The Body Positivity Movement Has a PR Problem
Somewhere along the way, body positivity went from a radical political movement to a filter on a selfie. And honestly? That's worth talking about.
The original body positivity movement — which grew out of fat activism in the 1960s — was about dismantling systems that discriminated against people based on size. It was political. It was about access to healthcare, representation, and basic dignity. It was not about feeling cute in a bikini.
That's not a knock on feeling cute in a bikini. That's fine! But somewhere in the translation to mainstream social media, "body positivity" became a brand aesthetic — brands selling you shapewear while calling it empowerment, influencers with extremely conventionally attractive bodies telling you to love yourself, wellness culture wearing a new outfit.
What got lost in the rebrand
When body positivity became mainstream, a few things happened. It got whitened, thinned, and monetized. The people who were at the center of the original movement — fat people, disabled people, people of color — got pushed to the margins as the message got more palatable for a mass audience.
And the message itself shifted from "the system has a problem" to "you should feel good about yourself." Which, to be clear, is not a bad message. But it's a much smaller ask. And it puts the work on the individual — on you, feeling enough self-love — rather than on the structures and systems that make certain bodies more acceptable than others.
Why "just love yourself" isn't always useful advice
Here's the thing about telling someone to love their body: it doesn't account for the fact that we live in a world that has very specific, very loud opinions about which bodies are acceptable. You can do all the mirror affirmations you want, and you'll still walk into a doctor's office where every health concern gets attributed to your weight. You'll still see who gets represented in movies, in advertising, on runways.
Loving your body against that backdrop isn't just a personal choice — it's an act of resistance. Which is beautiful, and also genuinely hard. It makes sense that a lot of people can't just flip a switch and get there.
So what actually helps?
A few things that research and clinical experience both point to:
Media literacy — learning to recognize when you're being sold something under the guise of empowerment
Diversifying your feed — following people in a range of bodies so your brain calibrates to a wider definition of "normal"
Shifting the focus from how your body looks to what it does — this is the core of body neutrality, and it's more achievable for a lot of people than love
Being skeptical of brands that use body positivity language while still selling you the idea that your body is a problem
None of this is a quick fix. But understanding where the messaging comes from — and what it's actually selling — is a good place to start.
