Body positivity is a movement focused on accepting and loving all bodies regardless of shape, size, skin tone and gender. It emphasizes understanding how media messages may shape how we view ourselves and rethinking negative thoughts that make us feel bad about our bodies. In addition, body positivity recognizes other parts of identity such as race, gender or mental health that also matter in an individual.
#BodyPositive, an emerging movement on social media, is challenging the standard images posted to fitness and beauty accounts on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. This trend encourages individuals to post photos that highlight their individual bodies with natural shapes and colors; its proponents believe this focus helps boost self-confidence as well as health benefits.
Body positivity's roots date back to the 1960s with the launch of the fat acceptance movement (also referred to as "the fat liberation movement"). This early wave of body positivity focused on weight biases caused by media beauty standards as well as how diet culture could lead to poor self-images and eating disorders among its followers.
As the movement grew, it focused more on body health and how exercise could be used to increase mental wellbeing. Furthermore, it stressed the importance of exercising in an inclusive and supportive environment. Studies have demonstrated that when people follow body positive social media accounts they're more likely to have positive views toward themselves and their body; however some show this positive effect may be reduced if content fails to address weight bias or includes sexualized images or digital manipulation.
