Selena Gomez’s Latest Instagram Is a Pretty Clear Statement About All That Bikini Coverage

On Monday, you couldn’t go anywhere on the Internet without seeing photos of Selena Gomez in a bikini on a yacht off the coast of Sydney, Australia with headlines claiming she was “showing off” and “proudly displaying” her kidney transplant surgery scar for the first time.

The media’s intense focus on her body was strange because, as Deanna Pai wrote for Glamour, “By declaring that Gomez is proudly and bravely and happily sharing her scar—which is definitely a presumption on the part of anyone who is not her—we’re pinning our ideals and hopes onto her. It’s suggesting that scars are better kept under wraps, and she’s a superhero for bucking that rule and boldly being seen in public.”

Today, though, Selena herself posted a video montage on Instagram of her day in the sun. In the clip, which is set to the perfectly carefree “Dreams Tonite” by Alvvays, Selena and her friends bask in the sun, recreate that iconic Titanic scene on the front of the boat, and enjoy each other’s company.

But most telling is Gomez’s caption, in which she references The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf’s seminal feminist text from 1990, and has a pretty pointed message for everyone scrutinizing her body. “The beauty myth – an obsession with physical perfection that traps modern woman in an endless cycle of hopelessness, self consciousness, and self-hatred as she tries to fulfill society’s impossible definition of flawless beauty. I chose to take care of myself because I want to, not to prove anything to anyone,” Selena wrote. “Wind in her sails,” she added, presumably referring to the tagline of the women-focused 2018 Colour Conference put on by her church, Hillsong.

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Since receiving a kidney transplant from best friend Francia Raísa, Selena has spoken about slowly but surely re-learning to love and take care of her body while recovering from the surgery. “I just kept thinking about how much my body is my own,” the 25-year-old told Billboard last November.”[After the surgery] I had this sense of gratitude for myself. I don’t think I’ve ever just stopped and been like, ‘I’m actually grateful for who I am.'”

The singer-actress-producer-designer added that although it took her some time, she eventually became comfortable with her scars from both the kidney transplant and the emergency post-op surgery she underwent to take care of some complications. “I didn’t [feel comfortable with my scars at first], but I do now. It was really hard in the beginning. I remember looking at myself in the mirror completely naked and thinking about all the things that I used to b*tch about and just asking, ‘Why?'” Selena said last November. “I had someone in my life for a very long time who pointed out all the things that I didn’t feel great about with myself. When I look at my body now, I just see life. There are a million things I can do—lasers and creams and all that stuff—but I’m OK with it.”