There are some specific terms that was never a thing till now, humans perspective about our "being" keeps evolving in ways we never thought possible. One of the core principle that makes we humans confident about our "being" is our ability to identify as something, which is an abstract of the way we see ourselves.
Our perspective about ourselves seems to dictate the direction of our lives. A human ability to think positive of him/herself boosts our self esteem significantly. If we don't accept ourselves for who we are, then it is nearly impossible for us think of ourselves as creatures of value. One of the reasons why specific people feel inferior to others is because they don't consider themselves to be good enough or far too inferior to communicate with specific level of individuals.
Feeling positive about ourselves, makes us value our "being". This form of thinking manifest through every act we engage in, from the way we communicate with others and engage with fellow humans within the social sphere shows traces of how positive a human thinks about themselves. For a human to feel ashamed of him/herself is something that causes the mind to loses its essence, what will be the point of being human without the thought of worthiness?
Not being ashamed of oneself means being able to speak in public without feeling unneeded, to walk in public and having it in mind that; I'm just as filled with beauty and elegance just like every body else. This is how positive thinking of oneself manifest, its eradicate any form of self rejection that might exist within a person's mind. I'm quite aware of the fact that, people are capable of making a person feel like a lesser person but this can only truly have effects if we allow the criticism take roots in our mind.
Out of the abundance of thinking positive about oneself, the term body positivity was birthed. This is not just about the totality of a person and everything that encompasses but the way a person view their own body. We humans are of different origins, culture, colour and backgrounds. Which means, while some set of people with specific features, qualities and colour might consider themselves to be humans of high standards and every other human without such quality will be considered a lesser human.
Which is what the whole concept of racism was built upon, colour and body characteristics differences. In a world where the concept of racism is gradually being eradicated and frowned upon, even if it is just in the surface, every human with distinctive quality now feels the need to display the beauty that exist in our individualistic uniqueness. With the thought of; probably if this is done, it might help eradicate how each individual view themselves and help the world accept individual differences.
Racism can only exist if a specific race feels superior to another but what if we learn to accept each individual uniqueness, wouldn't it eradicate racism from human minds? Since the body plays a large role in portraying a person's self identify, one look at a person, you already know where they are from. Is it not quite strange how a person looks can tell a lot about the person's character? But then, a lot of people have been misjudged by their looks, so each individual has been empowered with the right to think positively about their own body.
Body positivity is just meant to be how we view ourselves, healthy thinking of our own "being" but then it saddens my heart when I see the level at which we humans have gone to express this term. Thinking positively about one's body does not necessarily mean a person needs to start promoting inappropriate images on themselves and using the term "body positivity" to justify their immense absurdity.
There is a fine line between body positivity and toxic thinking. It is fine to want to express body positivity by displaying the beauty that exist within oneself, not necessarily nudity. Body positivity becomes toxic when we can't tell the difference.
I'm a person that believes in appropriate representation of oneself in a way that is worthy of respect within the social sphere but when a human misrepresent themselves by doing all sort of inappropriate things to prove their uniqueness, what will be the point in that? It will only further prove the reason why others think such person is absurd in the first place.
In doing so, it affects every other person/persons that have any form of similar uniqueness with the person representing themselves inappropriately. It creates a reason for grouped criticism, which means if a specific person with a specific quality can behave in this manner, others with such qualities will definitely act the same. When this happens it makes you wonder, what exactly will it achieve? in this case, Instead of body positivity to eradicate wrong perspective about specific people, wrong expression of body positivity helps creates a reason to misunderstanding of a person/persons uniqueness.
Body positivity, I consider it a movement that helps pave way for a new world with individuals that appreciates and honour each and everyone unique qualities but when abused, it just becomes another movement caused by abnormalities of modernisation.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled Body positivity in hive learners community.
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