Finally, our summer issue is here! Every year, its colourful pages are filled with stylish swimsuits, warm-weather fashion inspo and ideas for summer outings. What you’ll never find, however, are tips for getting a “bikini body.” We will not tell you how to lose 10 pounds before hitting the beach or how to flatten your stomach, lengthen your legs, smooth your cellulite or reduce your waistline. Our editorial team—made up of women who are all different and all beautiful—want to encourage you to love your body and not feel the need to shrink it, shape it or change it. This compassion and respect is all the more important now, at a time when women’s bodies are being politicized in an attempt to control, regulate and appropriate them—something that’s very worrying.

In the United States, the Supreme Court is on the verge of overturning the Roe v. Wade verdict that legalized abortion across the country. This decision would allow states to ban abortions regardless of the situation and regardless of the reason, which would mean that there would be no more abortions in safe conditions where women’s health and lives are truly protected. (Stats suggest that abortion rates don’t go down at all when it’s illegal.) This will cost the lives of many people with a uterus in a country that offers neither maternity leave for mothers nor universal health care for children and where a hospital delivery costs between $17,000 and $50,000. And they call themselves pro life…

We think we are protected here in Canada, but let us not be deceived—Canadian women are not immune to attacks on their rights. In the past 10 years, the Conservatives have been the only major federal party to introduce private members’ bills or motions that seek to restrict abortion, and last year, a majority of the Conservative caucus voted in favour of curtailing abortion access. The anti-choice movement is present, even if it is more subtle on this side of the border, and we must always remain vigilant.

So we decided to give some love to our bodies in this issue—to pamper them and let them be warmed by the sun’s summer rays without worrying about changing them to fit into an impossible mould. It’s the least we can do right now.

The summer 2022 issue of ELLE Canada is available on newsstands now, in print and digitally.

Read more:
Charlotte Cardin Rises to the Top
Charlotte Cardin Looks Effortlessly Youthful on the Cover of ELLE Canada’s Summer 2022 Issue
A Note From Our Publisher, Sophie Banford