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Who is included in the Body Positive Movement?

While the original concept of the Body Positive movement has its roots in Fat Liberation, the current Body Positive Movement is for all but with a concerted focus on intersectionality; black bodies, queer bodies, trans bodies, disabled bodies. These bodies are the ones most marginalized and at risk of serious health issues/repercussions for merely existing. (Deborah Rhode, “The Injustice of Appearance”) The message of the body’s worth is vitally important for these groups, as society is often classifying them as unworthy with how these bodies are conceptualized and treated in the physical world.

Now, if you want to go into the concept of dualism in relation to the body positivity movement, you’ll have to wait until I get so excited about it that I make more additions to this virtual zine. ;)

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Art by Fern Cooke

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Art by Mark Maritato

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Cited works

All research heavily influenced by:

Cooper, Charlotte, 2008. What is Fat Activism?. [ebook] Limerick: University of Limerick, pp.1-25. Available at: <http://www.ul.ie/sociology/docstore/workingpapers/wp2008-02.pdf> Accessed 27 April 2021.

Leboeuf, Céline. “What Is Body Positivity? The Path from Shame to Pride.” Philosophical Topics, vol. 47, no. 2, 2019, pp. 113–128. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26948109. Accessed 23 April 2021.

Spieldenner, Andrew R. “Considering the Queer Disabled/Debilitated Body: An Introduction of Queer Cripping.” QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking, vol. 6, no. 3, 2019, pp. 76–80. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/qed.6.3.0076. Accessed 20 April 2021.

As well as just generally influenced by: 

Nguyen, Tram. “From SlutWalks to SuicideGirls: Feminist Resistance in the Third Wave and Postfeminist Era.” Women's Studies Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 3/4, 2013, pp. 157–172. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23611512. Accessed 10 May 2021.

Rhode, Deborah L. “The Injustice of Appearance.” Stanford Law Review, vol. 61, no. 5, 2009, pp. 1033–1101. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40379704. Accessed 10 May 2021.

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Art by Frances Cannon

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...I believe that, beyond challenging confining beauty standards, body positivity should teach us that all bodies are worthy--for example, of care and respect.

Céline Leboeuf, “What is Body Positivity? The Path From Shame to Pride”

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not only** my chronic illness. 

My chronic illness is a part of me, but I am not my chronic illness.

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I won’t let this number own me (which is easier said than done, of course )

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Boss of me III

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So what does body positive mean?

SO MANY THINGS. 

The original posts associated with early 2012 Body positive movement, had more to do with confronting unrealistic beauty standards. 

While the first wave of the fat liberation movement also addressed those standards, it wasn’t until the second wave that fat acceptance made major strides in fashion and beauty standards. However, “The growth of fat fashion was a mass movement, yet it was also problematic...these interventions were somewhat timid and assimilationist...there was no critical engagement with the politics of capitalism and globalisation inherent in that commercial growth, or of discourses around beauty and appearance, and that a liberation movement based on the ability to buy is resting on shaky ground.” (Charlotte Cooper, “What’s Fat Activism?”)

Body positivity as a phrase has a place among “All bodies are beautiful” rhetoric, yet is currently being reimagined as a place for “you owe no one beauty” rhetoric to join alongside. As Céline Leboeuf describes in “What Is Body Positivity? The Path from Shame to Pride”, there is an importance placed on beauty in the body positivity movement that feels antithetical to fat liberation. She goes on to suggest we move from “All bodies are beautiful” to “All bodies are worthy of respect.” This seems to be the way most faces of the body positive movement are going. Jameela Jamil and Lizzo, among others, have made this distinction as well, as they are self-identified as “body neutral” as opposed to body positive.

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HIghly recommend this quick article revisiting the manifesto from The Fat Underground (1973).

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Where Did the Body Positive Movement Come From?

Well, glad you asked. 

Originally, as with most movements, a lot of the push for positive attitudes around different bodies came from more radical activism. 

The first identifiable instance of the “Body Positive” movement was on Instagram in 2012, but the fat liberation movement has its roots in the late 60s. 

The first wave of fat liberation includes the “Fat-In” organized by Steve Post in 1967. Fed up with body discrimination, Steve Post organized a “Fat-In” in Central Park. 

Within this first wave there was also the founding of NAAFA (National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance) in 1969, the Fat Underground’s manifesto in 1973, and the foundation of the London Fat Women’s Group in 1985.

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In response to the alienation and shame many suffer because of these narrow standards of beauty, “body positivity” has emerged as the term for the movement to accept our bodies, regardless of their size, shape, skin tone, gender, and physical abilities

Céline Leboeuf, “What Is Body Positivity? The Path from Shame to Pride”

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Voluminous Soul

The Tumblr version of a zine! 

I wanted to name this “Voluminous Soul” because of the quote that inspired my selection of The Body Positive movement as the focus of my zine

“You are beautiful. Not for the shape of the vessel, but for the volume of the soul it carries.”