To think the body positivity movement is a disgrace

[gendercritter]

I know this is an emotive subject so I'd appreciate if you read what I actually have to say about this before responding.

The body positivity movement has been gaining pace for some time with more and more people building quite profitable businesses out of it and getting a lot of media attention. (E.g one women has an Instagram account with 1 million followers)

I absolutely love its central message that diet culture is harmful and makes you bigger as well as its emphasis on 'you have worth and value whatever size you are.' And for the record I know several bigger women who are absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. You can absolutely be beautiful at any size.

But more and more I think aspects of the movement are incredibly damaging. It's changed from saying 'you matter' to saying 'it's absolutely ok to be extremely overweight. If you are gaining, don't worry. Keep eating.' I see this exact message on social media on a regular basis.

I think this is profoundly anti-woman. We live in a capitalist society where it's fair game to make money just about any old way. Food companies pump their food full of sugar and sweeteners directly knowing that makes people eat it compulsively. Men (generalising but most big companies are headed by men) make an absolute fortune from people getting bigger. As someone who has lost nearly 7 stone in my life I can say that life, at worst, is much harder when you're big, as a general rule. If you are very large and healthy then that is great (really), but you most likely haven't hit 60 yet. Bodies begin to break down very quickly if you are large at that age. I can't begin to say how cross it makes me that companies exploit this when people could be looking forward to a healthy old age. I don't believe being overweight is an individual failing - it is these companies' fault.

I really hate gastric bypass surgery for several reasons but evidence exists that your rate of getting several cancers drops by 87% for losing a significant amount of weight after surgery. 87%! Cancer is grim. It is completely irresponsible to spread the message that getting very big is fine. Instead it should be that whilst you should love yourself first and foremost, loving yourself involves feeding yourself nourishing healthy foods so you can have as lovely and healthy a life as possible. (Eating nourishing healthy food does not equal dieting, to clarify once more). Knee replacements, cancer and diabetes in old age does not make for a lovely life. I am in my 30s but have spent a lot of time in hospital and believe me, there are a million other things to do with one's time that are better/more fulfilling/more pleasurable

If anyone criticises this movement they generally get rounded on and told they have 'faux concern.' It shuts down the debate very successfully. This movement is also heavily pushing the 'some women have penises' line too which is another debate but the whole thing just feels so cultlike.

But if you are overweight you have to also accept you are having a negative impact on your health
THIS

Bopo could be such an empowering, healthy message. But, like anything taken to extremes...

I was also classed as obese for my height when I was a size 16, and overweight when I was a size 12-14.

Remember vanity sizing.

The proportions for each of the respective sizes has increased over the years.

A size 12 from today would be a size 14 or 16 compared to days gone by.

Certainly, 'plus sized' vintage clothing is a proper eye opener.

I have a body fat percentage of 27%
I wear size 8 or size 10 clothes

Fwiw my thoughts are: 1) you can't identify out of science, ie if your behaviour means you're putting yourself in danger, feeling beautiful won't save you from that, 2) you can't identify out of abuse (and BP seems to me almost entirely a way for fat women to keep their head above a tide of ambient and overt abuse) and 3) human experience trumps appearance.

The hysterical insistence on everyone being beautiful trips my bullshit detector. I think the whole 'beautiful' thing is kind of a red herring as it still centres appearance/desirability/fuckability. How about just being yourself from the inside and taking care of yourself? Fuck beautiful. Better to be in your body/be your body/be yourself than to think constantly about what you and/or others think about how it looks, which is still subjecting us to an internalised gaze. We can say that sexuality/appearance lift out of this (it's about how you see yourself, self-respect etc) but if that's the case, why is the word 'beautiful' so often at the centre, the movement thrives on Instagram etc?

The world imposes a lot of truly awful treatment on fat women and if that isn't changing then I can see why BP is inviting. How else to counteract being shown judgement and revulsion? How to love yourself enough to care for yourself (which may involve losing weight)? I see it as a kind of magical thinking, like enough of your own body positivity will shield you from external negativity. It's not precisely correct but is there a better alternative?

Body positivity overall is a good thing. It’s meant to embrace all sorts of issues as well as not being what society deems slim/sexy - amputation; scars; differences from birth etc.

But it has been hijacked by people like Tess Munster, who has a beautiful face but who is extremely overweight, and the “effyourbeautystandards” and HAES (“healthy at every sizzle”) slogans. THAT I agree with the OP is not a good thing. It is not good to normalise something as unhealthy as obesity. There’s a happy medium between encouraging people who will never look like a Cara Delevigne, and telling people that you can eat your way up to a size 30 and still be healthy.

Completely agree with you thrfirstmrsdewinter

I have to add that I do not share the OPs concern, everyone can be fat and happy about it if the like, their health is not my concern. The same way that me bashing my head today (lucky nothing serious) doing a "dangerous" activity, is my concern, my lifestyle choice, my risk assessment. As is anyone's drinking, tanning, smoking.

Everyone is free to make their own decisions.

And everyone can find a corner of the internet where they are told they are great. It's not a bad thing.

But it has been hijacked by people like Tess Munster, who has a beautiful face but who is extremely overweight, and the “effyourbeautystandards” and HAES (“healthy at every sizzle”) slogans. THAT I agree with the OP is not a good thing. It is not good to normalise something as unhealthy as obesity

That woman is a menace. I saw her on tv talking about how the medical profession is biased against overweight people and all the advice is just made up and fat shaming. She was telling women that there is nothing unhealthy or dangerous about pregnancy while being extremely obese and that you shouldn't trust drs who tell you that you may have medical issues because of it!

Radio 4 and Five Live teamed up to do a programme about this from a male and female perspective.

The best comment I heard was that as a society we should focus in what our bodies do and not what they look like.

So weight wouldn't constantly focus on being bikini ready but health ideals instead.They also commented on a Debenhams advert for beauty " outside the White, thin" box. that had fat women, black women and disabled( Para Olympians were used) . I thought that was pretty offensive actually. I don't think eating too many calories equates to the issues around colour or disability and attractiveness.