Devika Sreejith
Our relationships with our bodies is a globally personal yet political topic.
Can body neutrality help society let go of the all-consuming obsession with appearance?
Understanding body neutrality
There have been many progressive movements on how we view our bodies, going back as early as the 1960s. Since the 2000s, one of the most popular movements has been body positivity.
Body positivity encourages us to love and accept our bodies, regardless of insecurities and social norms, and has experienced a surge of attention over the last decade.
Although a bona fide attempt to combat social expectations, body positivity is not without issue. The problem with body positivity is that active optimism about the body’s appearance is also a stressful activity.
If you have tried to do this, you may have felt like you did not have the space to cut yourself some slack on a bad day. Some even construed the affirmations propagated by this movement as “toxic positivity”.
The new wave in response to this is body neutrality. As the name suggests, it emphasises that your body just exists.
You also just exist, without too many complicated feelings about your body. It is a vessel that carries you through this life, something that you do not need to accept or love.
Does body neutrality work?
Body neutrality seems to be more accessible and acceptable for a lot of people.
It does not force you to be positive about things you do not like about yourself. This gives you more energy and the space to further enjoy the things you do like.
“Healthy eating looks different for different people because nutrition is unique to everyone”
What is ironic about the social pressure to look a certain way, or have a certain body, is its disregard for difference. No one thing in the world works for everyone, and there is no ‘one size fits all’ (whatever Brandy Melville may tell you).
The fatphobic side of the world screams “eat less and move more” and while that may work for some, they do not seem to consider other elements, like genetics or allergies.
Healthy eating looks different for different people because nutrition is unique to everyone.
The same goes for body-related movements. Body positivity may work for you, maybe it won’t. Body neutrality may work for you, maybe it won’t.
It is important to remember that the basis of these movements is to help you find something that makes you feel better. It should help you build a better relationship with food and yourself.
How can you do it?
The pursuit of healthier living can be isolating. Friends and family may not understand your motivations. A quick smoke break may be the best part of your work day. You may be met with dismissal for your concerns.
So I want to make this journey towards body neutrality a communal activity.
“Your body has gotten you through all the years you have been alive”
I am no expert in body neutrality or how you can navigate that journey. So I’ve collected some advice that may help.
If you’ve decided that body neutrality is for you, here’s how to go about it:
- Something that has worked for a lot of people is understanding how their body functions and being grateful for it. Your body has gotten you through all the years you have been alive. It has experienced a global pandemic, every heartbreak, and every fear you have been through. It has also experienced the happiest days of your life, every hug, every alarm in the morning, and everything you cherish. And that’s pretty cool.
- Reducing checking your body in the mirror can also help reduce how negatively you speak about it. Whenever you have a negative thought about your body (I get it, sometimes it’s instinct), you can train yourself to be more neutral about those feelings.
- Limiting what you see on social media can also help this. Nowadays, every time I see someone spewing hate online, I remember this line from ‘SKINNY’ by Billie Eilish: “And the internet is hungry for the meanest kinda funny. And somebody’s gotta feed it”
“With time and patience, you may be able to build a better relationship with your body”
Once you know what neutrality means for you, you can try different things to adopt it.
I once read that someone wrote down things that their body did for them that day before going to bed.
It is a long process; changing your feelings about your body to be more neutral does not happen overnight. Your feelings towards your body may also change based on how your body changes with time.
When it does, neutrality may look different. But with time and patience, you may be able to build a better relationship with your body.
Sometimes, challenging how you feel about your body is also challenging societal and cultural norms.
Women are generally pressured to be thin and men to be muscular. Or women have to be “thicc” but have the right kind of curves and men may have “dad bods” but again, only the right kind.
Letting go of these notions and finding what is best for you is not something you have to do alone. Your community could be your best friends or strangers on the internet.
READ NEXT:
- LOVE THE SKIN YOU’RE IN: THE BODY POSITIVITY MOVEMENT
- THE HARSH REALITIES OF BODY DYSMORPHIA
- BODY IMAGE, EXERCISE, AND MAKING PEACE WITH IMPERFECTION
Featured image courtesy of Eliobed Suarez via Unsplash. No changes have been made to this image. Image license found here.
Devika Sreejith
Graduated with an MA in Communication and Media from the University of Leeds. Passionate about storytelling and journalism, LOVE movies, shows, and books, and happy to learn about pretty much anything!