No seriously, what is body positivity and why are so many influencers posting bare bottomed, sexy pictures, with meaningful captions about body positivity?
Okay, I’m a 33-year-old woman, who’s been both body obsessed and obese, whilst I’m a big ole softy, it’s tough to sell me a heavily filtered lie.
If I’m brutally honest, the time that I was genuinely comfortable in my skin was a time before social media really bloomed. It was a time when I was completely unaware that my pillowy soft curves were deemed unattractive by society because in my mind nothing was wrong. Quite rightly so.
Fast forward several years and everything was wrong, from the faint silver lines telling a tale of my weight loss journey, to the fact that I had to wear a size 10 and not an 8. Frankly, I’d fallen out of love with my body as it wasn’t fitting the photoshopped ideal I’d decided was the right look for me to be a ‘successful influencer’. I look back at those photos and I want to cry, my figure was amazing and I was too darn caught up in the rat race to really notice.
Back to the subject at hand, there is no set size for an ideally ‘positive body’ because my friend, no matter what size your body is, someone won’t like it.
There are approximately 7.442 Billion people in this world, you will never meet everyone, let’s face it, and you won’t exist to most people. So, my question if there are so many people in this world that really won’t affect our everyday life, why are we giving so much attention to people on Instagram? We want them to like us, to be admired, the boost of confidence…
But what actually is being body positive rather than an actual hashtag? Is there even one set definition?
*Some people say its self-acceptance, feeling comfortable in your own skin – Which is encouraging in a world where most women hate their bodies.
* “It’s about being POSITIVE that your BODY is awesome and spreading that positivity to others.” – Kelvin Davis. That’s awesome and I do understand, but we’re coming back to the same thing and that’s pleasing or impressing others?
* “To me, body positivity means viewing and treating my body as a treasured friend. It means that instead of hating my body for not looking like a photoshopped picture of someone else, I am grateful for this amazing body just as it is.” – Ragen Chastain
* I think that being fat is sometimes not looked at as a desirable body to love and if we celebrate and love all bodies, we must be promoting obesity. Body positivity is not limited by size. It is a movement for everyone. It is about celebrating all of our differences and loving them. Being thin doesn’t make you normal just as it does not make you 100 percent healthy” – Marcy Cruz
The fact of the matter is that this means different things to different people…
Personally, I’d rather have a state of mind where I like myself, I yearn for a healthy relationship with food, for my delicate self-esteem to improve and to have better relationships with others. This won’t be defined by a dress-size, it won’t be defined by a hashtag or a flattering bikini shot. More than anything I need to sort out the demons in my head, after all, I’ll be living with my mind and memories a lot longer than a pair of size 10 jeans.
What does being body positive mean to you?
Katie
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