So, Is the Body Positivity Movement Still a Thing?

[ThatRobGuy]

So, Is the Body Positivity Movement Still a Thing?

Body positivity is shifting with the rise of weight-loss drugs and a booming skincare industry. Discover how body neutrality offers a healthier approach.

www.psychologytoday.com

Here's a few older pieces about this subject from The Atlantic and TIME.

Could Ozempic Derail the Body-Positivity Movement?

The medical miracle could reverse our progress on accepting bodies of all sizes.

www.theatlantic.com

Ozempic Exposed the Cracks in the Body Positivity Movement

Catherine Mhloyi unpacks our willingness to make a potentially life-saving medication scarce in the name of self-love.

time.com

I think this echoes some of the things I had mentioned last year.

Which is that "body positivity" movement didn't actually believe their own bovine excrement, they just want to attach some sort of "virtue" to the concept of excusing the lack of will power and poor decisions.

"Healthy at any size!" "Big is beautiful!" "You're perfect just the way you ar..... wait.... what's that? There's now an effort-free way to lose weight for $60/month with an injection and I can still eat stuff I like until I feel full and lose 50 pounds in 6 months? Ummm nevermind, I'm going to get some GLP-1s, can you believe how amazing I look after I lost weight?"

 

[RileyG]

As someone who lost nearly 40 pounds in 2 years and am no longer obese, I feel very critical of the body positivity movement. Obesity is NOT healthy and can lead to multiple health issues such as stroke, heart disease, certain cancers, diabetes etc. Being a healthy weight is so, so important for our health.

 

[Nithavela]

I think it was a mistake to reduce the "body positivity" movement to people being happy with being fat. Especially since that is one of the body alterations that is easily reversible by changing habits in most cases. It not only drastically reduces quality of life and life expectancy, but unduly causes costs and drains manpower in the health industry.

If you are okay with having turned your body fat into your own enemy, fine, but leave some room for the rest of people who aren't at fault for having a body they are being shamed for.

 

[BCP1928]

So, Is the Body Positivity Movement Still a Thing?

Body positivity is shifting with the rise of weight-loss drugs and a booming skincare industry. Discover how body neutrality offers a healthier approach.

www.psychologytoday.com

Here's a few older pieces about this subject from The Atlantic and TIME.

Could Ozempic Derail the Body-Positivity Movement?

The medical miracle could reverse our progress on accepting bodies of all sizes.

www.theatlantic.com

Ozempic Exposed the Cracks in the Body Positivity Movement

Catherine Mhloyi unpacks our willingness to make a potentially life-saving medication scarce in the name of self-love.

time.com

I think this echoes some of the things I had mentioned last year.

Which is that "body positivity" movement didn't actually believe their own bovine excrement, they just want to attach some sort of "virtue" to the concept of excusing the lack of will power and poor decisions.

"Healthy at any size!" "Big is beautiful!" "You're perfect just the way you ar..... wait.... what's that? There's now an effort-free way to lose weight for $60/month with an injection and I can still eat stuff I like until I feel full and lose 50 pounds in 6 months? Ummm nevermind, I'm going to get some GLP-1s, can you believe how amazing I look after I lost weight?"

Yeah, the whole thing was dumb. Now, how are you going to blame it on cultural marxism?

 

[Aryeh Jay]

Yeah, the whole thing was dumb. Now, how are you going to blame it on cultural marxism?

I blame Obama.

 

[BCP1928]

I blame Obama.

But it was George Soros who put it up to him, you bet.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

I think it was a mistake to reduce the "body positivity" movement to people being happy with being fat. Especially since that is one of the body alterations that is easily reversible by changing habits in most cases. It not only drastically reduces quality of life and life expectancy, but unduly causes costs and drains manpower in the health industry.

If you are okay with having turned your body fat into your own enemy, fine, but leave some room for the rest of people who aren't at fault for having a body they are being shamed for.

Body positivity should've always been reserved for circumstances of birth, or perhaps someone who had some sort of accident and lost a limb or had some condition like vitiligo.

But the majority of the messaging surrounding it always seemed to be pertaining to the "Proud to be plus size" angle.

 

[BCP1928]

Body positivity should've always been reserved for circumstances of birth, or perhaps someone who had some sort of accident and lost a limb or had some condition like vitiligo.

But the majority of the messaging surrounding it always seemed to be pertaining to the "Proud to be plus size" angle.

There was a racial issues to it as well, of course, because what constitutes "right weight" culturally can vary.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

There was a racial issues to it as well, of course, because what constitutes "right weight" culturally can vary.

Cultural perceptions of what size is preferable doesn't negate science and cardiology.

 

[Nithavela]

There was a racial issues to it as well, of course, because what constitutes "right weight" culturally can vary.

Haven't seen a single "body positivity" ad or message that didn't include people who wouldn't have looked fat in any skin color.

 

[BCP1928]

Cultural perceptions of what size is preferable doesn't negate science and cardiology.

No, they don't.

 

[RileyG]

I think it was a mistake to reduce the "body positivity" movement to people being happy with being fat. Especially since that is one of the body alterations that is easily reversible by changing habits in most cases. It not only drastically reduces quality of life and life expectancy, but unduly causes costs and drains manpower in the health industry.

If you are okay with having turned your body fat into your own enemy, fine, but leave some room for the rest of people who aren't at fault for having a body they are being shamed for.

Agreed

 

[durangodawood]

I never followed the movement too much.

If it validated flat out unhealthy choices, then thats no good.

If it eased the absurd pressure for people to look "just right", then Im all for it.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

I never followed the movement too much.

If it validated flat out unhealthy choices, then thats no good.

If it eased the absurd pressure for people to look "just right", then Im all for it.

It was, to say the least, a very sweeping overcorrection.

If it was just a "it's okay to be a little curvy, not everyone has to look like a barbie doll" sort of thing, then one could've rationalized it a bit.

But that movement was glorifying some body types as "normal" that were beyond unhealthy.

And they actually incorporated a sense of tribalism into it. When people like Adele and Rebel Wilson lost weight (I believe they both lost around 100lbs), they got labelled as "sell-outs" by people in that movement with the rationale of "They used to be an inspiration to other plus size women that someone with their body type can be famous and successful, but now they have nobody to look up to because by choosing to lose weight, you're conforming to society's beauty standards and undoing the progress we've made"

 

[iluvatar5150]

Body positivity should've always been reserved for circumstances of birth, or perhaps someone who had some sort of accident and lost a limb or had some condition like vitiligo.

If you dig deep enough, I suspect you could pin a large percentage of obesity (and other things, like addiction) on circumstances that happened to a person. Metabolic rate, brain signals around hunger, pleasure signals from eating, neurodivergence and mental health issues, medications, etc.

If a middle aged adult puts on 5 pounds a year, yeah, that's probably a run-of-the-mill discipline thing. But if they've been heavy since childhood and happen to have a body type that looks exactly like their parents? I know families like that and there's no way those kids were eating more than I was at their age and I was skinny as a rail (still sort of am).

Most people are average and just sort of coast along, making the easiest decisions available to them in the moment. Did we all lose all of our discipline since the 50's when everybody was skinny? Or did something about our environment change that facilitated us coasting along into obesity instead of, say, lung cancer?

Body positivity as a movement may have gone too far, but shaming people has gone a lot farther for longer.

 

[durangodawood]

...If it was just a "it's okay to be a little curvy, not everyone has to look like a barbie doll" sort of thing, then one could've rationalized it a bit.

I would have rationalized it a lot!, given the mental and physical suffering of young people conditioned to agonize over various imperfections

But that movement was glorifying some body types as "normal" that were beyond unhealthy.

And they actually incorporated a sense of tribalism into it. When people like Adele and Rebel Wilson lost weight (I believe they both lost around 100lbs), they got labelled as "sell-outs" by people in that movement with the rationale of "They used to be an inspiration to other plus size women that someone with their body type can be famous and successful, but now they have nobody to look up to because by choosing to lose weight, you're conforming to society's beauty standards and undoing the progress we've made"

Thats not good.

 

[Perpetual Student]

"Healthy at any size!" "Big is beautiful!"

That is what I scream halfway round 3 of my kettlebell workout.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

If you dig deep enough, I suspect you could pin a large percentage of obesity (and other things, like addiction) on circumstances that happened to a person. Metabolic rate, brain signals around hunger, pleasure signals from eating, neurodivergence and mental health issues, medications, etc.

If a middle aged adult puts on 5 pounds a year, yeah, that's probably a run-of-the-mill discipline thing. But if they've been heavy since childhood and happen to have a body type that looks exactly like their parents? I know families like that and there's no way those kids were eating more than I was at their age and I was skinny as a rail (still sort of am).

Most people are average and just sort of coast along, making the easiest decisions available to them in the moment. Did we all lose all of our discipline since the 50's when everybody was skinny? Or did something about our environment change that facilitated us coasting along into obesity instead of, say, lung cancer?

Body positivity as a movement may have gone too far, but shaming people has gone a lot farther for longer.

I question many aspects of the whole "it's genetic, I can't help it".

While it's certainly true that many overweight kids have overweight parents, the fact that there's regional and cultural components to obesity that are far more pronounced leads me to think that behavior is driving more of our obesity problem than genetics.

For the regional component...

It's not as if the people in Colorado are vastly genetically different than their counterparts 2 states away over in Arkansas.


Now, being someone who has half of the family that's Southern Baptist, and half of the family that's Catholic (with one tiny branch off of my Dad's side that are practicing Jews), this one I found interesting with regards to food culture.

(this is a little older, it's from 2008)

My extended family would fit this data almost perfectly.

My mom's side nearly half of them that are Obese, my Dad's side, not as many. (and the small branch of the family that are Jews practicing and following a Kosher diet all look pretty svelte)

We were raised Southern Baptist, I remember the pot luck meals that took place after every Sunday service and after every Wednesday night prayer meeting. (it would put Golden Corral to shame)

...and when we'd visit my mom's side of the family down south, I swear they wouldn't even touch a vegetable unless is was deep fried or swimming in butter.


My theory on that?
The practicing Jews stay thinner due to the stricter rules regarding keeping Kosher (things like Bacon Cheeseburgers, Bacon, and Pepperoni pizza are a no-go)

On the Catholic side of the family, they have -- for lack of a better way of putting it -- more "options of vice" (aka: they can have a few drinks at get togethers to have fun) ...whereas, in the strict side of the Baptist part of the family, no beer, no secular music, no watching movies, no fun video games... you cut out all of the things that are fun, what pleasurable experience is left? Eating.


Absent some extraordinary hormonal or medical issue, nobody, even sedentary, is bulking up to 350+ on a 2500 (or even 3000) calories per day -- given that the rule of them is to gain one pound of body weight, you need to consume 3500 calories over your caloric maintenance limit (and your BMR increases with your weight), I thought this was an interesting one to run through Claude's AI (since it's just a mathematical exercise) leveraging the Mifflin–St Jeor formula.

If a 30 year old was 6 foot and 180 pounds, they'd have to consume 4,500 calories a day (almost twice the BMR) regularly for nearly 2 years before approaching 350.

So this stuff isn't happening to people overnight. There are undoubtedly several iterations of having to go up in pants size over a period of years.

 

[Nithavela]

I'm sure some people gain weight easier than others, but in the end, you have to consume more calories than you burn. It's simple as that.

But people living in the USA don't have it easy maintaining their body weight, with all the added sugar, fast food offered around every corner and high caloric convenience food often being far more affordable (both in money and preparation time) than healthier alternatives.

 

[durangodawood]

I question many aspects of the whole "it's genetic, I can't help it".

While it's certainly true that many overweight kids have overweight parents, the fact that there's regional and cultural components to obesity that are far more pronounced leads me to think that behavior is driving more of our obesity problem than genetics.

For the regional component...

View attachment 374006

It's not as if the people in Colorado are vastly genetically different than their counterparts 2 states away over in Arkansas.


Now, being someone who has half of the family that's Southern Baptist, and half of the family that's Catholic (with one tiny branch off of my Dad's side that are practicing Jews), this one I found interesting with regards to food culture.

(this is a little older, it's from 2008)
View attachment 374007

My extended family would fit this data almost perfectly.

My mom's side nearly half of them that are Obese, my Dad's side, not as many. (and the small branch of the family that are Jews practicing and following a Kosher diet all look pretty svelte)

We were raised Southern Baptist, I remember the pot luck meals that took place after every Sunday service and after every Wednesday night prayer meeting. (it would put Golden Corral to shame)

...and when we'd visit my mom's side of the family down south, I swear they wouldn't even touch a vegetable unless is was deep fried or swimming in butter.


My theory on that?
The practicing Jews stay thinner due to the stricter rules regarding keeping Kosher (things like Bacon Cheeseburgers, Bacon, and Pepperoni pizza are a no-go)

On the Catholic side of the family, they have -- for lack of a better way of putting it -- more "options of vice" (aka: they can have a few drinks at get togethers to have fun) ...whereas, in the strict side of the Baptist part of the family, no beer, no secular music, no watching movies, no fun video games... you cut out all of the things that are fun, what pleasurable experience is left? Eating.


Absent some extraordinary hormonal or medical issue, nobody, even sedentary, is bulking up to 350+ on a 2500 (or even 3000) calories per day -- given that the rule of them is to gain one pound of body weight, you need to consume 3500 calories over your caloric maintenance limit (and your BMR increases with your weight), I thought this was an interesting one to run through Claude's AI (since it's just a mathematical exercise) leveraging the Mifflin–St Jeor formula.

If a 30 year old was 6 foot and 180 pounds, they'd have to consume 4,500 calories a day (almost twice the BMR) regularly for nearly 2 years before approaching 350.

So this stuff isn't happening to people overnight. There are undoubtedly several iterations of having to go up in pants size over a period of years.

For sure most of the problem isnt genetic. Tho some of it certainly is.

But to look at your map its probably not pure personal willpower either. Its most likely cultural habits and conditioning. And if you come up through all that it takes way more personal willpower to overcome than your average, say, Colorado person (like me) has to engage to maintain good eating habits.

In other words, they didnt ask for this, and are now as adults are faced with a challenge that could well overmatch us healthy coastal and ex coastal elites.

Otoh you could make an argument that either poverty or churchiness or race or just southern-ness are inversely correlated to personal willpower. Some of those you might not want to touch tho and are probably false anyway.