My Thoughts on The Body Positivity Movement
My page is all about positivity, loving yourself, and getting healthy all in unison with each other. I myself am going through a journey and have been for a number of years with all three of those topics. Throughout this blog I always do my best to stay pretty neutral and not really dive into controversial topics. Sure I share my opinions on things, but I have always done this in a pretty careful way. Today's post is going to be incredibly different for me, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about it. I wanted to share what might be an unpopular opinion on a pretty controversial topic right now; the body positivity movement.
In the simplest of terms, the body positivity movement is all about self-love and loving the skin you're in. The leaders are all about loving yourself no matter what weight, race, height, disabilities, etc. you are/have. It promotes positivity and not finding your worth through how you appear on the outside. This all seems great right? Of course it is, but once you start to dive a little deeper into the movement you see it isn't exactly the positive space it appears to be at first glance. I wanted to briefly discuss my thoughts and feelings on the topic. I am not going to go too deep into the movement itself. To be quite frank I am not the kind of person that is going to name any social media influencers either. I just don't think dropping names is really necessary. What I can do is give an overall picture and share my thoughts and feelings.
So let's get into the positives of the movements first. Although this movement is about all kinds of bodies, the overall focus is about overweight and obese bodies. I myself as any followers of this page know am obese. I am not afraid to say that, and I also agree that that word does not define who I am. I think that the overall message is great. As someone who really struggled with my self-image for most of my life, I completely understand it. I think a movement to promote acceptance for people no matter what their shape and size is great. A big aspect is also saying that the number on the scale does not define you. Also something I highly agree with. I think fad diets, detox teas, crazy workout programs, etc. are all unnecessary marketing schemes that overall just wreck havoc on self-esteem if we don't have a body of a model. In a world that is full of constant reminders to have the "ideal body," I think it is great to promote a movement that helps us truly love ourselves inside and out no matter how we look. Unfortunately, some of the influencers take things to an extremely toxic level.
To give a little background on my history with this movement, I used to follow a number of body positivity influencers on Instagram. I would love the post of girls with bodies that weren't picture "perfect" (Remember beauty is subjective!) with the self-love inducing captions. Before long, however, I started to see just how toxic the captions and comments were. Many of them make it seem as if eating a healthy diet and exercising are a betrayal to your self-love. Fad diets are one thing, but eating sensibly and finding exercise you love to do and enjoy is another. It got to the point where I would read a comment or caption and actually feel guilty for going to the gym that day or for enjoying a nice healthy dinner that I logged the calories for. I ended up unfollowing every body positive influencer I followed on Instagram for this reason. It was just as much of a mind game reading those comments making me feel guilty for forming healthy habits as it would be seeing a supermodel advertising craving crushing lollipops. Although this does not go for every single person in the movement, I saw a pretty alarming amount of toxicity.
So overall what are my thoughts? I would say I am pretty much in the middle. I have always said that the number on the scale does not reflect your self-worth. I always say we should love ourselves no matter what skin we are in. You can have the reddest, shiniest, prettiest apple in your hands but when you take a bite find the inside is rotten. The inside is what counts the most when defining who you are. That also goes for our health. Yes, I am obese, and I love myself. Sure I still have days where I don't like my body, but it is still a work in progress. I love myself enough though to try and lose weight and get healthier. I don't think anyone should be shamed for doing so. Just because I want to lose weight for my health, that does not mean I hate the state my body is in right now. To be quite frank spreading a message that it is okay to eat junk all the time and live with incredibly unhealthy habits (like a number of these influencers do) is just dangerous. Sure I believe in enjoying things in moderation, but your health should come first. There are a number of reasons obesity is not healthy and can lead to a number of health problems. It is okay to love yourself and still strive to make healthy changes so you can live an even longer life. My lifestyle is still a work in progress but I do it because I want to live the best and longest possible life with the ones I love that I can. In my opinion any movement that offers hate on the opposite side of the spectrum is just as toxic.
I would love to hear your opinions on the topic! Let me know in the comments!
In the simplest of terms, the body positivity movement is all about self-love and loving the skin you're in. The leaders are all about loving yourself no matter what weight, race, height, disabilities, etc. you are/have. It promotes positivity and not finding your worth through how you appear on the outside. This all seems great right? Of course it is, but once you start to dive a little deeper into the movement you see it isn't exactly the positive space it appears to be at first glance. I wanted to briefly discuss my thoughts and feelings on the topic. I am not going to go too deep into the movement itself. To be quite frank I am not the kind of person that is going to name any social media influencers either. I just don't think dropping names is really necessary. What I can do is give an overall picture and share my thoughts and feelings.
So let's get into the positives of the movements first. Although this movement is about all kinds of bodies, the overall focus is about overweight and obese bodies. I myself as any followers of this page know am obese. I am not afraid to say that, and I also agree that that word does not define who I am. I think that the overall message is great. As someone who really struggled with my self-image for most of my life, I completely understand it. I think a movement to promote acceptance for people no matter what their shape and size is great. A big aspect is also saying that the number on the scale does not define you. Also something I highly agree with. I think fad diets, detox teas, crazy workout programs, etc. are all unnecessary marketing schemes that overall just wreck havoc on self-esteem if we don't have a body of a model. In a world that is full of constant reminders to have the "ideal body," I think it is great to promote a movement that helps us truly love ourselves inside and out no matter how we look. Unfortunately, some of the influencers take things to an extremely toxic level.
To give a little background on my history with this movement, I used to follow a number of body positivity influencers on Instagram. I would love the post of girls with bodies that weren't picture "perfect" (Remember beauty is subjective!) with the self-love inducing captions. Before long, however, I started to see just how toxic the captions and comments were. Many of them make it seem as if eating a healthy diet and exercising are a betrayal to your self-love. Fad diets are one thing, but eating sensibly and finding exercise you love to do and enjoy is another. It got to the point where I would read a comment or caption and actually feel guilty for going to the gym that day or for enjoying a nice healthy dinner that I logged the calories for. I ended up unfollowing every body positive influencer I followed on Instagram for this reason. It was just as much of a mind game reading those comments making me feel guilty for forming healthy habits as it would be seeing a supermodel advertising craving crushing lollipops. Although this does not go for every single person in the movement, I saw a pretty alarming amount of toxicity.
So overall what are my thoughts? I would say I am pretty much in the middle. I have always said that the number on the scale does not reflect your self-worth. I always say we should love ourselves no matter what skin we are in. You can have the reddest, shiniest, prettiest apple in your hands but when you take a bite find the inside is rotten. The inside is what counts the most when defining who you are. That also goes for our health. Yes, I am obese, and I love myself. Sure I still have days where I don't like my body, but it is still a work in progress. I love myself enough though to try and lose weight and get healthier. I don't think anyone should be shamed for doing so. Just because I want to lose weight for my health, that does not mean I hate the state my body is in right now. To be quite frank spreading a message that it is okay to eat junk all the time and live with incredibly unhealthy habits (like a number of these influencers do) is just dangerous. Sure I believe in enjoying things in moderation, but your health should come first. There are a number of reasons obesity is not healthy and can lead to a number of health problems. It is okay to love yourself and still strive to make healthy changes so you can live an even longer life. My lifestyle is still a work in progress but I do it because I want to live the best and longest possible life with the ones I love that I can. In my opinion any movement that offers hate on the opposite side of the spectrum is just as toxic.
I would love to hear your opinions on the topic! Let me know in the comments!
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