Body positivity
Body positivity is a social movement that promotes a positive view of all bodies, regardless of size, shape, skin tone, gender, and physical abilities. Proponents focus on the appreciation of the functionality and health of the human body instead of its physical appearance.
This is related to the concept of body neutrality, which posits that a person's bodily appearance should have the least possible effect on their experience of life.
Viewpoints
Body-positive advocates argue that body size—alongside race, gender, sexuality, and physical ability—is a key dimension through which individuals are socially valued or marginalized. Judgments about physical appearance, they contend, implicitly position individuals on a hierarchy of desirability, shaping their access to social power and influence. The movement seeks to challenge unrealistic standards of attractiveness, promote positive body image, and foster greater self-confidence. A central tenet of the movement is that beauty is a social construct and should not dictate an individual's confidence or sense of self-worth. It encourages people to cultivate self-love by not only accepting but actively embracing their physical characteristics.Body positivity has roots in the fat acceptance movement and organizations such as the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. While fat acceptance primarily advocates for individuals classified as overweight or obese, body positivity is broader in scope, promoting inclusivity across all body types. The movement asserts that neither fat-shaming nor skinny-shaming is acceptable, and that all bodies can—and should—be celebrated.
Although body positivity is often associated with the celebration of physical appearance, many women also advocate for the normalization of body hair, bodily functions, and menstruation, challenging societal expectations surrounding female embodiment.
History
Victorian Dress Reform Movement (1850s–1890s)
As part of the first wave of feminism from the 1850s-1890s, the Victorian dress reform movement 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. 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, such as damage to their internal organs, including deformation to the ribcage and stomach atrophy due to the tight lacing. Depending on the type of corset and the lacing, the damage could be irreversible 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. 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.First wave (1960s)
The origins of the body positivity movement date back to the fat acceptance movement of the 1960s. The idea of ending fat-shaming served as the seed of a larger project of accepting and celebrating all bodies and body types.In 1967, New York radio host Steve Post held a "fat-in" in Central Park. This event involved a group of people who were partaking while holding posters of a famous thin woman and setting diet books on fire. He described the purpose of the event "was to protest discrimination against the fat." This moment is often cited as the beginning of fat acceptance movement. 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 for her size. 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.
Second wave (1990s)
The second wave of the body positivity movement prioritized providing people of all sizes a place where they could comfortably come together and exercise. There were programs being made specifically for overweight people, such as Making Waves. 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. During the 90s, dangers in dieting were found, mostly saying that it was ineffective and caused more physical and psychological problems, and did not actually solve anything. Therefore, people sought help from dieting. They wanted to learn how to eat again. Chronic dieting had not proven to be effective. Dieting had been used as a ploy to get people's money and proven to not actually work, especially in the long term.Third wave (2010s)
The third wave of the body positivity movement arose around 2012 largely as a response to the increase in social media culture and advertisements. The rise of Instagram inspired a debate about cultural beauty standards, and the body positivity movement arose as a response and argument in favor of embracing all body types, loving, and feeling confident about one's own body even with any flaws. Since 2012, there has been a heightened presence of the movement, although corporations have capitalized on the sentiments in order to sell products.The movement challenged ideals including unblemished skin and slim "beach bodies". Model and feminist Tess Holliday founded '@EffYourBeautyStandards', which brought an outpour of support to the body positivity movement. After founding the movement, the size-26 Holliday was signed to Milk Management, a large model agency in Europe, as their first model over size 20. Instagram has been utilized as an advertising platform for the movement since. Pioneers connect with brands and advertisers to promote the movement. 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. Additionally, in the spring 2019 New York Fashion Week, a total of 49 models that were considered plus-size made an appearance in 12 shows. These plus-size models were also hired to be featured on fashion campaigns as well as magazine covers.
Psychology
The body positivity movement aims to change societal and individual perceptions of weight, size, and appearance to be more accepting of all bodies regardless of their diverse characteristics. An individual's perception of their body can greatly influence their mental health and overall well-being, particularly in teenagers. Poor body image, also known as body dissatisfaction, has been linked to a range of physical and mental health problems including anorexia, bulimia, depression, body image disturbance, and body dysmorphic disorder. Partakers are encouraged to view self-acceptance and self-love as traits that dignify the person.The movement advocates against determining self-worth based on physical appearance or perceptions of one's own beauty. In the field of psychology, this is referred to as appearance-contingent self-worth, and can be highly detrimental to an individual's mental health. The degree to which one feels proud of their physical appearance is referred to as appearance self-esteem. People who fall under the appearance-contingent self-worth umbrella put great effort into looking their best so that they feel their best. This can be beneficial when an individual feels that they look good, but is extremely negative and anxiety-inducing when they do not.
Inclusion
While body positivity has largely been discussed with regard to women, the body positivity movement may uplift people of all genders and sexes - as well as ages, races, ethnicities, sexual preferences, and religions. Although there is an underdiagnosis of body dysmorphic disorder, the clinical symptoms can affect people of any gender. Eating disorders in men are less commonly diagnosed and therefore less publicized.The body positivity movement focuses largely on women, believing that women face more societal pressure to conform to beauty standards than men. Eating disorders are more common in women due to this social phenomenon. Nevertheless, men may face societal pressures to fit into a masculine physical ideal. Qualities that fit that mold are height, rectus abdominis muscle or "six pack abs", a broad upper body, muscular arms, shoulders, pectoral muscles, genital shape and size, etc. Men may face anxiety and pressure to shape their bodies to fit this mold and may struggle with body image disorders, including body dysmorphia, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
Brand influence and social media
Due to social media the notion "every body is beautiful" came into being. The movement for body positivity has played a role in influencing marketing campaigns for major corporations. In 2004, Dove launched their "Real Beauty" campaign, in which 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". The company also partners with and raises money for eating disorder organizations.In 2017, the American women's underwear company Aerie launched a campaign called "AerieReal", in which the company promised to not retouch or edit their models, encouraging body positivity and body-acceptance despite features such as cellulite, stretch marks, or fat rolls. 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.
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".
Recently, paradigms on social media have been changing from pushing feminine beauty ideals to challenging those ideals through image related empowerment and inspiration. Several influencers such as AerieReal model Iskra Lawrence have been preaching body positivity, creating hashtags such as #IWokeUpLikeThis, #EffYourBeautyStandards, #HonorMyCurves, #CelebrateMySize, #GoldenConfidence, and #ImNoModelEither.
Social media plays a pivotal role in the body positivity movement, in part by providing education and exposure on different body types. Instagram and Facebook are some social platforms that, as of 2019, have body positive policies that cause advertisements for cosmetic surgery, weight loss supplements, and detox products, to be hidden from underaged demographics. In addition to promoting positive body image, these policies aim to curb the advertisement of supplements unregulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Social media platforms such as Instagram are frequently used to post body positivity content and fuel related discussion.
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.