Body Positivity, Loving the Body You’re In

By Erika Kellerman

What is body positivity?  Why is it important in today’s day and age and why should you care?

“Far too many women are much more hurt by being called fat or ugly than they are by being called not smart, or not a leader.  If someone told me that I was stupid or that I wasn’t a leader, or that I wasn’t witty or quick or perceptive, I’d be devastated.  If someone told me I had a gross body, I’d say, ‘Well, it’s bringing me a lot of happiness.’ Like, I’m having a fine time of it.  Having my priorities aligned like that has helped me have a happier life, I think.” ~ Mindy Kaling.

According to ellipsesproject.org, “body positivity” is a radical redefinition and reclamation of the body.  They state that it arose in response to a Western culture that recognizes only white, able-bodied, heterosexual, and thin bodies as worthy and beautiful.

There is a notion somewhere out in the media that if you don’t look like supermodels, or like the men and women in the media, you aren’t attractive.  You aren’t worthy of anyone else’s time or aren’t good enough.

Your body is a temple.  It should be treated as such regardless of how much you weigh, of your race, if you are disabled, if you have a mental illness or any debilitating illness for that matter, or anything else the media deems wrong with your body.  Love your body for what it is; not for what it isn’t, or will never be.

Body positivity doesn’t mean that you are promoting unhealthy lifestyles.  It means loving yourself regardless of your body size or your health, and helping others do so as well.

Millennials are the age of working hard for what we want, but not allowing ourselves to love ourselves or our body types.  When is it our turn to want to look like ourselves?  When is it our turn to love ourselves and feel great, getting in a bathing suit that was once modeled by an Australian model (who probably doesn’t look like herself in ads)?  Cindy Crawford once said “even I don’t wake up looking like Cindy Crawford,” which shows how skewed the media is (towards unattainable beauty).

I want boys and girls alike to be seen as more than a body – a person with more or less edges than your usual photoshopped cover model.  I want women and men to be okay with going out in skin tight clothing, or to look in the mirror every morning and be okay with what they see.  People should tell themselves how much they love themselves every single day, even if they don’t believe it at first.  I once read a Seventeen magazine article that said if you perform this ritual every day, you will start to believe your saying and see changes in your confidence.

Go out and be the god/goddess that you are!

*Remember: unless you pay someone for their dietary or fitness advice, it is none of their business about how much or how little you weigh, how much you eat, or what diseases or health problems you have.*