Body Positivity, Embracing the Inevitable, or a Rationalization for Self-Destruction.

As a kid, I had no body positive social movement to encourage me to feel good about myself despite the physical and societal norms that I was clearly outside of. I have, as an adult, wanted to shout at times, “I was fat before it was trendy!” I do see this as reactionary and am disappointed in myself when the thought occurs.

There is something to it though, this urge towards acceptance of things that were for so long, unacceptable. 

I do not believe one can accomplish anything good from a position of hate. I think that in order to succeed at anything, it requires some modicum of faith that success is possible. I did not begin dieting, until I was ready and part of that required my own belief that success was possible.

So, in that way, I see body positivity as a major benefit. The downside is that it can also be an opiate for complacency. 

There are so many reasons I wanted to lose weight that exist outside of cultural norms and aesthetics, there was a persistent physical pain from carrying excess weight, a constant impediment to literally moving through space and time, and an exhaustion that I did not see exhibited in smaller bodies. None of that has anything to do with just wanting to fit in, or to match in looks to the other people around me. 

If we decide that life is of some value, therefore lengthening life is too. This would be evident in the amount of energy that goes into medicine and safety precautions. Then the societal obligation to urge towards healthier choices must stand. If we hold these principals societally when we discourage drug addiction and dangerous and reckless behavior, the same should stand for obesity.

There must be a way to reinforce positive behavior without creating an entire subset of society that is self-loathing.

Today our immediate and literal need to physically use our bodies to produce food and shelter, to battle the elements and flee danger, is drastically less that it was at humanities inception. There is an abundance of cheap food, and the stage has been set for an obesity epidemic.  Mankind and certainly our bodies, have done everything possible to get fat, we have worked tirelessly in this pursuit. It seems wrong to work towards a goal and then shame the population who has some adverse reaction to it. But in the same way, it seems wrong to celebrate this reaction.

I personally required a new paradigm for myself, to look at all of this from as much of a detached emotional position as possible. As an addict, if when trying to get sober I’d had some huge portion of the population urging me to accept and embrace my addiction, I would be dead today. 

I prefer to be alive.