Monday 25-01-2021 - 07:06

The body positivity movement as it is now known began in 2012, initially focusing on challenging unrealistic feminine beauty standards to encourage everyone to love the skin that they’re in.

 

The main goals of this movement are to challenge how society views the body, undressing unrealistic body standards, and promoting acceptance of all bodies. Most importantly, body positivity helps to build people's confidence and acceptance of their bodies and celebrate that all bodies are beautiful.

 

Body positivity can be seen throughout the UK’s history. However, in the ‘70s, ‘80s and '90s, the term body positivity was not used.

 

The ‘Fat Rights Movement’ demanded equal rights for ‘fat’ people in all cultures of life. Through the 2000s there was an increase in body love, but also body shame. Yet people's attempts to victimise and target people due to their body sizes only resulted in more self-expression and a new generation that spreads positive vibes now known as body positivity. 

 

A significant goal of the movement is to fight the ongoing battle of mental health.

 

In many ways, body image influences mental health and overall well-being. Having a healthy body image helps people to have a positive view on their self-worth and appearance. Research suggests that having a negative body image increases the risk of mental conditions including eating disorders and depression. 

 

Plus-size people, and especially plus-size women, do not receive the same respect as everyone else in society, and there is a long way to go to promote body positivity for everyone, and not just cisgender women.

 

Transgender and gender non-conforming people also feel the pressure to live up to body ideals, and many of them are already dealing with bodies that don’t fit their true gender. Just as cisgender men and women receive support, trans and gender non-conforming people do too. 

 

People from across the globe have taken to social media platforms to support the body positivity movement and reject culture’s toxic body shaming, and we want to bring this closer to home at Edge Hill University.

 

Whilst we recognise the work we have done and will continue to do does not make these problems disappear, it is a step in the right direction. We want to ensure that all bodies are positively represented and so check out our other resources on social media or get in touch to support us! 

 

 

Ruby Penaluna                                       Charlie Baker

Women’s Officer                                     LGBQ+ Officer

 

 

 

If you want to get involved with Ruby’s and Charlie’s Body Positivity campaign, you can complete their survey here. A selection of survey answers will be used on social media over the coming months in order to spread body positivity messages among Edge Hill students.