User:GraceMarieTesoro99013/sandbox

Body positivity
Body positivity has roots in the fat acceptance movement as well as the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. Body positivity differs from fat acceptance in that it is all encompassing and inclusive of all body types, whereas fat acceptance only advocates for individuals considered to be obese or overweight. The movement states that neither fat-shaming nor skinny-shaming is acceptable, and that all body types can and should be celebrated. Body-shaming of all types has been shown to yield detrimental long-term psychological effects such as negative body image, depression, anxiety, as well as eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and body dysmorphia.[better source needed]

Although body positivity is perceived as the celebration as one's physical appearance as it is, women are highly motivated to advocate the normalization body hair, bodily fluids, menstruation and to challenge preconceived ideas regarding a woman's appearance.

Brand influence and social media
With the body positive movement more brands are starting to use it to their advantage like Aerie, while others like Dove have supported body positivity movement through campaigns preaching body positivity, female empowerment and body-acceptance for a long period of time. A long-running body positive brand is Dove, in 2004 they started a campaign known as "Real Beauty." The campaign commercials and advertisements depict women of all ages sizes and colors. They also partner and raise money for eating disorder organizations. Dove's website for their self-esteem project features a little boy, which is a nod to male body positivity. Some of their core aims are to transform the idea of beauty so that people's relationships with their bodies are good, and that they are sources of confidence and happiness rather than anxiety and stress.

Aerie is a popular American women's underwear company. In 2017, they launched a campaign called AerieReal that promised not to retouch or photoshop their models, encouraging body positivity and body-acceptance despite features such as cellulite, stretch marks, or fat rolls. They have also started featuring body positive influencers in their photo shoots. Aerie has begun including plus sized models into their advertising campaigns and has launched plus sized clothing for larger women use plus-sized models such as Ashley Graham.

Since promoting lingerie and clothing for all shapes and sizes, Aerie has received positive feedback regarding the release of the AerieReal campaign. An article written in 2017 by CNBC detailed that the value in Aerie is to be valued around a billion dollars within the coming years and has become threatening competition to Victoria's Secret for intimates.

Social media is a powerful medium through which societal trends are conveyed to the general public. Although social media has been used to push societies beauty ideals some influencers are now using it to challenge them through image related empowerment and inspiration. There are extremely influential users that preach body positivity such as AerieReal model Iskra Lawrence, and more. Many hashtags have been created in the wake of the body positive movement. Some examples are #IWokeUpLikeThis, #EffYourBeautyStandards, #HonorMyCurves, #CelebrateMySize, #GoldenConfidence, and #I'mNoModelEither.

On the other hand, social media also serves images of swimsuit models and other users who tend to fit the societal standard of the feminine beauty ideal, which may perpetuate for people who have appearance-contingent self-worth to continue their exhaustive efforts to look their best. Body activists are combatting this by turning the media against itself with by taking two different approaches to promote self-acceptance to their audiences alike.

Decathlon joined forces with body positive Influencers such as Zoiey Smale, former Miss UK and other women to bring to light their ‘leggings for everybody’ campaign in 2019

Criticism[ edit]
See also: Criticism of fat acceptance

The body positive movement was created to be inclusive of all body types, however, some feminists have critiqued that the movement has only worked to emphasize patriarchal beliefs rather than promote beliefs of true feminism.

The idea of posting an unedited photo of your body to embrace it is what Gender scholar Amber E Kinser determined as "false feminism". Kinser critiqued that these acts of resistance do not challenge patriarchy and these kinds of campaigns do not deteriorate the validity of the argument of women's worth being directly correlated to their physical appearance.

In 2018, the University of East Anglia released a report saying that the "normalization of plus size" was damaging to people's perceptions of obesity, made overweight and obese people less likely to attempt weight loss, and undermined government initiatives intended to overcome the problem.