What about body positivity?

If you’ve spent any length of time with me here you’ll know that I don’t coach weight loss and I’m a firm believer that all bodies are good bodies, regardless of their size, shape or abilities. 

So you might also wonder, why don’t I talk about body positivity? 

If I don’t coach weight loss, shouldn’t I also be promoting loving our bodies and embracing them at every stage of life?

I don't – this is intentional – and there’s a few reasons why.

One: it's not really my place to be teaching about body positivity.

The body positivity movement was founded by fat, Black, Trans and other marginalized folks in the 1960s as an act of political rebellion in a world that didn't allow or accept them as they were. 

Fast forward 60 years and now we often see curvy white women squeezing their squishy bellies or talking about loving their cellulite riddled legs when we think about what it means to be body positive.

Sure, these things are important – we certainly need to normalize all types of bodies – but we also have to remember that we white women tend to co-opt so many movements that aren’t necessarily for us. 

If you want to learn more about this, Chrissy King thoroughly explains this and more about body positivity in her new book, The Body Liberation Project.

Two: it’s rough to love your body all day, every day, right?! 

When we’re constantly being told to change our body; fix it, shrink it, sculpt it, perfect it… how can we possibly ever feel like it’s safe to love ourselves?! 

I know I certainly can’t say I love how my body looks every single day. But I can say that I appreciate my body. I respect my body. I take care of my body. These truths remain strong even on days when I look in the mirror and think, that’s what I look like?!

So if you too aren’t sure if you can jump on the bandwagon of body positivity, perhaps body neutrality or body respect are more appropriate? Perhaps arming yourself with the knowledge of why we think we don’t look good enough (read Chrissy's book!) will help us come to a more peaceful place with how we look, in all stages of life, in all the different shapes and forms our body may take on.