Cancel Culture and Body Positivity
Fat Liberation Sketch by Kathryn Sturges
Times have been moving so fast! And cancel culture is moving just as fast, cancelling anything that disrupts the status quo or gives people a sense of self-acceptance. Suddenly, body positivity has been replaced with a term called “body neutrality”. And while body neutrality seems positive on the surface…to me it has the fingerprints of the big diet industries all over it.
Body positivity is about learning to accept yourself as you are, so you can stop dieting and get on with doing incredible things with your life! Somewhere along the way, the diet industry must have started making less money because so many people were doing intuitive eating and “shamefully” accepting themselves as they are, regardless of how much they weigh or what they look like.
I’ve been in my own world of hurt this last few years. I gained weight, and it has been hard for me to accept myself at the weight I’m now at. And no matter how hard I try to diet, my weight plateaus unless I take starvation tactics, which isn’t possible for my health. So I’m facing the fact that I’m probably stuck at this new size and shape!
Body neutrality would have me appreciating what my body can do while also trying to improve myself. And, yes! I’m trying to get into better physical shape so that I can keep up with my husband on hikes in the woods. I signed up for Curvy Yoga, and I’ve started taking walks in the neighborhood. I got really out of shape after I had respiratory failure at the end of December. I’m not making excuses…I’m telling you where I’m at as far as body neutrality goes.
But body positivity is also like a soothing balm that I’m trying to apply to the parts of me I don’t love. Like a wash of cool water over blistered hands and feet…body positivity can be a soft place to land in a world where fat people are constantly shamed and made to feel “less than”. Even well meaning family and friends jump on board, encouraging weight loss above all else. And accepting myself, even with the weight gain, is going to heal my life on so many levels. I’m even starting to wear my upcycles more often, and show my true colors in the way I dress again!
If you are looking for even more pressure to lose weight, turn to body neutrality. I would almost bet it stems from the diet industry and the medical industry, with their arbitrary measurements of what makes someone acceptable. You have to remember they are banking on you not accepting yourself, and that you will keep fattening their wallets while you try to slim down.
Or you can turn to body positivity and accept yourself as you are today! While I work at my physical fitness, I’m also gifting myself some self-acceptance! It feels so divine!
