By: Niroshini Mather
In recent years, there has been a significant push to challenge the dominant ideals of feminine beauty, fostering a more inclusive and accepting view of diverse body types. Advocacy focuses on transforming individual perceptions on self-love and holding industries like fashion, advertising, and media responsible for upholding values of social conscientiousness and inclusivity. Central to this shift is the body positivity movement.
What is the Body Positivity Movement?
The body positivity movement holds different meanings for different people but revolves around the central understanding that all bodies are good bodies. Originating from Black and queer activism, the movement was a response to the continued disregard of “non-conforming” bodies in social discourses and visual media, most notably within the fashion and entertainment industries. Ultimately, it encourages the acceptance and celebration of all body types, regardless of size, shape, skin tone, or gender. However, recent critical discourse surrounding the #BodyPositive movement suggests that it may inadvertently preserve, rather than disrupt, the status quo of beauty (BBC Bitesize, n.d).
The Benefits of the Body Positivity Movement
Encouragement of Self-Love
One of the hallmark benefits of the body positivity movement is its promotion of self-love through the celebration of all body types. In particular, the movement has helped individuals foster healthier relationships with their bodies by encouraging the rejection of unrealistic societal standards and reducing both stigma and shame. The butterfly effect of this person-centred advocacy has been demonstrated in higher self-esteem and better mental health outcomes among women, including those dealing with eating disorders and body dysmorphia. On a more holistic scale, the BPM promotes a general culture of empathy and respect in dialogue surrounding our bodies and appearances (Barlow et al., 2021).
Inclusivity and Representation
The BPM has played a key role in celebrating women of diverse backgrounds who are excluded from the narrow beauty standards upheld by media and other front-facing industries. Recognizing diverse features as beautiful and desirable is critical to creating an inclusive space that honours and encourages the uplifting of all women. Moreover, the movement in and of itself provides a supportive community through which people can find solidarity and kinship with one another over shared experiences of marginalization, which can be uniquely empowering (Morgan & Afifi, 2022; Palumbo, 2022).
Encouragement of self-care
By promoting the central understanding that all bodies deserve care, the BPM movement can tangentially motivate individuals to more readily adopt healthy behaviours like exercise and healthy eating. This emphasis on self-care encourages people to engage in health-promoting activities not out of a desire to conform to societal beauty standards, but from a place of self-love and appreciation for their unique bodies. Ultimately, motivation stemming from self-compassion, rather than self-criticism, can allow for a more sustainable and long-term relationship with health and wellness (Palumbo, 2022).
Concerns Regarding the Body Positivity Movement
Misrepresentation and Commercialization
As the body positivity movement gains popularity, there is concern about its commercialization and subsequent misrepresentation by brands and media companies. A notable example is Dove's "Real Beauty" campaign, which was initially praised for featuring women of various shapes, sizes, and ethnicities. However, upon closer scrutinization, it was found to be intentionally contradictory to the company’s role in perpetuating misleading beauty standards through its sale of products like skin whitening creams (Cwynar-Horta, 2016).
Exclusion of marginalized groups
There is ongoing concern that the body positivity movement continues to prioritize the experiences and perspectives of those who already hold a degree of societal privilege, such as white, cisgender, and able-bodied individuals. The perpetuation of a narrow definition of body positivity actively excludes groups worthy of the movement’s advocacy and sense of community, including Indigenous and transgender women. Thus, the movement risks reinforcing the very hierarchies it seeks to dismantle (Morgan & Afifi, 2022).
Pressure to Maintain a Positive Attitude
The expectation to always present a positive attitude towards one's body can be overwhelming and unrealistic. Moreover, it can be accompanied by feelings of guilt and inadequacy when individuals inevitably experience negative thoughts about their appearance. Recognizing this, there has been a significant shift towards the concept of body neutrality, which focuses on understanding and accepting negative feelings about one's body rather than suppressing them. This approach fosters a more compassionate self-view by allowing people to acknowledge their insecurities without being consumed by them through a lens founded in self-care and self-respect (Holder, 2023).
The body positivity movement has made significant strides in promoting self-acceptance, inclusivity, and a healthier relationship with one's body. However, as the movement continues to evolve, it is crucial to address valid concerns surrounding its misrepresentation and inclusivity to ensure it remains steadfast to its core values of self-love and acceptance. This begins by amplifying the voices and experiences of marginalized groups, promoting greater public education to prevent the movement’s co-option for commercial purposes and potentially adopting a few of the core tenets of the increasingly popular body neutrality initiative. Addressing these concerns meaningfully can ensure the body positivity movement's authenticity in challenging deep-rooted beauty norms and promoting overall well-being.
References
Barlow, P., Reeves, A., McKee, M., & Stuckler, D. (2021). The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on obesity. The Lancet Public Health, 6(1), e4-e5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8708647/
BBC Bitesize. (n.d.). What is body positivity? BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z2w7dp3
Coffey, J. (2022, September 28). Why the body positivity movement risks turning toxic. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/why-the-body-positivity-movement-risks-turning-toxic-189913
Cwynar-Horta, J. (2016). The commodification of the body positive movement on Instagram. Social Media + Society, 2(2). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350346397_The_Commodification_of_the_Body_Positive_Movement_on_Instagram
Holder, M. (2023, June 2). Body positivity vs. body neutrality: Why they both matter. Time. https://time.com/6279423/body-positivity-vs-neutrality/
Morgan, D., & Afifi, T. O. (2022). The body positivity paradox: Concerns about well-being and equity. Journal of Obesity, Article 9589104. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9589104/
Palumbo, J. (2022, May 12). How the body positive movement doesn’t encourage obesity, but inclusion. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferpalumbo/2022/05/12/how-the-body-positive-movement-doesnt-encourage-obesity-but-inclusion/?sh=66d5b8f71737
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