The Body Positive movement, what is it exactly?

Faced with the dictates of perfection where small bulges, the slightest trace of cellulite and stretch marks are quickly retouched with Photoshop. We at Smoon invite people in general and women in particular to embrace their bodies and say yes! You are beautiful, you are radiant, you are amazing, if only you will see it...

To convince you, we are going to talk to you about body positivism, a movement that is shaking up the codes of beauty and changing mentalities.

Bodypositive, a hashtag that wants you well

Coming straight from the United States, body positivism is particularly famous on social networks and especially on Instagram. Advocating a profound change in mentalities, the body positive movement preaches tolerance and acceptance of the body, whatever its appearance. Whether fat, thin, hairy, short or hunchbacked. Launched in 1996 by Elizabeth Scott and Connie Sobczak (author of the book “Embody: A Guide to Celebrating Your Unique Body”), the bodypositive hashtag has a steadily growing following.

Body Positive movement: permission to love yourself

Thanks to the photos of anonymous people on the Internet, but also of celebrities in magazines and "plus size" models (large size) like Ashley Graham, muse of major brands of clothing and lingerie, the body positive movement proves that beauty does not has no border. No, you don't have to be a young woman, wear size XS clothes, have perfectly white and aligned teeth and be 1.75m tall to be beautiful in our own way. Besides, it would be vain to seek perfection at all costs, because in reality it does not exist, or rather it is everywhere. In this story, it's up to us to accept ourselves as we are, to finally see the diamond that we really are.

The body positive movement celebrates women and allows us to modify our first idea of ​​beauty. These little flaws that we try so hard to hide, wouldn't it be time instead to offer them permission to show themselves? There is no beautiful and less beautiful physique, but a diversity of morphologies all as perfect as each other.

Under the hashtag #allbodiesaregoodbodies or #youareworhty, women of all ages proudly display their bodies and talk about their femininity without taboo.

Body Positive: a movement that restores confidence

By giving consent to pose and expose oneself, one retunes a legitimate interest and asserts oneself. We give ourselves permission to love ourselves and to receive love. Not always easy at first! We overcome our fears in front of the lens. We stop fearing people's eyes and the idea they have of us. We even take pleasure in showing off and above all we are supported by all those who appear like us on the Internet.

Moreover, this movement has come to the aid of many women suffering from eating disorders. We discover that they have regained control of their bodies and their lives. Like the influencer Body-Posi Panda @bodiposipanda who, in two and a half years, is cured and breathes the joy of living, they finally assume their body as it is and stop making themselves suffer with diets draconians. The Body Positive movement has grown so big that men are getting into it too. This is the case of The Every Man Project site, which challenges mentalities and questions masculinity through a series of photos revisiting advertisements from emblematic fashion magazines of the 90s. For this body positive campaign celebrating inclusion and diversity, the photographer Tarik Carroll stages models of all morphologies and all colors.

In the end, the only thing that the body positive movement rejects are the diktats and the injunction to fit into a mold that in reality is not suitable for anyone.

How to apply body positivism on a daily basis?

Even if the body positive movement is a beautiful philosophy, it's another story when you have to apply it to yourself. So even if it must be long, by dedicating a little time to it each day, you will learn to accept yourself as you really are. You don't look like the models in advertisements and magazines, but you have to learn to love that figure you see in the mirror.

Here are the steps we recommend you take to adopt the principles of body positivism:

• Take off your clothes and stand in front of the mirror. Forget your idea of ​​yourself and look carefully at who you really are.

• Feel the life bubbling inside you and remember how lucky you are to exist, to be here today.

• Notice your physical qualities. Observe every bit of your skin, your eyes, your hair, your feet, your left knee and focus on your strengths.

• Then, examine your body with all the benevolence and the legitimate interest that it deserves, note all the little details that you like less in your appearance while thinking about what they offer you positive on a daily basis, what they allow you to do. These toes may not be your favorite, but they help you stabilize yourself on the ground, move, run, jump. These bulges marked on the waist, learn to consider them with love, they are the memory of one of the most beautiful days of your life: the birth of your child.

• Without falling into a new injunction: be the first to say thank you. Thank yourself for taking time for yourself, for caring about yourself, and for seeing the gem that you truly are.

And to go a little further, do not hesitate to follow and be inspired by accounts such as @mybetter_self, @bodyposipanda or even @mynameisjessamyn.

By Valerie.