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A Layperson’s Guide to Body Positivity
Essentially, it’s all about body acceptance, self-love, and confidence.
How do you look? Beautiful or okay?
Did you answer ‘beautiful’ with confidence?
You aren’t alone if you doubt the aesthetics of your appearance. Many believe they don’t look appealing even when that is not the case.
Most people’s perception of their looks is a far cry from how they actually look because of poor self-acceptance, unrealistic beauty standards, and other reasons.
This outlook towards oneself has many depreciating effects and, therefore, requires change.
Body positivity empowers people to reply positively to the first question without self-doubt. It refers to loving and appreciating your body for what it is, irrespective of its unique shape, size, color, and other quirky specialties.
Here, I’ll discuss its exact meaning, history, pros, and cons and introduce you to an evolved term. I’ll also share some tips to attain body positivity.
What’s the Idea of Body Positivity?
Although body positivity has a general definition, its meaning varies depending on who is asked. For some, it stands for embracing their curves, for others, it’s loving their skin. Likewise, some believe body positivity is about taking pride in their imperfect appearances.
To sum it up, body positivity is:
- Loving and appreciating your body after accepting its unique traits that are perceived as flaws.
- Building body confidence and self-esteem.
- Accepting changes that happen to your body over time.
To achieve these, body positivity includes fighting unrealistic body standards and body shaming, encouraging self-love and positive body image, and ignoring society’s judgment. Those who preach body positivity challenge these to empower people to see themselves for how valuable their bodies are.
Now let’s look into the history of this body image movement.
