The Body Confidence Movement, (or what we think is a complete revolution) lead by Leah Shanks is all about celebrating body diversity and get rid of body shaming. Similar campaigns like the Body Image Movement pioneered by Tayrn Brumfitt aim to put an end to body loathing and spread the message of body love and celebrating body types of all shapes, sizes and abilities.
Why has the body confidence movement started?
We are so proud and inspired to see that the number of plus size bloggers has grown massively as (mostly) women are embracing their bodies and finding a sisterhood of fellow minded plus size women that all celebrating each other's differences. We don't have to all be stick thin to be beautiful.
The rise of plus size models such as Tess Holiday, Ashley Graham and Iskra Lawrence has changed the way that the fashion industry sees the plus size market. Many designers like Jean-Paul Gaultier and Lane Bryant have embraced the movement by putting curvy models on the catwalk and on the magazine covers.
Why do we need the Body Confidence Movement in the first place?
Ideals in beauty standards for women is hardly a new idea and the history books are full of how members of the ‘fairer sex’ have always tried to fit in with more and more demanding beauty standards. The corset and the hoop skirt are obvious examples.
We think that society has ‘woken up and smelt the coffee’ and realised that we are all different and are never going to look the same however hard we may try but the idea of a ‘standard of beauty’ is still around and this can have a huge effect on your self-worth
‘Fat people’ have (and still are) judged by the way they look. I mean, you just have to walk down the street and there’ll be fat-shamers everywhere.
Nowhere is this truer than in a job interview. Take two girls, one fat and one skinny, let's assume that they have similar qualifications... Who do you think is more likely to get the job?
If you guessed skinny then bingo, you got it in one.
People assume that if you are fat, you’re probably going to be really lazy, sit around all day and get nothing done.
Dating can also be a struggle for curvy girls (and guys)
Maybe this is down to low confidence and self-esteem or maybe it's down to. ‘fat- phobia’ or internalised fat-hate. Basically, this boils down to curvy girls (and guys) seeing themselves unworthy of love because of their size.
A third of all men actually prefer curvy girls so whilst there might be a few less fish in the sea, you don’t have ‘wait until you have lost that bit of extra weight’ before finding love.
Not everyone is a fan
Even though the Body Confidence Movement has plenty of support not everyone is on board.
Lisa Kaplin of Mind Body Green says that “the positive body image movement is yet another dangerous fascination with women's appearance and not women's overall well-being.”
Ok, but we live in a world which is pretty much obsessed with how we look and even though we’d like to think that our self-worth would be based on other factors such as personality and success, it isn’t. Fat-shaming and judging people on how they look happens so often that we really need a positive body image revolution like the BCM.
So what do you think, is the Body Confidence Movement a good thing or not?
We’d love to hear your fat-shaming stories, if like me, you’ve been in the firing line. I mean ‘you’d look so much better if you lost some weight’ right?
Disclaimer: The Body Confidence Movement does not promote an unhealthy lifestyle. Whilst the BCM is about acceptance, it recognises the serious health risks of being obese and believes that looking after yourself both in body and mind comes first.