My Body Is My Value: What Is Body Neutrality And How It Displaces Body Positive

Any public association changes over time. Ceasing to meet the needs of society, a new, often different from the previous, philosophy of thinking and behavior is born from it. The progressive trend towards body positive that appeared at the end of the last century is now less and less consistent with the doctrine for which it was created. A blogger, author of a healthy lifestyle project "Hungry Marathon", a trendsetter and researcher Evgenia Gladkina shared with us her expert opinion on the alternative movement for body neutrality.

The essence of the problem

At various stages of human development, there were their own ideas about beauty, but it was at the end of the 20th century that aesthetic standards began to be especially aggressively introduced into our daily life. Physical perfection became the gateway to a happy life, and women, in an effort to match the cover models, began to drive themselves into eating disorders. The number of suicides and mental disorders is constantly growing in the world due to a perverse attitude towards one's own body.

The desire to overcome this tough pressure prompted the two American women to create an organization whose main values were proper nutrition, sports, caring and respect for oneself, as well as an adequate perception of people of different weight categories.

Body positivity has become a salvation for people with disabilities and those with a non-standard appearance: it helped to love themselves and learn how to properly respond to judgmental views and negative reactions from others. Not only women, but also men joined this movement. In the future, bodypositive supported the fight against infringement of the rights of obese women, which made it possible for plus-size models to appear on the catwalks.

The crisis of body positivity and the birth of body neutrality

At present, body positivity continues to dominate, but it does it much more aggressively than before: thus, sports, diets are denied, an approach is cultivated in which the concepts of “loving your body” and “watching your body” become polarized. Gradually, the original concept of body positive acquires completely different semantic categories that radically change its essence.

Against the background of the crisis of the body positive movement, back in 2015, the term "body neutrality" appeared. The main idea of the new approach was not love or hate for one's own body, but its acceptance. Imagine how difficult it is to love your body with a disability related to brittle bones. The concept of the body neutrality movement does not prohibit not loving yourself on those days when the body lets you down, making you feel pain, but insists that a person needs to accept his body in order to be active and develop the inherent abilities and talents that are in everyone of us.

Instead of asking yourself "Do I like my body?" activists recommend asking the question "What does my body need to be healthy and therefore beautiful?" These questions can only be answered truthfully if you focus on your feelings without looking at your own reflection in the mirror and other people's photos from glossy covers (read also: "How to stop comparing yourself to others?" ").

Celebrities - for body neutrality

The body-acceptance movement has attracted the attention of many celebrities. On Twitter, British actress Jamila Jameel wrote: “It's about breaking free of this cultural obsession. It changed my life. For people with body dysmorphia and ED, this is like a vacation away from thoughts. Bodineutrality takes almost no time in the mirror and frees the mind."

One of the most popular performers of our time, Taylor Swift, supported Jamila in this movement. In one of her interviews, she said: “We have amazing women like Jamila Jamil, who says: 'I'm not trying to spread body positivity.' I am trying to spread the neutrality of the body so that I can sit here and not think about how I look from the outside."

In an interview with The Guardian, Rebecca Taussig said that bodily neutrality “can be really beneficial, especially for people with disabilities. People in this position are often frustrated with the demand to love their bodies when they feel betrayed to them. Being neutral is a relief."

Detox is the main tool for body neutrality

The organism is the space in which the soul lives. And if you continue to draw the parallel with dwelling, you can find an amazing amount of coincidences. Every organism needs energy, care and, of course, cleaning. And while everything is clear with the generally accepted hygiene, familiar to everyone from childhood, not everyone knows about internal cleaning.

Body neutrality is about maintaining the body's ability to detoxify itself. Scientific studies and medical literature state that toxins are an integral part of every person, they are everywhere - in the air, in food, and even the thoughts that come to our minds can be toxic. Body neutrality involves not only accepting your body, but also maintaining its tone, health and development. Detoxification is a universal method for this.

For the natural elimination of toxins from the body, it is necessary to consume more plant foods that contain phytonutrients (see also: "Natural detox: what it is and how to speed up the process"). One of the most readily available sources of these substances is freshly squeezed juice, which is obtained in a screw juicer. This cooking method preserves all the minerals, vitamins and enzymes.

PS:

If the body-positive activists, demonstratively showing off their bodies, declare "I am a beauty and I love myself!" The most important thing about body neutrality is to accept yourself and keep your body healthy.