“The more we strengthen each other, the better we can feel about ourselves, because one size does not fit all.”
Soleil Moon Frye was just 16 when she underwent breast reduction, a movement she remembers in detail in her new Hulu documentary, “Kid ’90”, while describing public scrutiny about her developing body.
The documentary comes at a time when the media and fans are finally reevaluating the way they look, judge and talk about young women, after the release of “Framing Britney Spears” and new press conversations that she and Paris Hilton underwent in your 20s. It is a change in the tide that Frye is thrilled to see it happen.
“I think it is the responsibility of our homes and the media to really try to put what has been wrong for so long in the right direction,” she told TooFab.
“I think the more we share our stories, the more journalists talk about it, the more documentaries are made, the more we can encourage ourselves not to feel so alone and that this is part of the natural process,” she continued. . “Just because a differently developed child wears a sleeveless T-shirt, which another more developed child wears does not mean that we have a right to sexualize him or make him feel embarrassed in any way.”
In the documentary, Frye remembers being nicknamed “Punky Boobster” when she started to develop in her teens. “Wherever I go, people say, ‘You are so grown up, which is another way of saying that your breasts are so big,’ she explained, adding that it was almost an E cup. 13, 14 are breasts and asses and I am 13. I went from this incredible childhood to almost being forced into adulthood. “
On an audio recording, she also heard, “I just want people to see me for what I am. And these past few weeks have been weird. You know, seeing older people and having guys pinch my ass. It’s a difference from when I was small. “
She finally had a breast reduction … with one of the doctors asking for an autograph before getting on the knife.
As someone who was examined and sexualized at a young age, we asked what she knows now and what she would like to know at that time.
“I would just hug the little girl in me and say, ‘It’s going to be okay and you are loved and every step you take is going to take you to the woman you are going to become,'” she said. “And I would also like to thank the teenager for leaving this project for me to come home to, because I learned a lot about myself through that teenager.”
“I think it is a very important time to have these deeper conversations. I love Punky Brewster, I will be Punky forever and I am proud of it and it is really the world we live in that it seemed to try to fit in a box,” she continued. “Puberty can be a very strange experience and yet, the more we strengthen each other, the better we can feel about ourselves, because one size is not for everyone. And everyone develops in a different and unique way. And they go through these stages in your own way. “
“We live in a world of filters and a world in which social media is within reach,” concluded Frye, “and it is so important to have these dialogues at home and in the media about how we are making ourselves feel about it.”
“Kid ’90” is on Hulu now.
Soleil Moon Frye