With the goal to empower people to be kinder to their bodies, the Body Positivity Movement seeks to address well being at its core. To the ignorant, ëbody positivityí is about size, mostly women and size and in that, mostly large women and size.
This is a deeply marginalized population, but by no means the only one. While the fat liberation movement of the 1960ís emerged as a direct response to what was deemed anti fat bias
The BPM is an all inclusive safe space created to encourage forgiving attitudes in a time when our bodies often seem to be our only social currency. It is an idea that aims to nurture self love and positivity in each of us
However, the reality of implementing self adoration as something that we should rather than something that we could is vastly more complex. Enter Body Neutrality Consider people with eating disorders. Or mental illness. Body Dysmorphia. A perfunctory blanket instruction to love themselves ignores their very real inability to correctly gauge their body, let alone cherish it. In the case of India, there are very few studies and findings on the body as compared to other parts of the world and this makes the task of analysing the problems faced by women harder.
Slapdash self affirmation quotes discount the tangled insecurities, hot-cold emotions and even straight out self loathing of many who spend their whole lives struggling towards emotional stability. They also add insult to an often visible injury especially to Genderqueer people, particularly the non-binary, or those grappling with dysphoria . Body neutrality offers a way station between hating and loving.
It is not-caring what you look like and realizing you are more than a body, and that your body and your appearance donít define you. It is a conscious disconnection, simultaneously dissociative and capacitating. It is a cultivated indifference in response to market created female insecurities.
The savvy businessínow adapt and co-opt the fury of body positivity while inventing a brand new set of insecurities for the modern age. No make-up selfie, anyone? Boys? Inspite of the fact that men have never been held to impossible beauty standards; constant and consistent efforts by the media to suggest that all the qualities of desirable men are in one way or another a direct result of their physical strength and attributes ñ have led to a significant increase in body loathing in men. Men are bound by thefringe margins of masculinity with most still reluctant to acknowledge physical weakness or discuss their appearance.
Self-hatred can often lead to destructive coping mechanisms, including substance abuse and even suicide. Including men in the body positivity conversation can be a pivotal step toward redefining masculinity with more compassion and acceptance. #BoPoButGoSlo—whatever your journey to self-acceptance looks like, the message remains the same: treat yourself with kindness, patience, and care. Recognize that your body is valuable when you feel healthy, but also understand that its appearance does not define your worth. Most importantly, remember that self-confidence is a personal journey with no fixed timeline—so choose yourself, every step of the way.
