Body positivity is the social movement to encourage all human beings to have a positive body image of themselves, and to challenge the ways in which society presents and views the physical body. The movement advocates the acceptance of all bodies no matter the form, size or appearance. Body positive activists recognize that size is just one of the many ways that our bodies are judged by others, and are also working with racial justice, trans and queer inclusive, and disability movements. The goal of the movement is to address unrealistic beauty standards and to build the confidence of oneself and others.
The movement is appalled that all throughout history beauty has always been a construct of society, therefore we emphasize that this construct should never infringe upon one’s ability to feel confident or self-worth. The idea surrounding the body positivity movement is centered around the notion that people should love themselves to the fullest and embrace their physical traits just as they are. Many woman want their breasts or buttocks to be a different shape and many men want their muscles or penis to be different than they are. The different shape of our bodies does not make us a better person or not, how we accept and behave towards each other is so much more important!
Although living a healthy lifestyle is important to ones physical and mental well being, body positivity is all encompassing and inclusive of all body types. Neither fat-shaming nor skinny-shaming is acceptable, being tall or being short or the colour of our skin, and that all body types can and should be celebrated.
The Body Positivity Movement has been groundbreaking because of the effect it has on the psychology of a person. The movement encourages that partakers view self-acceptance and self-love as traits that will dignify themselves.
The psychology of the movement goes well beyond feeling good. The movement is also recognized as an important part of physical and mental well being as it has been found that having a negative body image is very detrimental to one’s health. Body-shaming of all types has been shown to yield long-term psychological effects such as negative body image, depression, anxiety, as well as numerous eating disorders like Anorexia and Bulimia.
Just be yourself and love how you are and spread this message to everyone you meet and lets stop this judgemental attitude towards each other and lets promote the Positive Body Movement together!