3 Misconceptions About Body Positivity
With the explosion of social media in the past decade, #bodypositivity has become a highly popular hashtag. While the growing interest in body positivity is cause for optimism, it can also leave clients feeling that they’re “not doing it correctly” or that they’re not included in the movement.
Here are 3 common misconceptions about body positivity to consider as you work with clients to move from body shame to body positivity.
Body positivity means relating to your body with acceptance, appreciation and respect. Body positivity does not require someone to automatically love the way they look or to feel positive about their body at all times. Instead, body positivity helps people unhook their body image from their value as a human being and supports them in cultivating practices that strengthen physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.
No matter how much a client embraces body positivity, it’s important to understand that in our fatphobic culture, negative body thoughts are still likely to arise at times. Additionally, there might be other non-weight related reasons that people don’t feel at home in their bodies, e.g. gender identity, physical ability or chronic pain.
As you work with clients to cultivate body positivity, helping them find new strategies to respond to negative body thoughts is the key component in reducing body shame and increasing self-compassion.
Body positivity is meant for people of all sizes, shapes, colors, abilities, sexual orientations, gender identities, and ages. However, images tagged as body positive on social media are often of white, cisgendered women just slightly larger than the thin ideal.
It’s essential to represent all types of bodies as deserving of acceptance, appreciation and respect in order to make body positivity a truly inclusive movement.
Body image refers to a person’s perception of their own body and is not contingent on body size. There are people of all sizes who feel good about their bodies and people of all sizes who don’t. Clients can practice numerous strategies to develop a more positive body image, such as having enough clothes that fit their current size and letting go of weighing themselves. Building a positive body image is an important aspect of becoming body positive.
While strengthening one’s own body image is an individual act, body positivity is a broader social movement that values all bodies and rejects fat shaming and systemic weight bias. Someone can have a positive body image but still not embrace body positivity—or even know what it means. In addition to working on body image, clients who want to become body positive must also reflect on whether they contribute to diet culture and weight stigma, even if unintentionally. For example, participating in diet conversations or giving weight loss compliments supports the belief that a thinner body is a better body.
Body positivity is a powerful approach to help clients let go of body shame, feel more at home in their own bodies, and transform diet culture.
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Judith Matz, LCSW, ACSW, is co-author of The Making Peace with Food Card Deck, The Body Positivity Card Deck, and two books on the topics of eating and weight struggles. Beyond a Shadow of a Diet: The Comprehensive Guide to Treating Binge Eating Disorder, Compulsive Eating and Emotional Overeating, has been called “the new bible” on this topic for professionals. The Diet Survivor’s Handbook: 60 Lessons in Eating, Acceptance and Self-Care was a #1 bestseller on Amazon and a favorite resource for therapists to use with clients. She is also the author of Amanda’s Big Dream, a children’s book that helps kids to pursue their dreams – at any size! Judith has a private practice in Skokie, IL where she focuses her work with clients who want to get off the diet/binge rollercoaster and learn to feel at home in their bodies. Through her individual counseling, groups, workshops, presentations and books, Judith has helped thousands of people to develop self-care skills that increase physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing without a focus on the pursuit of weight loss. Through educational programs, she is dedicated to helping people end the preoccupation with food and weight. Judith received her MSW at University of Michigan and earned her post-graduate certificate at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, where she trained in the treatment of eating disorders. Judith is a frequent contributor to the Psychotherapy Networker magazine and a popular speaker at national conferences. Descriptions of her work have appeared in the media including the New York Times, LA Times, Allure, Fitness, Self, Shape, Today’s Dietitian, Diabetes Self-Management, NBC News Chicago, Huffington Post Live, and she appears in the documentary America The Beautiful 2.
Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Judith Matz is the director of The Chicago Center for Overcoming Overeating, Inc. and maintains a private practice. She receives royalties as a published author. Judith Matz receives a speaking honorarium, recording, and book royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Judith Matz is a member of the National Association of Social Workers, the National Eating Disorder Association, and the Association for Size Diversity and Health.
