Body positivity

Body positivity is a social movement rooted in the belief that all human beings should have a positive body image, while challenging the ways in which society presents and views the physical body. The movement advocates the acceptance of all bodies regardless of physical ability, size, gender, race, or appearance.

The sculpture of two women in bronze, Jag tänker på mig själv - Växjö ( 'I am thinking of myself - Växjö') by Marianne Lindberg De Geer, 2005, outside of the art museum of Växjö, Sweden.[1][2] Its display of one anorexic woman and one obese woman is a demonstration against modern society's obsession with how we look. The sculpture has been a source of controversy in town, with both statues being vandalized and repaired during 2006.[3]
This photograph shows Yolanda, an epoxy resin statue created by Miriam Lenk. The artist says that Yolanda is "An icon for female self-confidence... Yolanda occupies the available space and does not care about any objections."[4]

Viewpoints

Body-positive activists believe that size is just one of the many ways that our bodies are placed in a power and desirability hierarchy and are working alongside all social justice movements to bring attention to the intersectional problems across race, gender, sexuality, and physical capability.[5] The goal of the movement is to address unrealistic beauty standards and to build the confidence of oneself and others.[6][7] The movement sets forth the notion that beauty is a construct of society and poses that this construct should not infringe upon one's ability to feel confidence or self-worth.[8] The idea surrounding the body positivity movement is centered around the notion that people need to love themselves to the fullest while accepting their physical traits.[7]

Body positivity has roots in the fat acceptance movement as well as the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance.[9] Body positivity differs from fat acceptance in that it is all encompassing and inclusive of all body types, whereas fat acceptance only advocates for individuals considered to be obese or overweight.[10] The movement argues that neither fat-shaming nor skinny-shaming[11] is acceptable, and that all body types can and should be celebrated.[12]

Although body positivity is perceived as the celebration as one's physical appearance as it is, women are highly motivated to advocate the normalization of body hair, bodily fluids, menstruation, and to challenge preconceived ideas regarding a woman's appearance.[6]

History

Victorian Dress Reform

As part of the first wave of feminism from the 1850s-1890s, there was a movement called the Victorian Dress Reform Movement that aimed to put an end to the trend of women having to modify their bodies through use of corsets and tightlacing in order to fit the societal standard of tiny waistlines.[13] A minority of women participated in this tradition of conformity, but often ended up facing ridicule whether or not they were successful at shrinking their waistline. The practice of tight-lacing proved to have many negative health risks, and was also extremely uncomfortable for women who partook. Women were mocked for their egotism if they were not able to shrink their waistline, and they were criticized for too small a waistline if they were successful. This instilled a feeling of defeat in women during these times, as nothing they did seemed to satisfy their male counterparts. As part of the Victorian Dress Reform Movement, women also fought for their right to dress in pants.[13] Acceptance of all body types – regardless of waist measurements – was the major theme of the Victorian Dress Reform Movement, and this was the first movement of its kind.[13]

First wave

In 1967, New York radio host Steve Post held a "fat-in" in Central Park. He described the purpose of the event "was to protest discrimination against the fat."[14] Five Months after the "fat-in", Lew Louderback composed an essay entitled "More People Should be Fat!" as a result of him witnessing the discrimination his wife experienced as a result of her size.[14] The piece initiated a new movement with goals of correcting fat-shaming, and the belief that being fat is always indicative of being unhealthy.[15] The essay shed light on the discrimination fat people experience in America, and the culture surrounding fat-shaming. Louderback's contribution inspired the creation of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance in 1969 by Bill Fabrey, with the mission of ending discrimination based on body weight.[16] The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) was also dedicated to changing the dialogue surrounding obesity and health, and spread awareness of the distinction between being fat and being unhealthily obese.[15] Health at Every Size (HAES) is an initiative that resulted from the creation of NAAFA, and set forth the concept that health is better determined by medical testing (e. g. heart rate and blood pressure) rather than empirical observation of one's weight.[15]

Second wave (1990s)

The second wave of body positivity prioritized giving people of all sizes a place where they could comfortably come together and exercise. There were programs being made specifically for overweight people. A popular program at the time was "Making Waves" which was a weekly fat swim. Home exercise programs like Genia Pauli Haddon and Linda DeMarco's home exercise video series "Yoga For Round Bodies" were also made for those who were not comfortable joining a wellness community.[14]

Third wave (2000s)

Since 2012, and the popularity launch of social media platforms, there has been a heightened presence of the movement. The movement challenged the unrealistic standards of feminine beauty like smooth skin, body size, and avoidance of any imperfections.[7] Model and feminist Tess Holliday founded '@EffYourBeautyStandards', which brought an outpour of support to the body positive movement. After founding the movement, Holliday was signed to Milk Management, a large model agency in Europe as their first model over a size 20; she is a size 26.[6] Instagram has been utilized as an advertising platform for the movement since. Pioneers connect with brands and advertisers to promote the movement.[7] In 2016 Mattel released a new line of Barbie dolls under the name "Fashionistas" with three different body shapes, seven skin colors, twenty-two eye colors and twenty-four hairstyles to be more inclusive.[17] Body artists have also helped promote and spread education about body postivity in the USA and UK, producing a number of notable outdoor nude painting displays for plus sized men and women. [18]

Psychology

The Body Positivity Movement has been groundbreaking because of the effect it has on the psychology of a person.[19] The movement encourages the partakers view self-acceptance and self-love as traits that dignify the person.[19] The movement is based on the image basing their sense of self-worth heavily on their physical appearance, and how good they perceive themselves to look.[20] This is referred to in the field of psychology as appearance-contingent self-worth, and can be highly detrimental to an individual's body image.[21] The degree to which one feels proud of their physical appearance is referred to as appearance self-esteem.[20] People who fall under the appearance-contingent self-worth umbrella put great effort into looking their best so that they feel their best. This is only good when an individual feels that they look good, but is extremely negative and anxiety-inducing when they do not.[20]

The psychology of the movement goes 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 or otherwise known as body dissatisfaction has been linked to a range of physical and mental health problems like disordered eating, depression, body dysmorphic disorder, and more.[22] The movement started spreading to create awareness around the difficult illnesses that some suffer like Anorexia and Bulimia; the movement is shedding light on subjects that brands and bigger companies refused to talk about.[23] Big retailers like Aerie are acknowledging the power of influence they have on behavioral advertising and the positive impact this could have for a new generation.[24]

Inclusion

The body positivity movement focuses largely on women, recognizing that societal beauty standards are more prevalent to women than they are to men.[25] Men do, however often face similar societal pressures as women to fit a mold of a certain prototype of the "ideal" masculine man. Qualities that fit that mold are height, Rectus abdominis muscle or “six pack abs, a broad upper body, muscular arms, shoulders, pectoral muscles, etc.[26] Men may face anxieties similar to women, and feel pressure to maintain or shape their bodies a certain way to fit the mold, and can certainly struggle with body image.[25] Men and boys struggle with body dysmorphia and eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa as well, though this is often less publicized.[27] Body positivity remains largely concerned and discussed with regard to female populations, but still applies to people of all genders, ages, ethnicities, sexual preferences, religions, and sexes.[28]

Brand influence and social media

The movement for body positivity has played a role in influencing marketing campaigns for major corporations. In 2004, Dove launched their "Real Beauty." campaign,[29] which commercials and advertisements depicted women of varying body types and skin tones in a manner that portrayed acceptance and positivity towards their bodies. On their website, Dove presents its Dove Self-Esteem Project as a mission for "helping young people reach their full potential by delivering quality body confidence and self-esteem education".[30] The company also partners with and raises money for eating disorder organizations.[31].

In 2017, the American women's underwear company Aerie launched a campaign called "AerieReal", in which the company promised to not retouch or photoshop their models, encouraging body positivity and body-acceptance despite features such as cellulite, stretch marks, or fat rolls.[32] Aerie has begun featuring body positive influencers in their photo shoots and advertising campaigns, as well as plus sized models. To accommodate the last, the brand has launched a plus size clothing line.[6]

In 2019, Decathlon joined the efforts of other companies with their #LeggingsForEverybody campaign, stating their mission as "to boost body confidence and support you in your fitness journey".[33]

Recently, paradigms on social media have been changing from pushing feminine beauty ideals to challenging those ideals through image related empowerment and inspiration.[34] Several influencers such as AerieReal model Iskra Lawrence have been preaching body positivity, creating hashtags such as #IWokeUpLikeThis, #EffYourBeautyStandards, #HonorMyCurves, #CelebrateMySize, #GoldenConfidence, and #ImNoModelEither.[35]

Although studies about social media and body image are still in their early stages, there seems to be a correlation between social media use and body image concerns. Body image tends to be positively or negatively affected by the content to which people are exposed on social media. The action of people uploading pictures of themselves appears to effectuate a negative body image.[36]

Criticism

The body-positive movement was created to be inclusive of all body types. However, some feminists have critiqued that the movement has only worked to emphasize patriarchal beliefs rather than promote beliefs of true feminism.

The idea of posting an unedited photo of your body to embrace it is what Gender scholar Amber E Kinser determined as "false feminism". Kinser critiqued that these acts of resistance do not challenge patriarchy and these kinds of campaigns do not deteriorate the validity of the argument of women's worth being directly correlated to their physical appearance.[37]

Additional criticism denounces that while the body-positivity movement changed what is currently acceptable, it does not dive into the reasons why people have such relationships with their bodies and put the responsibility of feeling better with the body on the person within it.[38] Others criticize the movement for refusing to acknowledge the fact that there is not just one approach that is right for everyone.[39]

gollark: It's stream-y when packets are often more desirable, so you have to have metaapioformic things to delimit packets.
gollark: Just use WASM.
gollark: Socket.IO is not that much use now that websockets are fairly universally supported.
gollark: WebSockets exist for a good reason; web browsers could NOT securely just do plain TCP.
gollark: It's more standard to use f, g, h and ι as random function names.

References
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