Body Positivity: An Empowering Movement or a Toxic Trend ?
Over the past few years, slogans such as “You are more than a number on a scale,” “Happiness isn’t size-specific,” and more can be found all over social media. All these slogans correspond to one main central idea, which is body positivity.
Body positivity relates to the idea of being confident and happy in whichever size and shape you are. If you’re a woman big on the idea of body positivity, join the bandwagon with tasty HHC gummies here. These gummies have anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties that will help your body fight inflammation and several recurrent diseases.
Although the idea of body positivity comes with a positive sentiment attached to it, many people have started finding this movement to be toxic. This leads them to undermine themselves and feel excluded from the standard of beauty set by society. Is this movement really toxic? Or is it just a misconception? Let’s find out in this article.
What does Body Positivity Mean ?
The movement of body positivity began in the 1960s when people started protesting against discrimination by brands that made them feel inadequate and underconfident. With time this movement evolved into one for body positivity and was driven by social media accounts initially.
However, when the movement for body positivity started to get mainstream and was adopted by many A-scale brands, that’s when the real problem started to happen. These brands started a culture of selective inclusiveness which defies the rules of the original movement.
Does the Trend Promote Toxicity Only?
As a protest against brands’ specific body, age, weight, ethnicity, and race inclusion, people, specifically, social media influencers started a campaign promoting the acceptance of one’s own body. Many famous personalities like Jamila Jamil and others have tried to convey and promote the message of the inclusiveness of all healthy bodies, regardless of their sizes.
According to some studies, people who follow influencers and bloggers promoting the concept of healthy bodies try to maintain their health at a better level. This helps them to remain healthy and fit.
Why did the Movement Turn Toxic?
Despite the positive idea that this movement was started with, body positivity has unwantedly developed into something that is turning out to be extremely virulent in its effects. This is because of the fact that many celebrities, brands, and models have started including a specific type of body shape and size in their catalogs. This knowingly or unknowingly sets a predefined beauty standard in the minds of young women, adolescents, and children alike.
For example, in the past, size zero bodies with a defined clavicle were the most celebrated body type amongst brands and models. However, with a change in time, curvy, hourglass bodies like the ones of the Kardashians have been popular.
This change in the demand for body type leads to young women being underconfident and compels them to undergo plastic surgeries and intense diets so that they could attain the desired figure.
In contrast, many celebrities promoting plus-size body types have led to a rise in obesity cases all around the world. This is because people get too comfortable with their unhealthy state of body type and keep on gaining or losing weight behind the banner of body positivity. This leads them to have diseases and illnesses related to increased/decreased weight and fat formation.
So, this movement was never about being too comfortable or too underconfident about your body type. Instead, it is about recognizing your state of healthiness according to your body type and then striving to achieve that, so that you could feel happy, confident, and healthy, all from within.