I’m way over body positivity. It’s been co-opted by social media influencers in average-sized bodies, companies that often throw the term around as they’re trying to sell you something — and the weight-loss industry.
This co-opting has diluted the message of body positivity, even turning it into toxic positivity (“If you don’t love your body all the time, you’re doing something wrong!”) in some cases.
While “body positivity” remains a buzz phrase, the origins of the body positivity movement run much deeper than its current commercialized manifestations.
What was the body positivity
Body positivity has its roots in late 1960s social justice movements created by and for people with marginalized bodies. — especially fat, black, queer, and disabled bodies — to speak out about the oppression they experience in society and fight discrimination in the workplace, doctors’ offices, and other public spaces.
Flash forward to 2012 and Influencer culture is starting to dominate the idea of body positivity. The first wave was plus-size influencers who used #BodyPositive and #BoPo on social media, then came the slimmer influencers who tended to focus on loving themselves despite cellulite and other body ‘flaws’, followed by by companies looking to capitalize on the trend.
The original body positive movement was about ending appearance-based oppression, but the more modern manifestation is about expanding what is considered beautiful. Not the same thing.
The idea of body positivity in its various forms gained traction as more people rejected society’s beauty and body standards and stopped trying to shrink their bodies. This led to some interesting results.
One is that body positivity has been adopted—or co-opted—by the weight-loss industry as part of its adaptation to the growing anti-diet movement. That’s another thing the messages of the movement have been lost.
Dilution and toxic positivity
One problem with today’s watered down version of body positivity is that it has become synonymous with body love. sometimes even in a “toxic positivity” way — like something is wrong with you no love your body
But you don’t have to love everything about the way your body looks to be able to take care of it
The current state of body positivity has led many people to reject the term in favor of body neutrality, body respect, body acceptance—and, increasingly, body liberation.
Body acceptance and body neutrality suggest a middle ground between body loathing and body love. It’s just about allowing your body to exist without investing time and energy into loving it or hating it. The reality is that body image can change from day to day, so It can feel very freeing to let go of the expectation that we must always strive for love and positivity.
“Wait,” you might be thinking, “don’t you have to love your body to live peacefully in your body? To have a full, rich and meaningful life?’ NO I do not think. That’s why some of the interviews actress Emma Thompson gave while promoting her 2022 film “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” really resonated. In one interview in particularI appreciated what she said about her “bravery” in doing nude scenes:
“It takes bravery because I live with a body I don’t like. And I don’t know any woman who lives with a body she likes. And so I think my question for everyone these days is: why are we wasting our time, our passion, our energy and our money hating ourselves and not enjoying the vehicles we have to live in?”
The science behind body positivity
It’s worth noting that body positivity—or positive body image, really—as defined by researchers is different from how it’s seen or defined in popular culture.
In research, positive body image has two main components:
- One is body acceptance — acceptance of one’s body as it is, including its functionality and appearance — which includes caring for and respecting the body.
- The other is body image flexibilitywhich refers to the ability to openly experience thoughts and feelings about the body—even negative ones—without acting on them or trying to change one’s body in order to stop those thoughts and feelings.
Body acceptance is not the same thing as body satisfaction, and in fact one can accept one’s body at the same time as being dissatisfied with it.. Research shows that, among women, body esteem increases with age, even when body satisfaction does not.
A 2019 study of 344 college students found that Students who valued their bodies were more likely to engage in preventive health behaviors — such as healthy eating and physical activity — but those who were satisfied with their bodies alone were not. Previous research has found that college students who score high on body esteem are less likely to diet or use weight loss pills, supplements or shakes.
Why body release?
Body liberation is freedom from other people’s expectations of your body (“other people” could be specific individuals or society in general). It leaves room for you to love your body, but it doesn’t demand it. It rejects the idea of beauty standards — including “ideal” body sizes — that function as social currency.
Liberation of the body includes liberation from the norms of the body as well as the autonomy of the body — something that is especially important in the current political climate, where the body’s autonomy is being taken away.
The liberation of the body is both…
- An internal process of cultivating a positive body image (in the sense defined by the research), and
- A push against attitudes, institutions and systems who say there is a narrow range of “right” ways to have a body.
Really, it’s very similar to the intentions of the original body positivity movement. Liberation of the body is something you can seek for yourself and for other people. Because we all deserve it.
A question I get asked a lot is, “How can I stop caring what other people think about my body/size/recent weight gain?”
Body liberation doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t care about what people might think about your body or what you choose to do with your body, per se. it’s about living your best life even when, yes, you care what people think. It’s knowing that your experience and your choices are more important than other people’s opinions—in part because their opinions may well be informed by their own body baggage.
To be a little cheeky, opinions are like holes**—everyone has one. And… other people’s opinions are none of your business.
Body liberation is REAL
One of the beautiful things about body liberation is that it allows you to feel your feelings about the BS that society heaps on us. It does not require you to feel love and happiness in the body.
This is important because we cannot only feel “positive emotions”. We are meant to experience the full range of emotions and learn how to sit with the uncomfortable or how to deal with them in helpful ways.
Related Posts + Recommended Reading
- Post: Beyond body positivity: respect, acceptance, liberation
- Post: What is Incarnation? The power of body stories
- Book: “More than a body: Your body is an instrument, not an ornament” by Lindsay and Lexie Kite
- Book: “The Body Is No Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love“By Sonya Renee Taylor
- Book: “Positive Body Image Workbook: A Clinical and Self-Improvement Guide» by Nichole Wood-Barcalow, Tracy Tylka, and Casey Judge (this book is research-based and really in-depth, covering embodiment, body appreciation, self-care, intuitive eating, social comparison, and body talk)
This post contains Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon affiliate I earn on qualifying purchases.
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