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At work, among friends, relatives or even in public spaces, we sometimes witness such comments:
– Get on your side! Summer is coming, how will you show up on the beach? – Ania hears. – But she has a crooked nose, did you see? – two friends are talking loudly behind Ola’s back. – Come on, eat something, start training. Grow muscles like a real man – Andrzej notes with every step. – Have you seen him? My daddy is flaccid, let my Marcin not do that after the wedding – Magda and Sylwia talk about Jarek out loud.
As humanity, we just have a tendency to judge and conform everyone to current patterns, as has always been the case. We can observe it, for example, by checking how successive “canons of beauty” have changed in the pages of history. Not so long ago, the role of trendsetters was played by stars known from television or the front pages of newspapers, now the “models” are set by influencers from social media.
People who do not fit this artificial template are exposed to unjustified criticism and, above all, completely unjustified evaluation. Often we do not even try to listen to what the other person has to say or what they represent, because it is much easier and faster for us to superficially assess their appearance.
The title body-positivity is to be a shield against all biting remarks, but also an attempt to dialogue with people who, under the pressure of society, are unable to love themselves as they are. And the body positive message is simple: “I’m beautiful, my body is so cool!”
Body positive – what is it, what are we dealing with?
Body positivity is a recipe for breaking out of the canon and at the same time the easiest way to go beyond the above-mentioned mainstream trends. Most importantly – body positive can concern each of us, and this “switch in the head” can be moved to the “on” position with little effort.
| We accept our own body as it is. We also accept the bodies of the people around them exactly as they are. We find beauty in ourselves, we see it in others. |
At the same time, we take care of ourselves, using our most precious gift, that is our mind: we look for information, we control our health, we consciously nourish ourselves. We can be on a diet, we can exercise – we do it for our own needs. Out of passion, willingness, common sense and even medical recommendations. However, not in pursuit of the tabloid ideal, but with a flair that is characteristic of a body positive: my body is good and I am only helping it!
The beauty is in the variety
As we mentioned at the beginning, we tend to trust fashion, what is popular and is generally accepted or even admired, and therefore we often embrace such stereotypes without thinking. By the way, we don’t see a side effect that makes everything look the same. Gray and white in the interiors of houses, narrow trousers on the legs, fur on the hood of a winter jacket, silhouette 90-60-90 … We match the standard, we create templates, we do not recognize the rest or even make fun of it.
In the sixties of the last century someone said loud and clear – that’s it. Enough of this! This is how the Body Positivity movement was born. Initially, he was “protected” by the plus-size people most exposed to social criticism. Do you wear something over XNUMX? Shame on you, drop it right now! No, no – with all due respect, it’s none of your business now. And I love my body!
Body positivity and health
The body positive movement in Poland is often misunderstood as the promotion of obesity. Meanwhile, at the root of body-positivity is a completely different aspect. Yes, first of all it is a fight against hatred for one’s own body and all other differences, but also a promotion of caring for health in many areas. It should not be forgotten that the cult of the body in its present dimension often leads to anorexia, bulimia and other serious eating disorders. And of course, depression, about which we wrote a lot more here: https://.pl/jak-leczyc-depresje ?. Risk level? Huge.
The body positive idea says: “Take it easy. You will do it on your own terms. Now take it easy, give yourself some space. Do not compare yourself and point out faults to others, do not worry, do not panic. You will do better in your own life as a whole if you start by liking yourself / yourself. “
Give up obesity, forget about anorexia. Be just right!
Guilt, hatred, embarrassment, complexes – as long as our body does not fit into any canon, such problems arise. Body positivity aims to save us from these inconveniences in a systematic but always the same way: through a positive attitude towards our own body.
Let’s face it – obesity is unhealthy. It leads to numerous health problems (https://.pl/plaga-otyłości-na-wiata). Anorexia at the other extreme is also not healthy – this is guaranteed, wide-ranging problems not only with the body as a body.
Why not stay just right? The problem is that “just right” it has a very wide range, we can say that it is a very individual matter. Let’s try to listen to our body, it often sends signals to us, and no one will tell us better.
Body positive, Poland and a pinch of understanding
In 2012, when Lena Dunham played the role of Hannah Horvath in the series “Girls”, the world was in turmoil. The uncompromising main character was a hit through life, drawing viewers into the festival of their daily affairs, love and sex. It sounds like the plot of more than one series, so what was the problem of some of the audience?
The actress did not match the rest of the Hollywood cream at all. Zero plastic surgeries, hours of makeup, hours at the gym – and yet she won the hearts of fans around the world. Every now and then, you could hear voices: “she’s fat, so unappetizing, I can’t look at her!” Interestingly, Lena was not obese then, she was just “a little more”.
Actors Jonah Hill and singers Adele and Lizzo also struggled with similar problems, mismatching the “standards”. The list could be much longer, but that’s not the point – some of the celebrities finally succumbed to the pressure of “looking perfect”, and some decided to take care of their health. In any of these cases, hate on the internet or in the media should not be the main motivator.
Fortunately, for several years, some brands are more and more eager to draw the attention of recipients to the fact that the world is not so black and white. From sports, like Nike and Adidas, to clothing – like Zalando recently. Of course, Dove has been in the lead for many years, whose campaigns break the barriers of social taboos. For example, this great one:
The trend is starting to turn around in Poland as well, more and more people are speaking publicly about the problems with accepting their own body and themselves. Our awareness is changing, we encourage you to be an ambassador of the body positive movement, as you can read, its assumptions are not too complicated. Give support to those who may need it.
Dietary and body positive services
It is possible that there will be questions like: Why then, if we are too body positive, do we provide dietary services? And rightly so, it’s quite a natural question, and we’ll be happy to answer it.
You will find the answer in many places, for example in our last campaign, May 3, in which we promoted taking care of ourselves and our own health. Or in the stories of our Users who have achieved their goal with us in a safe and healthy way. Or in previous articles. We are not telling anyone that she must look like a model from the Victoria’s Secret catwalk – there is absolutely no need for that.
For us, your health and well-being are the most important things, so in the campaigns you will see real girls, Vitali girls, whose goals and path to success were different, whose motivations and ambitions were different. We are happy with every success of our Users, whether it is the habit of regular hydration of the body, the habit of regular and healthy meals, weight reduction, stabilization or increasing it. We don’t judge which success is more spectacular, and we honestly take great pride in all of them.
Have you noticed a change in the approach to body positivity in your environment recently? What else would have to happen for body positivity to become a natural choice for all of us? Have you liked or are learning to like your bodies?