Spring Break is around the corner, and most students will head to the beach and soak up some vitamin D while simultaneously consuming nine beers in five minutes.
But according to a video circulating the Internet titled “The Evolution of the Swimsuit,” girls should be covering up and shying away from the water. God forbid they reveal their navels.
One of my Facebook friends recently posted this video. In the usual “I’ll do anything to procrastinate” mood, I watched as the speaker, Jessica Rey, managed to tear down women in bikinis for 10 minutes.
I’m appalled. Her basic stance was that only sluts who want men to view them as objects wear bikinis. I wish I were exaggerating.
The first thing that went through my mind was all the girls who would watch this pretentious woman behind a microphone and would let her make them feel guilty for showing a belly button on a hot summer day by the pool.
No one should feel guilty for wearing a swimsuit. No one should feel guilty for feeling confident in a swimsuit. Many women struggle with self-confidence as it is.
According to the Dove Self-Esteem Fund, 62 percent of all women feel insecure about themselves. We are dealing with a  self-esteem crisis here in America. The last thing women need is someone telling them they lack “tact or decency” when they wear a bikini, as Rey said.
These women deserve applause for “stripping down” into their “36 square inches of fabric,” not a lecture on how their midriffs force men to ignore their intellectual capabilities as human beings.
That argument sums up everything wrong with this video.
It’s not about men. You can’t hold women accountable for the thoughts of men. That falls under the same slippery slope as thinking women who wear short skirts are asking to be raped.
People need to stop portraying women as dangerously sexual creatures who should hide their bodies for the sake of keeping men’s thoughts pure. It only adds to the problem.
If a man looks at you with that look we know so well, walk over and slap him for his lack of tact and decency. If anyone tries to slut shame women who choose to wear a bikini, I encourage these shamers to look at their own attitudes before assessing the attitudes and motives of others.
No one likes a self-righteous martyr who demonizes modern     commonalities. 
And yes, bikinis are modern and common, but that doesn’t make them a cry for attention. It’s not the concept of one-piece swimsuits that I reject, but the belief that if you wear a two-piece, you are asking to be treated like an object.
Media and magazines use bikinis to exemplify sexuality in women, but 12-year-old girls are just trying to fit in. Twenty-year-old women are trying to accept their bodies and 40-year-old mothers are trying to gain back the confidence of youth.
Seriously, can a girl catch a break? Wear a bikini and fall victim to slut shaming. Wear a one-piece and you might be called a prude.
Honestly, who cares? Wear what you want and look great                        doing it.
I’m not only referring to the size two girls out there. If you rock a heavier frame, let it loose in the  fashion that works for you.
There is a difference between being tastefully exposed and scandalous. Unfortunately, opinions like the one shared in this video only acknowledge the scandalous side of things.
The video ends by explaining how modesty is stripped from our culture. But I don’t think modesty should be measured in the clothes you wear, but in the attitude you wear them with.
Annette Sommers is a 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from Dublin, Calif.