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Want to Change Your Life? Love Your Body.
Yes, it’s that simple. No, it isn’t easy.
At this point, we’ve all heard about body positivity. Somehow, even that is polarizing, with critics frothing over the promotion of obesity and “health concerns.”
Most people I meet are more rational, and yet there is still a disconnect. Body positivity seems to land on most people as a sign that they shouldn’t think poorly of other people’s bodies…but they still want to lose that stubborn belly fat or they wish their ass was rounder or they had less cellulite.
Whatever side of the fence you fall on, I need to make one thing clear:
Loving your body has nothing to do with what it looks like.
That doesn’t mean you can’t love what your body looks like, but I’m really not here to debate beauty standards. It is not a contradiction to say that you can love your body — deeply — and not find it terribly attractive.
Yet, somehow, body positivity and body love are reduced in the media we consume as flaunting a body that flies in the face of normalized beauty standards.
It’s never the straight-sized, fair-haired white girl at the center of a body-positive campaign. Why? She sets the standard. Of course she (and the general public) “loves” her body.