Body Positivity
As there is currently a flare of debate concerning body positivity happening over at newwavefeminism’s tumblr I wanted to organize some of my thoughts about it.
Throughout high school I had a very negative body image. I thought I was overweight (though at 5’6” and 125 lbs for most of that time it was far from the truth) and small chested to boot (that actually is true haha).
This low self image probably had a lot to do with my non-existent love life at the time, but in my head the causality between a woman’s physicality and her desirability was a lot stronger than the influence of her mental and emotional health.
So as time went on, I entered college and boyfriends came and went I realized FINALLY that there is nothing wrong with my body. And my curvaceous friends are finding the same things out for themselves. Isn’t it a funny thing that everyone from the girls who seem to stay skinny forever and the girls who are all about curves worry that they can’t be loved? I’ve even had friends lament to me that men must not be into boobs anymore because she can’t seem to nab a guy, while a tiny girl like me has no problem.
How can that make sense?!
Women (and everyone for that matter) have been taught for so long that there is something wrong with them, that can be solved if ONLY you purchase this skin care product or weight loss pill or buy into this exercise regimen or undergo drastic surgery to get yourself that much closer to… the next product, pill, or PROBLEM.
We’re not being sold solutions anymore. We’re being force-fed worries, anxieties, insecurities and problems.
Because capitalism can’t benefit from you if you’re happy and secure in who you are.
At the same time that I believe the expectations of women and men’s bodies are preposterous, I think it can’t be neglected that the health situation in the U.S.A. is at a dire point. Although this country is one of the largest consumers of health-promoting products, we are also some of the largest consumers in general with an alarming obesity and childhood obesity rate.
How can this be?
We are stuck suckling the toxic slogans of the capitalist market, wherein those who are perfectly healthy physically resort to drastic measures such as surgery and eating disorders because they are sold a negative self image, and those who are suffering from bad physical health have the complex of low self worth sold to them in addendum to serotonin inducing fast foods and the increasingly sedentary life style of a “comfortable” society.
To me body positivity is achieving the space where one recognizes that this body is yours and yours alone. With body positivity, a resolution to lead a more healthful life comes from the knowledge that it will lead to a longer, happier, healthier life: not because you are told you are worthless if you don’t look like the women on the cover of a magazine.
Body positivity is the mental health to love yourSELF first and foremost, and to not let a detrimental perception of your body lead to the personal degradation of your character.
