BoPoLena started drawing and posting body positive messages every week on Instagram in August 2016. "I realized very quickly that most people assume that body issues, eating disorders and the struggle for acceptance are 'women's issues,'" BoPoLena told Bored Panda.
"[But that] is not true at all! However, that might be the reason why the body positive community online is dominated by white able-bodied heterosexual cis women. Which I think is ironic since the whole movement has its origins in the Fat Acceptance Movement which was led by black women and people of color."
BoPoLena isn't the only soldier on the front. In recent years, male celebrities, including Chris Pratt, Ed Sheeran, and Robert Pattinson have been increasingly vocal when it comes to insecurities about their looks.
And it's been long overdue. Research by psychiatrists at UCLA shows that overall, people nowadays feel worse about the way they look than they did in the 1970s.
The problem concerns not just college guys hitting the gym to try to get a date: around 90 percent of boys in middle and high school exercise at least occasionally with the specific goal of bulking up. It's about time we start speaking about it more.
As you can see, BoPoLena features a very diverse set of characters in their work. "In each of my series, I focus on a different group that hasn't been represented very well in the BoPo community yet. I did an illustration series on men, on non-binary folx, on intersex people and my next series will be on trans people of all genders."
The artist also plans to tackle disabilities and chronic illnesses in the future but they still need to do more research on these topics. "I'm always in close contact with people of the groups that I try to represent in my art in order to amplify their voices."
BoPoLena says it's their goal to spread body positivity for all people, in all bodies, so that everyone can feel represented in the movement, and if you ask me, they're doing one heck of a job.
