Recently, a friend of mine (who has since graduated) posted
an article called Why Body Acceptance Isn’t
for Everyone. In the article
she talks about how the two polarizing thoughts on body image that are perpetrated:
1. Lose weight! Get skinny! and 2. Love your body and your curves! These two ideas are always coming up in
pop culture (in commercials, in pretty much every ad on the internet,
etc). I loved this article because
it points out that both of the ideas out there on body image are not a
conversation about body image. Instead,
as the author points out, “more importantly, the polarity is patronizing and
divisive” it's more about telling you what makes people money. I think it’s important
that body acceptance becomes more of a conversation. One of the quotes that I loved was, “body image is personal
and complicated and everyone should be allowed to feel love or hate or
indifferent about their bodies without pressure to conform to the latest
cultural shift” This article is a
great read and I encourage everyone to read it!
http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/09/body-acceptance-isnt-for-everyone/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EverydayFeminism+%28Everyday+Feminism%29
I love this article! As a woman struggling to love my curves, I agree that I am tired of being told how to feel about my body. I should love it, yet at the same time I should work on "fixing" the same body. Some days it's a good body day. Other days I never want to leave my bed. I like the point she makes about women telling other women that they "shouldn't worry about it because they still look beautiful" minimizes the woman's feelings and doesn't address the underlying worry or concern of the woman. It's an example of women marginalizing other women's experiences.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing, Lydia! I saw the same article posted, but only saw the headline and didn't actually take the time to read the article... oops. I've seen a few feminists on my facebook network post recently about their dislike of the "constant body-positivity" movement reinforcing the idea that everyone is beautiful all the time. The argument is that the notion enforces the idea that women are only worth as much as their beauty, when we should be promoting other, more meaningful traits as more important (i.e. intelligence, courage, etc.).
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