Mind positivity is stronger than body positivity - Lifestyle Monday
Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post,
Recently, I've watched a video that included the American "plus-sized" model, Tess Holliday. In the video, Tess spoke about her involvement in the "body positive" movement which included her aspirations to become a model when she was younger and her own struggles with bullying. From the video, I could tell that Tess was a very bold, liberal, forward-thinking person who joined the campaign for the promotion of overweight women in order to embrace what the beauty and modelling industry was not showcasing. In her interview Tess quite proudly said, "If designers don't start being more diverse and inclusive with their campaigns, I do believe that they will be left behind."
Now, when it comes to body positivity, I agree that in the modelling world, there tends to be one type of person represented. Most of the time, this person is fairly slim, athletic-looking, and may have what we consider to be an agreeable, attractive look. In all honesty, I do get fairly bored seeing this unrealistic version of what is meant to be an ordinary person on a make-up, cosmetic, and clothing advert because it's just not true at all. Especially when it comes down to adverts from big, accessible supermarkets and shops like Tesco and Peacocks, advertising clothes from models that don't obtain the everyday, average look, it just feels as though these well-known businesses just aren't being diverse enough.
However, when it comes to the subject of representation in the modelling world, things can get really complicated very quickly. If you have to think about representation of a mixture of body types for example, just to make people feel included in society, I don't think I can agree with it anymore. Since when has someone's confidence, someone's self worth and value in society, ever been dependent on someone else? We're constantly told about integrity, the quality of being honest and true to who your are, what you say, and what you believe in, but we're teaching people to be fake versions of themselves by relying on the actions of someone else to make them feel better about themselves.
When it comes down to representing overweight people to me, yes, I do believe that like the incredibly underweight individuals portrayed on some adverts, it's an unhealthy lifestyle to promote. However, why are we trying to make modelling more diverse? I get that it's meant to be empowering but wouldn't it be stronger to teach young people from the very beginning how to be self-confident, without the intuition of anyone else. It would be ideal if we were all fantastic role models in life but some people and some industries will unfortunately never incline their thinking that way and you can't always rely on other people to maintain your self-esteem for that reason.
Overall, to come back to what Tess said at the beginning, "If designers don't start being more diverse and inclusive with their campaigns, I do believe that they will be left behind." Now, this statement may be true but I wouldn't want it to be the case. I think a lot of mental health issues manifest when people begin to compare themselves to a more "ideal" body type or aesthetic. Whether that's through seeing models on TV or someone on social media, we're in an age where young and old people, overweight and underweight people are harshly comparing themselves to others. We are responding, understandably, by trying to change what people are viewing, making things more inclusive. However, why not educate people to be comfortable in their own skins? If someone's mental state is not only independent of someone else, their mental state is about how they feel without even taking their looks into account, wouldn't that be more effective? If we taught people to be comfortable in their own skins, encourage them to speak their minds, and express their minds rather than their looks unapologetically, wouldn't that make people psychologically stronger?
InStyle
Just a fun little discussion I thought that I would share with you. What are your thoughts on the body positive movement? Are they the same or are they different? Let me know in the comments below and I'll be sure to reply to them. I ♡ hearing from you!
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Bye,
XOX, Juliette
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