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Sarah Herstich, LCSW, tells Bored Panda that the body positivity movement is important because it resists anti-fat discourse and the oppression of bodies. "The body positivity movement has origins in Black fat activism and the history of the oppression of bodies, particularly black fat bodies."
She points out how the movement is about dismantling the current power structures. "[It] invites a lens of intersectionality, exploring the relationship between power and race, gender, disability, sexuality, class and age, and their relationship to oppression. This is important to name because the body-positivity movement, in its origin, was meant to challenge systems that oppress, discriminate, and stigmatize bodies," Herstich explains.
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The licensed therapist also tells Bored Panda that the body positivity movement is about fighting systems of oppression. "To be effective in supporting people to heal from mental health struggles, we have to look at how systems of oppression impact people each and every day, the intergenerational transmission of trauma from those systems, and how trauma responses are now impacting the day-to-day."
Herstich emphasizes that the body positivity movement is about so much more than just loving your body. "It's a movement aimed at liberating all bodies while acknowledging that until all bodies are free from stigma and oppression, we are not truly body positive," the licensed therapist explains.
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As with any other movement that gains traction, some misconceptions exist about body positivity. One of them is that the movement promotes unhealthy lifestyles and eating disorders. Herstich says that it's actually quite the opposite.
"It supports people in acknowledging when their fear of fat originated, how that has made their body feel unsafe to live in, how they have internalized that as truth, and to build a new relationship with their bodies – coming home to themselves and treating their body in ways that are health-promoting and respectful."
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"Body positivity challenges normative and harmful beliefs in a hierarchy of bodies based on size, race, ability, identity, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status," she adds. "Mainstream body positivity also supports people to recognize body diversity, exit harmful dieting cycles, and challenge what is healthy vs. unhealthy."
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Herstich tells us that the point of the body positivity movement is that people can feel safe and free in their bodies. "A culture that is inclusive, accepting and uplifting all bodies, will ultimately be supportive of wellbeing, [physical] and mental health," she explains.
"If that existed, diet culture would not. As a society, we need to continue to do the work of dismantling systems of oppression that impact and harm bodies outside of the thin white ideal."
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