What the Body Positive Movement Is Not About
I had the honor to be with Kimberlee Plezia from The Fat Girl Life to talk about how we should view ourselves, society’s expectations of the women’s body, and how TikTok and other social media platforms are empowering voices of sizes. To sum it up, we talked about what the “body positive movement” is not and how to best protect yourself
Do check out Kimberlee and her podcast for more positive outlooks in life. She is such a joy to talk to and she has helped so many people from her TikTok account.
Listen to our full chat here or just click the player above.
Summary
What is Happening with the Diet Industry?
If you have not noticed, the diet industry has evolved. It no longer talks about weight loss as the main motivator (even though that is what the products help you do) but people now are talking more about body positivity or the body positive movement.
“We are beautiful at every size.” “Every size is beauty.” Those are some of the phrases that you might have heard.
The thing is, the diet industry has not changed. It still relies on your insecurity about your body to make money, which is even more dangerous.
Instead of presenting itself in an overt so we can stay away from the toxicity, now everyone is talking about body positive without actually supporting it. You can read more about this point from my blog, “What the Diet Industry Won’t Tell You.”
Related post: What the Diet Industry Won’t Tell You
The Problem with Social Media
Kimberlee and I started talking about TikTok and its powerful algorithm. She found a great community of plus-size people and feel very included. I am very glad for her.
Even though I personally do not use TikTok, I have to agree that its algorithm is powerful and continues to show people what they want to see.
This is where the problem emerges. Kimberlee wants to hear more plus-size voices, so she gets more plus-size voices on her “For You” page. What if somebody is looking for something more toxic? Does TikTok serve them toxic content?
Based on what we all can see so far, it does. A teenager always looks for acceptance or the next “cool” thing. TikTok (or any social media platforms) will serve them what they want to see to keep them using and scrolling in the app.
How do we educate people to look out for themselves? What happens when people are going down a rabbit hole of misinformation?
It all starts with people’s mindset and willingness to seek out better and wholesome content so that they can use social media as a tool to enrich their lives.
Related post: Social Media Is Not That Bad
What the “Body Positive Movement” Is Not
To our next part of the conversation, I asked Kimberlee about the darker side of plus-size voices on social media. Are they actually spreading the body positive movement? Or are they advertising for something else?
Let us take a look at this example:
We all have to agree. The person in this picture is plus size. But is she actually spreading the body positive movement message that Kimberlee is trying to do?
This person purposefully edited her photo. She airbrushed all kinds of skin textures that occur naturally on our bodies.
Is the body positive movement when we “fix” what we do not want to see in our pictures? There are plenty of accounts like this everywhere, using the name of “plus-size” or “body positivity” to promote insecurities among ourselves.
You should watch our YouTube video to see Kimberlee’s true skin. She is not afraid to showcase who she is. She is THE example of the body positive movement that we need.
Related post: How to Improve Your Look As a Woman Over 50
How You Should Define the “Body Positive Movement” Instead?
Much of how we perceive people is based on their appearance. We judge people on how they look. We do not see people through their point of view.
Body positive movement means appreciating everyone for who they are, regardless of how they look through our eyes. Sure, being obese means there is a health risk that the person is experiencing, but it does not mean they are lazy or do not care about their health.
Want to live healthy while embracing your body positivity? Check out this Habit Forming Checklist to help you balance both!
!!One of the new body positivity movement articles recently came out about the new “slim-thick” mindset that we are experiencing nowadays, with fitness influencers and celebrities promoting it. We might be moving away from just being “as thin as a stick” to now “being fit but thick at certain parts.” Both are impossible and bad for our health.
In the world of social media, we need to take a step back and stop assigning somebody’s worth to their appearance. This is the biggest point I want you to take away from this collaboration.
The “slim-thick” mindset will become its own dedicated blog. It deserves its own article that goes deep into all the nuances of this topic. Stay tuned for more.
Visit Kimberlee’s website: https://thisfatgirllife.com/
Support her Buy Me a Coffee page: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thisfatgirllife
