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Women Are Showing Off Their Stretch Marks With The Hashtag #LoveYourLines

We've all got them, so let's flaunt them.

Julie Gerstein
by Julie Gerstein

BuzzFeed Staff

Here's a truth: You can be any size and have stretch marks.

Don't believe us? Just ask Chrissy Teigen, who recently posted a pic of her "stretchies" on Instagram.

You can get 'em at any age: from puberty, through pregnancy, from weight gain or loss.

And here's the thing: Stretch marks are actually cool battle scars.

They're a part of your history.

A part of your journey.

Proof that you did something really monumental.

That you've lived fully.

And there's even a hashtag. The #LoveYourLines Instagram hashtag captures the power of women with stretch marks.

All kinds of beautiful women with stretch marks.

But most importantly it makes these women and their lines visible.

"I like to see my body as a book, the stretch marks tell the story and the scars are the pictures," wrote this Instagram user.

"What I thought would signify ugl[iness], actually signifies beauty and life," reads the caption on this picture. "I earned these marks, and I will always wear them proudly."

Showing — and embracing — your stretch marks is a way of fighting back against a culture that airbrushes away women's imperfections.

That tells women that they must live up to a stick-thin, blemish-free notion of femininity.

A culture that tells us we should strive to be physically perfect instead of perfectly happy.

But actually? Your stretch marks should be worn with pride.

Because, after all, they're a road map of your wisdom and experience.

And besides: