Why does body positivity cause so much negativity?

“As a result, being attractive became bad”

Katya Cheburekova, translator

The concept of body positivity is that every body is beautiful, so people should love themselves for who they are. We are talking about those who had an accident and lost an arm or a leg, girls who had acid splashed in their faces, women after mastectomy, castrated men and other people. That is, about those who cannot change anything in themselves. But, as they say, let the goat into the garden.

As a result, being attractive became bad. If a girl takes care of herself, she is a “husband” and a “litter”. If it is unpleasant for her to look at the green stripes on the armpits, she is accused of internal misogyny. Any compliment is perceived as objectification and oppression.

I agree that people should wear what they want, but why deliberately arouse antipathy by exposing a far from slender body and overgrown legs?

Separate attention deserves “freeblowing” – the refusal to use hygiene products during menstruation and, again, the deliberate display of menstrual blood. Representatives of the movement claim that menstrual blood on clothes is as normal as blood from a finger cut. In their opinion, gynecological issues can and should be discussed openly.

But why all this cult? In my opinion, menstrual blood is the same natural fluid secreted by our body as sweat, earwax, saliva, phlegm, pus, snot, and the like. Why expose this if everyone knows perfectly well about such a phenomenon as menstruation?

“We must learn to speak freely about the human body”

Daria Sukharchuk, journalist

I want to remind you of one important point – in Western culture, under the influence of Christianity, a biased attitude towards the human body has long been established and flourished. It’s not just about hairy armpits – we often treat our own body with the same squeamishness. Both disgust and taboo are considered good manners.

A decent person will not say “I threw up” – he will say “I felt bad.” By the way, this is a feature of Western culture. In the East, this is much easier, they like to talk about health there, and they don’t blush from the word “toilet”. And at the same time they love to experiment with appearance.

Stocks of bodypositives cause a negative reaction from the public – it’s true. However, one must understand why this is being done – and the point here is precisely to shock the public. Because (and this is often true), only after experiencing a shock, a person can think – why, in fact, this picture irritates him so much? At the very least, a person will understand himself better. He will think, for example, does he really need this epilation, or does it cause one disorder?

In this sense, I am rather for body positivity in the sense that it is necessary to unlearn complexes and learn to speak freely about the human body. And if “shock therapy” is needed for this, then let it be. The sexual revolution out there also shocked everyone – and what is the result.

“The goal of body positivity is to develop a positive attitude towards the body in people”

Lika Ovcharenko, activist of the body-positive movement

The body positivity movement is represented by various resources. Most of the negativity is caused precisely by radical feminists. If we consider body positivity through the prism of feminism, yes, feminism needs body positivity. But body positivity needs feminism to the same extent that it needs any movement for a respectful attitude towards a person. Gender doesn’t matter here. Radical feminism sins by blaming men for all the problems and believes that the fewer men, the more beautiful life is.

The radical approach is also expressed in the fact that indulgence of the fashion industry is perceived as a betrayal of ideology, as an adherence to “patriarchal standards”. While body positivity itself does not contain such ideas, its goal is to develop a positive attitude towards the body in people, and not to fight patriarchy or even the beauty industry.

The beauty industry itself should be at the service of girls and work for their entertainment – at will.

Giving up cosmetics, shaving your legs, taking care of your hair does not mean becoming more body-positive. It is necessary to refuse all this consciously, realizing that it is simply not interesting. But if a girl or a guy likes it, why not?

I want to add that in society there are actually problems of accepting those who are different. In particular, a negative attitude towards people with obesity, disabilities, mental disabilities, unusual appearance or problematic skin. Bodypositive takes the side of such people and thus becomes a target for the same negativity. Although I notice that there are not so many rabid and thoughtless haters and a significant number of people are ready to accept adequate ideas and dialogue. Although there are those with whom it is useless to talk, there are many who listen and change their point of view.

“Body positivity invites women to decide for themselves what to do with their bodies”

Kimberly Davis

You need to understand that body positivity is not the same as not washing and shaving. He only invites women to decide for themselves what to do with their bodies, warning about the consequences of various procedures. However, why some people feel they can make demands on the appearance and health of others remains a mystery.

“It is not the original idea that causes negativity, but those who follow it most radically”

Evgeny Lebedev

Briefly, there are two main reasons:

1. Body positivity in the worst sense of the word is terrible and disgusting.

2. Some people under an ideological sauce deliberately achieve such a reaction.

The negative is not caused by the original idea, but by those who follow it most radically. Photographs of dyed armpit hair or women’s legs covered in menstrual blood leave most people disgusted and wondering why radical body-positives are doing this.

I understand why women rebelled against the glamorous photoshopped girls from magazines: they are tired of unattainable ideals, expensive and often ineffective cosmetics, dubious and dangerous plastic surgeries. People – primarily women – want real female images in popular culture. And I support their rejection of the imposed fanatical desire for the unattainable.

Natural beauty is often quite attractive, if not taken too radically. But like any movement, body positivity has its freaks. Many people do not want to have anything in common with markedly ugly people, especially ugly women, no matter how good they are personally or professionally.

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