Kashish Sharma
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The body positivity movement, rooted in radical fat activism from the late 1960s, challenges traditional beauty standards. Emerging alongside activism by ethnic minority women, it protested systemic prejudice and discrimination, especially from the fashion and beauty industries, profiting from creating feelings of inadequacy. Initially driven by social media accounts, this movement encourages people to embrace self-love and redefine beauty beyond numerical values. Views on its impact vary, with some finding it favourable and others deeming it "toxic," sparking discussions about evolving perspectives.
When you might look into a mirror, many of you would love your body, some of you might not like your body and others might not even look at the mirror. There are different ways of looking at our body. Depending on how we might feel about our body, there are some contemporary concepts such as body positivity and body neutrality.
All these concepts stem back to body image which refers to how an individual might see their body and how they might be feeling about it. It could mean perceptions about one's height, weight, skin colour and other features. We can think about our body as a whole or maybe some parts of it. A good body image is associated with better health and the individual might be good at preventive care.
The concept of body positivity emerged as a reaction to unrealistic standards of beauty created by well-shaped people. It meant that one can love their body even it might not be perfect like a model in a fashion show. Body positivity means to look into the mirror and believe that even the parts of your body that you don't like are beautiful. This state requires an emotional and intellectual shift and body might still remain the centre of conversation.
The concept of body neutrality emerged in 2015 and gained popularity in 2016 when counsellor Anne Poirier explained that loving one's body was not always an easy task. One cannot jump from dissatisfaction to feeling utterly positive about it. There might be a middle ground where the body is neither beautiful nor ugly, it just is. She realized this state as body neutrality. People believing this concept might divert their attention from the physical aspects of the body to its inner functioning and realizing that we are more than our physical features. In body neutrality, body might not be the centre of conversation.
Body neutrality might share many traits with body positivity as both involve not focusing on parts of your body and accepting them as they are. Both might to some degree focus on the functioning of body and not on how it might look from the outside. There might be some differences however, such as body positivity might involve more active care, emotional participation and preventive care to maintain what is beautiful for them. Body neutrality might put body out of the picture. It might be a state of acceptance. For instance, a person using the concept of body positivity might do exercise to maintain the body which he or she might think to be beautiful but a person adopting body neutrality might do exercise to burn out stress.