There is nothing unhealthy about body positivity.
It may be hard to believe, but there are people out there who believe not everyone should be positive about their body.
Like many other movements advocating for societal change, there are many misconceptions about body positivity and negative portrayals on social media such as “real women have meat on their bones.” These people are counterproductive and only make others want to not support it.
Another critique on body positivity is that it promotes an unhealthy lifestyle. Meaning that, telling a person their body is beautiful if they are over or underweight is really just encouraging a lifestyle that could lead to health problems and negative consequences.
Just how cynical and hateful do people have to be to want to discourage others from loving themselves?
Recently, YouTuber and self-proclaimed “comedian” Nicole Arbour made a video entitled, “Dear Fat People,” in which she mocked the body positivity movement and made completely offensive remarks about fat people as a “joke.” Because neglecting to understand the reasons someone could struggle with weight issues and telling people “fat shaming does not exist” should just be taken lightheartedly. I mean, according to Arbour, that’s just satire, right? Wrong.
Just because a person is over or underweight doesn’t mean they can’t be confident in their body. There are people who are comfortable with their body and are still working to lose or gain weight for their own reasons and not simply to please others who don’t accept them as they are.
While I can understand that someone may not have bad intentions while saying these things, it can still be hurtful. A person can’t tell if someone is healthy just by looking at them. People could have just lost or gained 15 pounds and are working hard to like themselves. It’s not fair to judge someone when there can be actual health reasons that make it harder for someone to lose or gain weight.
Hyperthyroidism, for example, can make it hard for someone to gain weight, as an excess production of hormone thyroxin can cause a person’s metabolism to speed up and burn more calories. Someone with hyperthyroidism may have a bigger appetite, but cannot gain weight due to health reasons. Conversely, hypothyroidism can cause the opposite effect.
It does not even have to be a specific health condition.
Regardless of the reasoning everyone should be able to like the way they look even if it does not meet society’s standards.