The bodypositive movement assumes that everyone deserves to have a positive body image, regardless of how society and popular culture view ideal body form, weight, and appearance.
The bodypositive movement’s aims include:
- Challenging society’s perceptions of the body
- Promoting acceptance of all bodies
- Helping people in developing self-esteem and acceptance of their bodies
- Dealing with unrealistic body standards
However, body positivity is more than simply challenging how society perceives people. It also recognizes that decisions are often based on race, gender, sexuality, and disability.
Bodypositive movement also aims to educate people about how popular media messages affect public perceptions about food, exercise, clothing, health, identity, and self-care. The hope is that by better recognizing the effects of such influences. People would have a more optimistic and rational relationship with their bodies.
Reasons for bodypositive movement
One of the main goals of bodypositive movement is to explore how body image impacts wellbeing. A healthy body image influences how people feel about their appearance. Also, it influences how they judge their self-worth. According to research, having a negative body image can increase the risk of mental illnesses. These include depression and eating disorders.
According to one study, even brief exposure to media ads portraying an “ideal physique” was associated with increased body image problems and eating disorder symptoms.
Body image refers to a person’s subjective view of their own body. This may or may not relate to how their body looks. Body image feelings, emotions, and actions may significantly affect your mental health and how you treat yourself.
Body image creation begins at a young age. Unfortunately, even young children may experience body dissatisfaction. According to a Common Sense Media survey, more than half of girls and approximately 33% of boys between the ages of six and eight had more ideal body weight than their current weight. By the age of seven, 25 percent of children had tried some form of dieting behavior.
Problems that can arise as a result of poor body image are:
- Depression. Women are much more likely than men to suffer from depression. Some researchers believe that body dissatisfaction may play a role in explaining this gender disparity in depression rates.
- Low self-esteem. Body dissatisfaction has been related to low self-esteem in adolescents. This is regardless of gender, age, weight, race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.
- Eating disorders. Research also shows that body dissatisfaction can relate to disordered eating, especially among teen girls. Studies have consistently shown that sensitivity to images of the “thin model” is linked to behavioral and emotional symptoms associated with disordered eating. The risk is not just exposure to these images. It is the formation of perceptions that thinness determines beauty, success, and confidence.
According to a study, when people internalize these theories, they are more likely to be dissatisfied with their bodies and engage in unhealthy dieting.
Bodypositive movement seeks to solve these problems by identifying the factors that lead to negative body image. The hope is that people can change their body expectations. And become more confident and accepting of their bodies. Such acceptance can help comb the negative effects of poor body image on mental and physical health.
Body-Positive Movement Contributes to Obesity, Says Study
People of all shapes and sizes have benefited from the body-positive movement in terms of self-image.
However, recent research shows that this movement toward plus-size acceptance may prevent obese people from completely accepting that they are overweight. They are at risk of major health issues as a result of this. These include diabetes and heart disease.
When Does Body Positivity Become Health Negativity?
The bodypositive movement has its roots in the fat liberation movement of the 1960s. However, the fat liberation movement was more political and centered on overweight people’s rights. But body positivity is about accepting all body shapes.
During the fat liberation movement, the focus was on changing public opinion, values, and how fat people were treated. The idea is that it is not the obese people who need to improve, but others’ discrimination.
However, with the rise of body positivity, this seems to be shifting. While this aim is to make all body shapes appropriate, it is now up to the person to “love their body.” Body positivity may be teaching obese people to love themselves at the expense of their health.
That is the primary flaw in the body-positive movement. It is more about changing society’s perceptions of obesity than changing individual behaviors that lead to obesity. Instead of accepting personal responsibility for resolving this problem, many individuals have found reasons to blame society.
Nobody should be insulted because of their weight or dietary habits. But ‘fat pride’ encourages unhealthy weight levels. Medication, mental wellbeing, social isolation, self-esteem, and genetics all play a part in our ability to control our weight. And passing judgment is never a positive solution. However, suggesting that being a size 30 is just as good as being a size 12 is not a body-positive message. Actually, it is an irresponsible type of denial. According to the most recent data, weight-related hospital admissions have increased by 18% in the last year. More than a quarter (26%) of British adults now rated as obese.
Two out of every five Americans are overweight, including one out of every five girls. Every 38 seconds, obesity-related diseases such as heart disease kill an American.
Obesity can cause osteoarthritis, gout, breathing problems, high blood pressure, and other conditions in addition to diabetes. However, being slim does not ensure perfect health or a long, smug life with clean arteries. But there is no doubt that those who are obese face greater health risks.
Your body is your business. But actively promoting unhealthy lifestyle choices and ignoring health risks in public does not encourage bodypositivite movement. Actually, it gives various types of eating disorders a green light.
Bodypositive movement proponents must recognize that if putting underweight models on magazine covers encourages unhealthy and unattainable body sizes, removing them with overweight or obese models is equally irresponsible.
Being underweight or overweight is associated with significant health risks. Behaviors that contribute to either one should be equally discouraged.
Loving yourself and wanting to better yourself are two feelings that can coexist peacefully. Body positivity should ideally celebrate health rather than appearance.
The Bottom Line
It is not necessarily ethical to challenge someone’s body positivity or self-confidence. But it should be considered whether they are receiving accurate information about where their body is at and what types of risks it puts them at. This is not a topic that will be resolved too soon. People may continue to work for bodypositive movement by reducing their risk of certain diseases if they are properly informed about obesity and its risks.
