Creating a Positive Body Image
Body positivity and body empowerment are relatively new movements that have paraded and championed the love of all body types and differences. Women have been at the forefront of these campaigns as the faces of body empowerment and positivity because they have caught most of the flack from society for decades if they don’t look exactly or close to what society of that time dictates what beauty looks like. The movements that we see today such as the Dove campaigns for body positivity and acceptance of all body types. Body positivity is defined as the statement that all people deserve to love and appreciate their bodies regardless of what society dictates as beautiful. The movements that we’ve seen sweep the internet emphasize the pushing of boundaries and helping people learn to be confident in the body they have. Body positivity as a whole recognizes all genders, ethnicities, and sexualities. One of the main points this movement tries to make is to point out how social media plays a role in how people view food, exercise, and how one takes care of themselves, and self-identity.
Understanding the body positivity campaign means understanding that it is here to not only point out healthy relationships with one’s body, but also make light of the unhealthy advertising of unrealistic standards social media and society as a whole has tried to play off as body positivity. Often times companies advertise bodies in two different extremes, either the person is shown as a size 2 with a 14- inch waist or a size 34 with a 20- inch waist. Society has a long way to go before healthy body positivity is able to be broadcast as the consistent norm. One problem with this campaign is how it seems to only center on women and how to empower and appreciate women’s bodies in all shapes and sizes, but forgets men who deal with the same body negativity issues that women face. Yes, women have been advertised and have been the targets of body objectification for centuries, but what social media and society tends to forget is that it holds men’s bodies at a certain standard that can be harmful as well. A good example would be work out culture and social media that portrays how men and women can gain muscle or go on fad-diets to gain or lose weight. Some destructive behaviors that both men and women engage in that create negative body image are fad dieting, steroid abuse, and unhealthy exercise habits. These are harmful because people who aren’t already training in the same regimes that they see online, will go and try to follow the routines and feel like they are doing something wrong when their results are not the same as advertised.
Empowering all people goes hand in hand with the body positivity campaign because teaching people how to healthily love the body they are given. Given the correct tools to do so empowers people to be the best versions of themselves and to spread that positivity to others in their circles. Body positivity and body empowerment have made big strides in today’s society because of the people who have stepped up in social media and other entertainment sources that have created safe spaces for women, men, and nonbinary people to freely express themselves however they want to and gain confidence in the bodies that are uniquely theirs.
-Written by Kylie Hamacher, Undergraduate Intern
References:
LeonisaBlog. (2019, December 23). How body image and women's empowerment go hand-in-hand. Blog Leonisa EN. Retrieved February 25, 2022, from https://blog.leonisa.com/en/2019/12/23/how-body-image-and-womens-empowerment-go-hand-in-hand/
Cherry, K. (2020, November 21). Why body positivity is important. Verywell Mind. Retrieved February 25, 2022, from https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-body-positivity-4773402
Mathur, S. (2020, July 16). Let us talk about body positivity for men. The Vent Machine. Retrieved February 25, 2022, from https://theventmachine.com/2020/07/16/let-us-talk-about-body-positivity-for-men/
Body image - men. Body image - men - Better Health Channel. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2022, from https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/body-image-men