, and I would try and force myself to lose weight, either by not eating or by taking things that would help me flush out the food just to try and get myself as small as possible and to fit these beauty standards. It was occasionally brought up to me that I was losing weight, but most of the time it was just like, “Wow, you look amazing! You’re so thin, you look great,” and it was never “You really need to eat something and look after yourself.” Health was kind of less of a priority than looking good.
What really helped me was getting out of Sydney. I moved to Canberra for my university studies, and I think starting fresh really helped me. I moved in on my own, and so I really went on this journey of trying to find things that were healthy for me to get support. I would often go and visit my sister, who’s eight years older than me. She lived in Wollongong, and I would just go there to clear my head. I also talked to a couple of friends who were dealing with similar issues, and I felt like I could actually talk to them about it. So, I tried to exercise more and learn how to eat healthily, and I think that really helped me on my journey.
Talking to my friends at university and the friends I’ve made since university—because they all come from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds—we all kind of understood that we didn’t fit into European beauty standards. Even within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, we have very different body types. From that, I really began to accept myself. I stopped dying my hair blonde and straightening it every day. I really started to embrace my curves and finding outfits that suited my body type and just learning to really accept me for who I am.
I think I’ve learned from my experience that it’s a journey and that it’s not going to happen overnight. It’s going to be an ongoing thing that you just need to work at every single day. But, you know, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It does get easier, and it’s all about embracing yourself. You’re not going to fit into this perfect box, and you’re not meant to. You’ve just got to be you.
My message to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are going through similar feelings and situations is to really find support in each other and to talk about it. Don’t push it under the rug. We all are facing these issues, and there’s a reason behind it. We’re not meant to fit into the beauty standards that society pushes onto us, and we need to really embrace each other.
Video by The Butterfly Foundation
