Body Positivity: Redefining Beauty Standards and Promoting Self-Acceptance

Understanding Body Positivity and Its Core Principles

True Story: In 1995, a rural region on the island nation of Fiji gained access to American television for the 1st time. Prior to 1995, these Fijians had a more separate culture, including a distinct beauty standard in which excess body fat was seen as a sign of prosperity and part of physical attractiveness, akin to wearing a Rolex watch in the West. 

Within three years of exposure to American television, the most popular shows in Fiji at the time being “Melrose Place” and “Xena: Warrior Princess”, medical anthropologist Anne Becker documented the emergence of negative body image and a culture of disordered eating appearing in Fijian adolescent girls. I mention this anecdote because it highlights the power of the media to affect us. For those of us who grew up immersed in Western culture, think of how much film, television, and social media we have been exposed to in our lives. How many perfectly lighted, made-up, professionally dressed, surgically altered, PED-using, and photoshopped models have been presented to us as role models? How screwed up have we become as a consequence?

We’ll never know! But the concept of body positivity may be able to help us strike a balance between adopting healthy diet and exercise behaviors without going into the realms of excessive exercise or disordered eating that can harm us.

Defining Body Positivity: Acceptance and Appreciation of All Bodies

Body positivity is a social movement centered on celebrating bodies of all sizes, skin tones, shapes, genders, and physical abilities, and expanding beauty standards beyond the confines of the present day. Body positivity can be viewed as the modern iteration of past social movements rebelling against unhealthy and constrictive beauty standards, such as the Victorian Dress Reform Movement of the 1850s and the Fat Acceptance movement of the 1960s.   

Challenging Unrealistic Beauty Standards and Promoting Self-Love

When we consider modern beauty standards, in which we are asked to compare our physiques to the picture-perfect (enhanced, as I noted above) models we see, the notion of body positivity makes sense. The lifetime prevalence of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia worldwide is estimated to be about 2% of the population. Muscle dysmorphia, the condition in which sufferers believe they have insufficient muscularity, is often estimated to afflict at least 100,000 people in the US, though this estimate is hard to quantify. Those afflicted with eating disorders and body image issues are at a higher risk of suicide and mortality, not to mention a lower quality of life.  

Body Positivity in Balance

Body positivity, in theory, can be an antidote to negative self-thought and harmful behaviors. In practice, higher levels of body positivity have been associated with lower levels of muscle dysmorphia. However, short-term exposure to only body-positive social media has not affected subjects’ feelings of weight satisfaction differently from traditional social media featuring lean and muscular influencers. Further, the concept of body positivity has also been criticized on several fronts. Among them, it may encourage unhealthy behaviors such as overeating and avoiding exercise. Also, body positivity itself tends to limit one’s focus to the body’s appearance, neglecting important aspects of health that you cannot measure by looking in the mirror, such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

So what is the answer? I don’t know. But my best advice is this: strive to seek a balance between loving what you see every time you look in the mirror and doing things that make you the best you can be. Formulate an exercise plan in which you move in a way you enjoy, so it is a joy, not a chore. Eat in a way that satisfies your appetite, gives you energy, and makes you healthy. Consult with a medical professional and monitor your vital signs and blood work regularly. Live your best life and love who you are, while enjoying the journey to make you the best you possible.

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2. _{Breves, P. L., van Berlo, Z. M. C., Teunissen, L., König, L., Binder, A., & Naderer, B. (2025). Happier and Healthier? Investigating the Longitudinal Impact of Body-Positive and Fitspirational Influencers on Weight Satisfaction, Healthy Eating, and Physical Activity. Health communication, 1–13. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2025.2465795}

3. _{Czepczor-Bernat, K., Modrzejewska, A., & Modrzejewska, J. (2025). #BodyPositivity: The Role of Body Appreciation and Body Mass Index for Muscle Dysmorphia, Body Attitudes and Exercise Motives Among Men. Nutrients, 17(7), 1177. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17071177}

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